To Sin Or Not To Sin? That’s the Question!
Philip P Eapen
Preached on Aug 28, 2023 at the Community
of Grace, Thevara.
We have been studying Paul’s epistle to the Roman Church for the past several weeks. It is the longest of all Pauline epistles in the New Testament. We have covered the first five chapters so far. Today, we shall strive to capture the message of the sixth chapter. I have titled this sermon, “A new life, a new Master, A new destiny.” We who have been joined together with Jesus Christ have to submit ourselves to God – our new Master – so that we will have a new destiny, life eternal.
For the sake of those who might have joined us today in this series, allow me to summarize what we have learned thus far.
When did Paul write this letter?
Why did Paul write to the Romans?
I shall read the sixth chapter for us now. I find Bishop N. T. Wright’s translation quiet useful.
1What are we to say, then? Shall we continue in the state of sin, so that grace may increase? 2Certainly not! We died to sin; how can we still live in it? 3Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into the Messiah, Jesus, were baptized into his death? 4That means that we were buried with him, through baptism, into death, so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead through the father’s glory, we too might behave with a new quality of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
6This is what we know: our old humanity was crucified with the Messiah, so that the solidarity of sin might be abolished, and that we should no longer be enslaved to sin. 7A person who has died, you see, has been declared free from all charges of sin. 8But if we died with the Messiah, we believe that we shall live with him. 9We know that the Messiah, having been raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has any authority over him. 10The death he died, you see, he died to sin, once and only once. But the life he lives, he lives to God. 11In the same way you, too, must calculate yourselves as being dead to sin, and alive to God in the Messiah, Jesus.
12So don’t allow sin to rule in your mortal body, to make you obey its desires. 13Nor should you present your limbs and organs to sin to be used for its wicked purposes. Rather, present yourselves to God, as people alive from the dead, and your limbs and organs to God, to be used for the righteous purposes of his covenant. 14Sin won’t actually rule over you, you see, since you are not under law but under grace.
15What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you really are slaves of the one you obey, whether that happens to be sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to final vindication? 17Thank God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were committed. 18You were freed from sin, and now you have been enslaved to God’s covenant purposes (19I’m using a human picture because of your natural human weakness!). For just as you presented your limbs and organs as slaves to uncleanness, and to one degree of lawlessness after another, so now present your limbs and organs as slaves to covenant justice, which leads to holiness.
20When you were slaves of sin, you see, you were free in respect of covenant justice. 21What fruit did you ever have from the things of which you are now ashamed? Their destination is death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin and enslaved to God, you have fruit for holiness. Its destination is the life of the age to come. 23The wages paid by sin, you see, are death; but God’s free gift is the life of the age to come, in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.
We know that the first eleven chapters of this epistle answers the question, What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? The second half of the epistle, from chapters twelve to fifteen, is about, How do we live out this Gospel? Exhortation follows the teaching.
But, in chapter six, we have an early parenetic section that exhorts Christians to lead a holy life.
We all are familiar with Paul’s exhortation, in Romans 12:1, where he pleads with Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Chapter six tells us why and how we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God.
Similarly, Romans 12:2 urges us to be renewed by the transformation of our minds. The first half of Romans 8 teaches us why and how we should change our way of thinking.
The teaching found in chapters six through eight provides us a firm foundation for practical Christian living. Therefore, it is very important for Christian to correctly understand these chapters.
In chapter six, Paul continues his argument he put forward in chapters four and five. He asks two rhetorical questions.
Those who read the first verse of Romans 6 might wonder what grace has to do with sin. Unless we understand the preceding argument, we will find it difficult to understand the question that Paul poses there.
Also, we need to know what it means to be under the law. What does it mean to come under grace?
We need to go through Israel’s salvation history. We must understand how God saved them. Was it by grace or by works? Why did God give them the Law? What does the word righteousness mean? What is righteousness by the works of the law?
In the Hebrew Bible, we read about how the glorious God had mercy on one pagan called Abraham. God called him and led him to the land of Canaan.
God’s election of Abraham was all about His grace. Abram did not deserve this special call. He was chosen by God as a result of God’s mercy.
We are generally told that the Old Testament is all about “works” and the New Testament is all about “grace.” That’s not true. Abraham had not done anything to deserve any special attention from God. He believed the incredible promises God gave him. Therefore, God vindicated (justified) him and declared him to be a righteous man.
