Death and Resurrection with Christ

In his Letter to the Romans Paul says that the gospel is so wonderful that God's grace is seen at its best where sin is at its worst (5.20).

If we grasp this, a question readily arises in a believer's heart. 'If I am not saved by being good, why should I bother to be good now I am a Christian? In fact since God's grace is seen best when sin is at its worst, why not go on sinning so that the grace of God might be more apparent?' That is the question which our verses address: 'Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?' (6.1).

This is not just a personal question for a Christian. It is also especially relevant to the church in our day. Probably the most important question facing Christians in Britain for the last 20 or 30 years has been, whether, surrounded by a permissive, decadent culture, we are going to live holy lives? Our response, sadly, is still not clear. There are many pressures on the church to compromise. If we draw a line in the sand over any matter of Christian behaviour almost immediately we are called 'judgmental'. Then others, in an echo of the sentiments of 6.1, would say that relaxing requirements for church membership, making the church more 'inclusive' - accepting easy divorce, gay relationships etc. - actually better reflects the love and grace of God.

In Romans 6, Paul takes up this issue, and his great insistence is that though the grace of God certainly meets us in our sin, it does not and cannot leave us as we were. Should we go on happily living a life of sin as Christians? Paul is absolutely appalled by the idea! It is totally wrong! Why?

Nutshell summary

In verse 2 he puts his argument in a nutshell, 'By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?' His argument is put in the form of a question so that the inherent contradiction and absurdity of such an idea will sink in. 'No one can be both dead and alive to the same thing at the same time. Life and death are mutually exclusive.' You are either dead or alive, you can't be both! We don't believe in the 'living dead.' That is the stuff of bad dreams and horror fiction - not reality. A Christian, says Paul, is someone who has 'died to sin' (verse 2). Not someone who is in the process of dying to sin, but who has somehow already 'died to sin'. Hence, there is no way that a believer can ultimately pursue a life of sin. It is impossible.

The rest of verses 3-14 is an explanation and a proof of what he has said here in summary. We can follow Paul's argument under four statements.

Baptism

1. Christian baptism portrays our union with Christ in his death and resurrection (verses 3,4).

Paul's argument begins with an appeal to Christian baptism. 'Don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?' (verse3). The most fundamental facts of the Christian faith are that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again. Baptism is a sign of our union with Jesus. We were 'baptised into Christ Jesus'. Baptism is a picture of our oneness with him in his death and resurrection.

Baptists believe this exemplifies the mode of baptism. Our going under the water portrays our death and burial (verse 3). Our coming up out of the water portrays our rising to new life, 'Just as Christ was raised from the dead ... we, too may live a new life' (verse 4).

We have been joined to Jesus through faith, and being part of him, whatever is true of him must be somehow true of us.

Dead to sin, alive to God

2. Christ's death was a death to sin and his resurrection was a resurrection to God.

Paul states that clearly in verse 10. 'The death he died, he died to sin once for all.'

What is this death to sin? Obviously we need to understand it. There are three considerations which guide us.

a. It cannot mean that Jesus died to 'indwelling sin' because Jesus himself was sinless. Often this passage is misused to give poor Christians weary with the battle with sin the impression there is some higher experience which lifts us out of the daily conflict. No, because Christ was sinless, this passage cannot be talking about some immediate eradication of indwelling sin.

b. Verse 7 teaches that this death to sin is something that is common to all who die. Anyone who has died has passed beyond the jurisdiction of sin.

c. But the real clue is in the context. Paul's statement in 5.21 immediately precedes this chapter. There he is talking about the 'reign' of sin, the realm where sin is in control. It is in that context that Paul speaks about Jesus's death to sin.

When Jesus came into this world, he came into the realm where sin holds sway. Jesus was not a sinner but he entered sin's domain. He placed himself under God's law. He took upon himself a real human body. He was exposed to temptation, to weariness, to Satan, to pain and death. But when he died that relationship to the reign and realm of sin was ended.

Furthermore, since he had been gloriously victorious over all the power of sin had thrown at him, he arose from the dead, showing that not only had he passed beyond sin's jurisdiction, but into a new sphere of newness and life in God. Christ was raised by the glory of the Father (verse 4) into a new life (verses 4, 10).

