A Question Without Context
Romans 6 opens with a question that might surprise us.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? (Rom 6:1).
That question is Paul’s imagined response from a hypothetical interlocutor, someone drawing out the logic of what he has just said at the end of chapter five: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (5:20). Paul has just argued that wherever sin is present, God’s grace is always more present. Wherever sin, evil, and death rear their heads, grace is more abounding still. So Paul imagines someone drawing the logical conclusion: if more sin means more grace, and we want more grace in the world, maybe we should keep sinning so that grace can keep increasing.
Paul answers with two words in Greek, μὴ γένοιτο (mē genoito), the strongest possible negation in Koine Greek. It means “may it never be.” One of my professors used to joke that it should be translated “hell no,” although that rendering does not usually fly in polite company. This phrase is as categorical a denial as Paul can muster, and his reason for this response is fascinating.
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (6:2).
Status, Not Feeling
That question in v. 2 makes my mind spin a little because I wouldn’t say that I feel dead to sin—quite the opposite. Sin is very much alive in my life, and that is not some public confession. It’s just a fact. There is nothing about being a Christian, and nothing about being a priest, that makes sin disappear from ordinary experience. In fact, many Christians find that the more they mature in faith and grow in sanctification, the more aware they become of the presence and power of sin in their lives, not less.
What Paul is not saying, and the fact that he had to write so many letters dealing with sin in his churches proves it, is that becoming a Christian makes a person immune to sin. That reading would be exactly as nonsensical as the suggestion that Christians should keep sinning so that grace may abound. Neither option is accurate.
His explanation of what it means to be dead to sin does not come from feeling or experience. It comes from status, from our identity as a baptized member of the body of Christ.
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 (6:3–4).
Being dead to sin doesn’t mean the pull of temptation goes away. Being dead to sin is a status, an identity, a reality given through baptism into Christ. Who we truly are is who we are in Christ, and in Christ, we are dead to sin. The human body is good, exactly as God declared at creation, but it is infected with sin, and that sin must be dealt with. It must be put to death, and putting sin to death is what death does for us. But it is not our death that matters here. It is Christ’s.
Corporate Solidarity
Paul is drawing here on the concept of corporate solidarity, where what is true of the one is true of the many. Think of a king representing his people, or, in more patriarchal times, a father representing his whole family. When you were baptized, you were united to Christ so truly and genuinely that whatever is true of him is now true of you. This baptismal union with Christ is why I will never believe someone who tells me that baptism is merely an act of obedience and not a sacrament. Baptism truly and genuinely unites us to Jesus Christ, so that his death becomes our death and his life becomes our life. As Paul wrote:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (6:5).
That resurrection is our eschatological hope: what is true of him, that God raised him from the dead, will also be true of us on the last great day.
Not Yet, But Already
But the hope of resurrection is not merely a future hope. Go back to verse four. Paul does not say, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too will one day be raised.” That claim comes in verse five. In verse four, he says something different. He speaks of walking (presently) in newness of life. Verse four doesn’t say, “and you too will be raised,” but “walk now in newness of life.” This resurrection newness is something we should be experiencing right now.
This theology is the answer to Paul’s imagined interlocutor. We cannot go on sinning, because we have died to sin and are called instead to walk in a newness of life tied directly to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin (6:6–7).
Set Free From Slavery
You have not physically died, but you have been baptized into Christ, who has died, and so you have been set free from slavery to sin. Freedom does not mean the slave master stops shouting at you as though you still had to obey him. He will keep shouting orders at you, but you do not have to listen to him.
You are free. You are no longer a slave to sin.
When you hear that voice pulling you away from what you know God wants for his people, you do not have to follow it. You are free because you have died with Christ, and his death has set you free.
But death is not the end of the story. Christ not only died, but he was raised, and so we too live in hope that we will also live with him.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him (6:8–9).
Not over him, and not over those who are baptized into him.
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God (6:10).
We have been baptized into Christ. He died, but he did not stay dead. He died to sin, once for all, and in that death he broke death’s dominion forever. Now he lives to God, a life oriented toward God and his kingdom, oriented away from Adam, away from sin, away from the fallen and broken order of this world. Paul’s point is that this is who Christ is. He has died to sin and is alive to God, and because you have been baptized into him, what is true of him is now true of you.
Do the Math
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (6:11).
The word translated “consider” is λογίζομαι (logizomai), sometimes rendered “reckon.” That translation has left the impression that Paul is asking for a kind of intellectual leap of faith, as though we are not actually dead to sin but should decide to think of ourselves that way regardless of the truth. But Paul means something more concrete. λογίζομαι is an accounting term. Even “consider” is not quite strong enough. Paul is telling us to do the math.
I used to work in a retail store. At closing, you lock the doors, pull the tills, and start counting. Counting the money does not add to it or subtract from it. It only states what is already there. Doing the math does not change the equation. It states what is, and that is the hard part. Most of us find it difficult to remember that our identity is not the person we live with every day: the person who stumbles, who makes mistakes, who speaks rudely, who does all the things he wishes were not part of his life. It is easy to believe that that person is who we are. But who we are is who we are in Christ.
