New Life - Romans 5-6

Romans 6:1-4 (ESV)
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

In Paul’s day, during this time that the letter to the Romans was written, there were many in the church who thought that now they were “saved” they could live their life the way they wanted.   They thought, improperly, that if God’s grace saved you, then where we sinned, grace abounded more and more.  So, sin was allowing God’s grace to flow.   Paul gives an emphatic, NO, to this argument.   His argument against this false teaching goes something like this:

1.  When Christ saved us, spiritually we died to sin (to the impact and effects of sin on us).   Yes, we are physically alive today and feel the pain of sin (and, for a brief time, the pleasures).   But, spiritually sin has been crucified in us.  Therefore, if truly justified, we are DEAD to sin.   

2.  Paul uses the word “continued” in verse one of this section.  The word “continued” is the Greek word, epimenō.    It means to have a continuous habit of sinning.  Paul, in this section, is NOT saying we won’t sin. We are still in this body and the body is inherently full of sin.  But, those who are “in” Christ, by faith in His sacrifice for us, will not habitually continue to sin.   Paul will go on in chapter six to tell us just how that works, but his argument is that those in Christ have been set free from the power of sin in their lives as they submit to Christ’s control.  They will sin, but they will not live a life full of sin, as a habit.  

3. Christ was raised from the dead.   That is the picture of our “new life.”  In Christ, we too have been raised to new life.  There is no such thing as a believer who has one foot in one canoe and one in another canoe.  We don’t have one foot in this world and one foot in God’s world.  Once we came to Christ, our old life was crucified with Christ.  We were given a resurrected life that is different than the life we had.  Our hungers and passions will (should, if our faith is sincere and genuine) continue to change to hunger more and more to be like Him and less and less have desire to be like who we were.  We are to walk in “newness of life.”   That is the teaching Paul gives us. There is NO such thing as a believer who is “justified” (declared righteous), who is also not “sanctified” (giving a new, holy life).