So far we have seen two things. First, we are one with Christ in his death and resurrection. Second, he died to the realm and reign of sin and is made alive to God. Next we must put those two things together to get our third statement.

What union with Christ implies

3. Through our union with Christ we too have died to sin and we too are alive to God (verses 5-10).

When did this happen? It happened when we were joined to Christ by faith, when we became Christians. Jesus died to sin and rose again to God. When by God's grace, we came to faith in Christ, that same death and resurrection became true of us. So if you are a Christian it is not something that is going to happen to you, or ought to happen to you - spiritually it has happened to you. We have died to the realm and reign of sin. We are no longer part of this fallen world, we belong to the kingdom of God.

That is the import of verses 5,6. All who are identified with Jesus in his death will certainly experience the future resurrection through Jesus too (verse 5). This is the gospel. But the ethical and spiritual implications of that make impossible the idea of continuing to pursue sin as Christians (verse 6).

Let me use an illustration to explain what I mean. Suppose a Frenchman changed his nationality and became British. And suppose having done that he was sent back to France to work for the British embassy in Paris. Here he is in France, but he is not French any more. Here he is in France but his loyalty is no longer to the French President, it is to the English crown. Here he is in France, but French law no longer has any hold over him - he has diplomatic immunity. It is the same with us.

Here we are still in this world, but we no longer belong to it. We died to it. We belong to another country. We belong to heaven, we are earmarked for resurrection in the kingdom of God. Here we are in this world where sin reigns, but sin is no longer our rightful master. The Lord God is. Here we are in this world and sin still allures us. But our hearts have been changed so that our deepest loyalty is to Christ. Our old self (verse 6) has been crucified, with the express purpose of doing away with sin in our lives.

Further, since we died with Christ we will certainly also live with him (verse 8). We are being prepared for bodily resurrection and the fullness of the new world. But (verse 9), since Christ died and was raised never to die again, so the Christian must not go back to pursue a life of sin. It would be as inappropriate as Jesus, having won the victory over sin and death, coming back again to place himself under jurisdiction of sin and death. No (verse 10), having mastered sin once and for all, to go back would be absurd.

So, 'Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase?' Paul's answer is a resounding 'By no means!' (verse 1).

New life imperative

4. Since all this is true, we are to live a new life (verses 11-14).

If the Christian church embraces the idea of 'continuing in sin that grace may increase', then it will become even more of a laughing stock than it is now. 'Christ can give you a new life', we preach. But if the church embraces immorality, the world can rightly scoff and say, 'Don't be stupid. Just look at you!' It is imperative that Christians are different. And the good news of Romans 6 is not only that we should be different but that we can be different. How? Paul spells that out in three short points in these verses of practical application.

First, if we are going to be different we must recognise that we are different (verse 11). We must understand that we belong to God's kingdom. Notice it is not our counting ourselves dead to sin which makes being dead to sin come true. It is the other way round. Because we are dead to sin, so we should believe it is so.

Let's go back to our naturalised Frenchman. We can imagine him one day walking through the streets of Paris. All seems just as it was before he changed. He might well be tempted to imagine that it was all a dream, that nothing has changed with him. 'I am the same man, in the same old street, with the same old attractions around me.' But, no, he must not forget who he is. We, too, must continually realise that we do not belong to this world. Why? Because God's word says so. The Christian must learn to see himself or herself by faith.

Second, as a result of who we are we should resist sin and offer ourselves to God (verses 12,13). For the Christian to pursue sin is to do violence to our new nature. We are now like a migratory bird. We have an in-built instinct for heaven. We are only truly happy if we are making progress towards it. To follow sin is to put a ball and chain around the bird's leg. We cannot fly. We are hampered and frustrated. That is why the backsliding Christian is rarely happy, never at peace. The new nature is longing for heaven and for Christ and can only be satisfied in him. We must not believe Satan's propaganda that Christ-like holiness is repressive. It is in fact the only way that we can know real joy.

Third, be encouraged in this pursuit of holiness because you are not without resources, and you will get there. 'For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace' (verse 14).

We no longer have to merit our salvation. All the law can do is tell us what is right, and condemn us when we are wrong. It cannot help us. But we are under grace. We are part of God's kingdom, under his benevolence, under his saving power. Therefore, we can seek holiness with confidence that God will help us! The resurrection power of Easter is within our reach.

Romans 6.1-14