God entered into a covenant with Abraham and God remained faithful to that covenant. God’s faithfulness as a covenant partner revealed His righteousness. And Abraham’s status as a covenant partner with God reveals his righteousness. The very mention of the word “righteousness” reveals a pre-existing covenant just as the use of the word “fidelity” assumes a marriage.
Why did God choose Abraham? God wanted to bless all families on earth through Abraham. The descendants of Abraham were not called to be an exclusive club that keeps knowledge of God to itself but to attract all the nations of the world to the living God. What happened, in reality, was just the opposite.
After more than four centuries, God liberated Abraham’s descendants from Egyptian slavery. This, again, was an act of grace. They were “saved by grace.” God entered into a covenant with them. He gave them the Torah, the Law. The Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
The Torah was not given so that Israel could use it as a ladder to attain righteousness. They were already in a relationship with God that was initiated by God’s grace.1
The Law was given so that they could they remain in God’s grace. Obedience to the law was a response to God’s grace. It was the way to fulfill their covenant obligations. In case they failed to obey God, there were mechanisms within the Torah for making amends and for seeking forgiveness of sins.
Among all the nations of the world, only Israel enjoyed a covenant status with God. They were God’s people.
We frequently encounter the word “righteousness” in the New Testament. New Testament scholars tell us that it is difficult to capture the various shades of meaning of this word using one English word. If we use the phrase “covenant status” in the place of righteousness, the meaning of the word becomes clear in many contexts.
Israel’s entry into this covenant status was by the grace of God. But it was Israel’s duty to remain faithful to this covenant. As long as they remained faithful, they knew that God would vindicate them before their enemies and on the day of judgment. Vindication is justification. Israel hoped for a vindication in the future.
What was the right attitude that Israel should have maintained before God?
Israel should have said, “God graciously called Abraham out of all the nations. He saved us from Egypt by His grace and made us His people. Our obedience to the Law of God is our response to God’s grace.”
But unfortunately, as the years went by, Israel lost sight of the fact that their status as “God’s People” was bestowed on them by grace.
They began to boast about the Law. “God gave the law to our people. We keep the Law. Therefore, we alone are God’s people.”
Israel was behaving as if God had given them the covenant status as “God’s People” (righteousness) because they possessed the Law. Possession of the Law was more important to them than the actual keeping of the Law.
“We have the Law. We are Jewish. Therefore, we are God’s people.”
By claiming their covenant status before God by virtue of their possession of the Law, they were trying to establish their own righteousness. This is what Paul calls righteousness by “the works of the Law.”
There is a big problem here. If the possession of the Law is what makes a nation “God’s People,” only ethnic Israel can become “God’s People.” What about other nations? This Jewish attitude went against God’s intention of saving every nation.
When Jews became Christians, they brought the same attitude with them into the Church.
Jewish Christians saw the Church of Jesus Christ as a sect within Judaism. By believing in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, they did not exit the body of Israel. They considered themselves as Jews who believed that Jesus was their Messiah.
At the same time, they believed that their identity as God’s People came from their Jewish religion and Law. That reliance on the Law is called “works of the Law.” That is what caused them to stumble.
This is why these Jewish Christians insisted that Gentile followers of Jesus must first convert to Judaism and then be a part of the Jesus gang.
As long as Jewish Christians depended on their Jewish identity as the basis of their status as God’s people, it was impossible for Paul to convince them to accept uncircumcised Gentile believers as the People of God.
To change the mindset of Jewish Christians in Galatia, Paul asked them,
You foolish Galatians! … The only thing I want to learn from you is this:
Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard?2
In other words, Paul was asking them,
Did you receive the Spirit by virtue of your Jewish identity or by believing the Gospel that was preached to you?
Paul was determined to convince Jewish Christians that the covenant status (righteousness) was open to ALL people—to Gentiles and to Jews who were willing to climb down from the high horse of Judaism!
To achieve this goal, Paul had to prove these things:
Firstly, Paul had to burst the balloon of Jewish pride by proving that the Jews were as sinful and guilty as the Gentiles before God. We see him do that in the first three chapters of Romans.
Secondly, he had to show the Jews that the Law on which they relied was actually a dangerous gift from God.
Now, why did God give the Law to Israelites?
The Jews considered the Torah as God’s gift to them. The Torah was a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path. The Torah was their Wisdom.