Paul is not asking for a leap of faith. He is asking us to do the math and remember who we are in Christ. If you have been baptized into Christ, what is true of him is true of you. You may not feel it. You may still feel the pull of temptation every day. You may hear the tempter’s demands and be inclined to give in. But you do not have to. With Christ, you have died to sin. With Christ, you have been freed from whatever enslaves and entangles you. With Christ, you can walk in newness of life by the power of his Holy Spirit. And with Christ, you will one day be resurrected, just as he was.
Wake Up and Remember
To know that, to believe it, and to live accordingly, is not easy. It takes doing the math every day. You do not have to go on being who you used to be. Leaving that old self behind is good news. You do not have to go on acting like someone still in Adam. You have been baptized into the Messiah Jesus, and what is true of him is now true of you.
So do whatever it takes, every morning, to remind yourself of that fact. If it happens in Morning Prayer, that’s great. If it happens in your own private devotional time, that’s great too. If it happens while reading Walking with Jesus, fantastic. However works best for you, you need to wake up every day and say to yourself: “I have died with Christ to sin. I have been raised with Christ to newness of life. I am free from my slavery. The life I now live, I live to God.”
Do not say it because you want it to be true. Say it because it is true. From the moment the waters of baptism first touched your body, this has been who you are.
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 (6:4).
If you have been baptized into Christ, a newness of life is available to you, already yours to be had. Do the math. Wake up every day and say it plainly: who I was is not who I am. Who I am is who I am in Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Amen.
Life Group Guide
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come before you as your people, united to your Son through the waters of baptism. As we open your Word together, we ask that you quiet our minds and soften our hearts. Help us set aside what we think we already know and receive whatever you desire to speak to us in this time. May your Holy Spirit guide our conversation, deepen our understanding, and draw each of us closer to the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, Amen.
Ice Breaker
What is one thing you do each morning to help set the tone for your day, whether it is a habit, a routine, or something small that helps you feel grounded?
Questions
Paul opens Romans 6 by asking whether we should continue sinning so that grace may abound. Why might someone actually be tempted by that kind of reasoning, and what does it reveal about how we sometimes misunderstand grace?
Baptism is described in Romans 6 as an act that truly and genuinely unites us to Jesus Christ, not merely an act of obedience. How does your understanding of baptism shape the way you think about your own identity as a Christian?
Paul says we have died to sin through our union with Christ. Since most of us still feel the pull of temptation daily, what does it mean practically to be dead to sin without feeling dead to it?
Romans 6 draws on the concept of corporate solidarity, where what is true of Christ becomes true of those united to him. Can you think of other examples from Scripture or everyday life where one person’s status or action affects the standing of many?
Paul’s language in Romans 6:6-7 evokes the image of a freed slave who still feels the pull of slavery, like Israel in the desert. In what areas of your life do you find it hardest to believe and act on the freedom you have been given in Christ?
Paul instructs us in Romans 6:11 to consider, or reckon, ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, language drawn from accounting rather than a leap of faith. What is the difference between doing the math and taking a leap of faith, and why does that distinction matter?
Walking in newness of life, according to Romans 6:4, is a present reality, not only a future hope. What does walking in newness of life look like in your daily experience, and where do you sense God calling you to live more fully into that reality?
Remembering your identity in Christ each morning is a discipline worth cultivating. What obstacles, internal or external, make it difficult to hold onto that identity throughout the day, and how might the community of the church help?
Life Application
This week, commit to beginning each morning with a simple, intentional reminder of your identity in Christ. You might say aloud, write in a journal, or pray something like: “I have died with Christ to sin. I have been raised with Christ to newness of life. I am free from my slavery. The life I live, I now live to God.” Do not say it because you wish it were true. Say it because, by virtue of your baptism, it already is true. Pay attention to moments during the week when the old voice of temptation or shame tries to define you, and practice returning to this truth as your anchor.
Key Takeaways
Our identity as Christians is not defined by our daily failures or the pull of temptation, but by our union with Christ through baptism. What is true of him is genuinely and truly true of us.
Being dead to sin is a status and identity, not a feeling. We may still experience temptation, but we are no longer enslaved to sin because we have died with Christ and been freed.
Baptism is a true sacrament that unites us to Christ’s death and resurrection. It is not merely symbolic obedience but the moment our identity in Christ was sealed and conferred.
Walking in newness of life is both a present reality and a future hope. We are called to live out our resurrection identity now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, while also looking forward to the final resurrection.
Doing the math each day, actively reminding ourselves of who we are in Christ, is a necessary and ongoing spiritual discipline. It is not a leap of faith but an honest reckoning with what is already true.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Son, who did not remain in the grave. He died to sin once for all, and he rose so that death would never again have dominion over him or over those who belong to him. As we leave this time together, help us carry with us the truth of who we are in Christ. When the voice of the old master calls, remind us that we are free. When we stumble and feel defined by our failures, draw us back to the reality of our baptism and the identity you have given us. May we wake each morning and do the math, knowing that we have died with Christ and been raised with him to walk in newness of life. We ask this in his name, and to the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.