But Paul wanted them to know that the Torah was given for three reasons:
Besides all these, Paul shocked Jewish Christians by telling them that the Law was not only a gift from God but that it was also a dangerous gift. Why is the Torah dangerous? The Torah is extremely dangerous because:
It follows the all or nothing principle. If you have to be called obedient, you have to obey all of the Torah. If you break even one commandment, it would be like breaking all the commandments.
There is not a single human being who can obey all the commandments in the Torah. Disobedience to the Torah brings a curse. So, if a person undertakes to obey the Torah by converting to Judaism, the curse of the Law is like a sword that hangs over him. The curse of the Law will surely come upon him.
The Jewish nation was trapped under the Law of Moses. The ultimate curse of the Law was exile. The Jews were in exile in their own land under the Romans.
Over the years, transgressions of the Law kept piling up. Even among Gentiles, even though they did not have any written code, they too sinned against God’s Law that was written on their hearts.
This rising level of offences and guilt did not diminish God’s determination to save both Jews and Gentiles. As sins multiplied, greater measures of God’s loving compassion and grace came to light. No sinner was beyond God’s redeeming power.
After making such a statement – “where sin increased, grace multiplied” – Paul wonders whether someone might ask, “If more offences can result in greater measures of God’s grace, why don’t we just continue in sin?”
The Message Bible paraphrases this question: “So …? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving?” That’s one way of looking at it—even if you don’t like paraphrases.
The second question is similar to the first. Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under the grace?
None of us were under the Jewish law. Paul is directing this question at Jewish Christians. They were “under the law.”
What does Paul mean by saying, “We are no more under the law”?
We might think that the Law of Moses was like training wheels attached to kids’ bicycles. When a child learns to ride a bicycle, the training wheels helps to keep the bike upright. Once the child is able to pedal without falling, the training wheels are removed.
So, some Christians think that the Law was given to help Israel remain on God’s track till the arrival of Jesus Christ. After Jesus fulfilled the Law, there is no more need for the Law! The Law was abolished.
The question is, Is this what Paul intended to convey to his readers when he said, “We are no more under the law”? I don’t think so.
Over the past fifty years, the most prominent of New Testament scholars understand it this way.
When a Jew leaves Judaism and starts following Christ, he is actually stepping down from the “high horse” of Judaism in which he once took great pride. He trusted in his privileged Jewish pedegree. He thought that he was in good terms with God just by being a descendant of Abraham.
He had something that no other nation had—the Law of Moses that gave him his religion, the Jewish identity as “the People of God.”
But once a Jew realizes that he is like any other sinner, he comes down to the level of all other sinners. He comes and stands at the back of the line. He cannot pull his Privilege Card to cut the line and stand closer to the front. The Jew has to go to the back of the regular Gentile line—to put it figuratively!
After turning his back on his Jewish identity, will a Jew be able to say, “Finally, I am no longer a Jew and I can do whatever I want to do”?
When Paul asks, Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under the grace? what he means is, Is the Christian life a lawless life?
Antinomianism. That’s the belief that Christians are not under any rule, regulation or law. Are we advocating antinomianism?
Paul gives us just one answer to the two questions. He is emphatic. He says, μὴ γένοιτο! God forbid!
I included the Greek phrase here because it is a unique phrase that occurs only about 15 times in the New Testament. Ten of those are found in Romans.
Paul is very emphatic. A Christian must not even think of continuing in sin. Christian life is not a lawless life.
There’s another place where Paul uses the same emphatic μὴ γένοιτο! It’s in Romans 3:31.
Do we then nullify the law through faith?
The answer again is, μὴ γένοιτο! God forbid!
Just because a Jew leaves his privileged Jewish identity and starts following Christ, he is not stepping into a void—a lawless life.
Paul says he does not nullify the Law through faith. Instead, he upholds the law! Why?
That’s because Jesus came here as a Jew. The goal of the Mosaic Law was Jesus Christ. He lived under the Law. He died under the Law to fulfill the Law. The death of Jesus Christ is valid under the Law of Moses.
Jesus was the fulfillment of the office of the High Priest. He was the true Tabernacle that held the Presence of God. He was the Passover Lamb, the Bread of Life. He was the scapegoat that carried away our guilt and shame.
If we say that the Law is null and void, we are shaking the very foundations of the Cross of Christ!
Yes, the ritualistic aspects of the Law were fulfilled in Christ. That’s why we don’t sacrifice animals here. But any part of the Law that was affirmed by Jesus and the apostles still stands! Yes, there are such laws, especially the Moral Law (or The Ten Commandments). That is why Paul wrote in Romans 13:10, “Love is the fulfillment of the law”.
Paul gives us two reasons. Why should we quit sinning?
Paul does not say, “It is impossible a born-again Christian to sin.” Instead, he gives his readers two powerful reasons to quit sinning.
What you see in these answers is the centrality of the cross and the meaning of true faith. I shall explain.
A repentant sinner receives the benefit of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice only when he makes the death of Christ his own death. That happens through water baptism.
When a repentant sinner accepts water baptism, something actually happens. That’s what the apostle Paul says here. The sinner dies with Christ. He gets buried with Christ. And then, when he rises from the water, God identifies him with the resurrection of Jesus so that he may lead a new life of obedience to God.
My point is this: Something actually happens during water baptism. We evangelicals and charismatics often say that baptism is just a symbol of what has already happened inside a believer.
That’s because we use Romans 10:9-10 as a formula for “getting saved.” Let me tell you very clearly. Romans 10:9-10 is NOT a formula for “getting saved.” For more than a century, evangelicals have been plucking those two verses out of context and using it as a formula.
Water baptism is the official beginning of Christian life. That’s where the line gets drawn. That’s where a death, burial and a new start happens. Baptism is not an empty shell. It is the real deal.
If we hollow out water baptism and present it as a mere symbol, what Paul says in Romans 6 will be just empty words for us.
All humans are slaves to sin. There is no way we can break the shackles of sin. Human religion does not offer us any help with this.
But when a repentant sinner believes in Jesus Christ and takes water baptism, he gets united with the death of Jesus Christ.
Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?3
In verse 6, Paul says that our former self gets crucified with Christ. Death brings us freedom. Real freedom. Idenfitication with the death of Christ sets us free from our slavery to death.
Verse 7 says, For someone who has died has been freed from sin.
The sinful nature remains with us even after baptism. It will continue its conversation with us. It will entices us towards sin. Many young Christians ask this question, I have been born again. Why am I still getting these urges to sin?
You are hearing the voice of your sinful nature. But there is an important difference.
You are free from the slavery to sin. You can ignore the suggestions of your sinful old nature.
In Romans 6, Paul reminds us that we must take charge of our lives because Christ has set us free.
He commands his readers to do these things:
These three commands must be accompanied by their corresponding commands:
The very act of dedicating ourselves to God is called sanctification. Once anything or anyone has been dedicated totally for God’s use, that thing or person can be described as a holy thing or a holy person.
Paul is commanding his readers to sanctify themselves. These acts of consecration are things that we must do. Jesus is not going to do these for us.
We must be so responsive to God that we are irresponsive to the voice of our sinful nature. We must be so busy doing the right things that we do not have time to consider any sinful activity.
This is the life of a Christian. He was a slave of sin. He was set free by the death of Jesus Christ which he appropriated through water baptism. He is now a slave of God.
Verse 22 says, “But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.”
We are not called to be absolutely “free.” We were set free so that we might belong to God. (Chapter seven talks about that)
Someone might ask, We are saved by grace through faith. Why are you giving us a list of commands?
Yes, I agree that we are saved through faith. If we actually believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will live out that reality every moment of our life. How else can we prove the genuineness of our faith?
Anyone can make a confession that they believe in Christ. In fact, anyone can pretend to be a Christian and accept water baptism. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We know that a person’s faith is genuine when he lives out his faith in the Saviour every moment of his life.
Christian life is not an instantaneous event. It is a journey. At every moment of that journey, we are called to ignore sin and to say “Yes” to God. This is why the New Testament urges us to remain alert.
In conclusion, let me remind us that we have been given a new life. We were set free from slavery to sin and Satan. We are now called to consecrate our life to God. We must become slaves of God. If we become slaves of God, we will have a sanctified life. The result is holiness. The end of such a consecrated life is eternal life.
This is the real life of faith. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”4
Philip Eapen, an environmental scientist by training, devoted his life to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ ever since he realized that the world needs Jesus Christ more than anyone or anything else. Apart from sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, Philip teaches Christians in order to equip them for service. He is supported by donations from readers. Philip is married to Dr. Jessimol and they are blessed with three sons and a daughter.
Date: August 27, 2023
