The new line of teaching which runs through Romans 6, 7, and 8, opens with a question which either an objector may have asked, or which Paul asks in order to forestall such an objection: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"

      Paul's teaching of grace must have been so free and good that a dull believer might have misunderstood it, or an enemy might have turned it into such a false accusation. (See 3:8.) Law-teaching would never lay itself open to such an accusation; but the gospel might. The law could never be so misunderstood; but grace might be so misinterpreted. And Paul had preached grace, wonderful and free. In 5:20 he declared that "where sin abounded grace did abound more exceedingly." So why not let us sin that grace may abound? Never, never! exclaims Paul fervently. ("God forbid," is not in the Greek. The wording there is "May it not be!"--a strong idiomatic disclaimer of an abhorrent thought or suggestion.) Then he proceeds to set forth reasons why a Christian can not, should not, must not, continue in sin. It is good to note however that Paul does not back-track, nor modify any good thing he has said about grace in order to correct this evil misinterpretation. He does not "explain" himself. He does not look back at all--he goes right ahead. What he had said about grace stands, and let all dogs bark. It is just as he said--just that good and that free and abundant, more than enough to cover all sin. And there is no if to be tacked on to that, nor is there any but to follow.

      The first reason why a justified sinner is no longer to live in sin is that he has died to sin. This death to sin is not an act of repentance or consecration, or anything the sinner himself did. It Is Christ's, death for him. Whatever is done for a man, representatively--it is the same in law as if he himself had done it. Now in His death for us Christ "died unto sin, once." (Rom. 6:10.) Therefore we who are joined to Him, who are "in Christ," for whom this act of Christ counts are (lead to sin from the (lay and moment when we were so joined to Christ. "Or are ye ignorant" (a phrase lie uses when those addressed should have known and understood)--"that all we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death.  . . " Note that the death occurs in the burial. The captious question, "Do you bury a live man or a dead man?" has no bearing here. A man is not dead to sin until lie is baptized into Christ; and then it is Christ's death that counts for him. This death is followed by a resurrection, again Christ's resurrection-for if we were joined to Him in the likeness of His death we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection--so that "like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Compare Col. 2:12 and 3:1.) For our old man--our fleshly self and sinful nature--was crucified with Him. (Compare Gal. 2:20.) [27] Thus, he says, was the body of sin done away and we are released from the bondage of sin; a point which will be discussed later.

      The teaching reaches its practical point and climax in verse 11: "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." This now is the all-important thing, without which there can be no real victory over sin. And this is the thing which, we may be assured, most Christians do not do--many because they do not even know that this is the thing to do. He says "reckon yourselves dead." That does not mean imagine yourselves to be dead. It does not mean "pretend that you are dead" when really you are not. You are dead, in Christ, since He died for you. It is exactly the same so far as your standing before God is concerned, as though you yourself had so died. It is a legal fact. God says, Take your stand on it--it is for you, it is yours: claim your right in the matter. To be sure if the man were himself actually dead he would not have to reckon himself dead. This is a death provided for Him by Christ, a death which Christ, his glorious Head, died for him, a real fact and legally his; yet a fact that must be grasped by faith and asserted, if the value of it is to be ours. When, for example, freedom for slaves was officially announced, it became a fact for all slaves. Their emancipation was accomplished. Each slave did not have to free himself--it was already done for him. But he must accept it and avail himself of it. There were instances when from fear, or in ignorance, or by choice, the slave continued in slavery, despite the fact that by law-enactment he had been set free. So there are those who, although this death to sin has taken place on their behalf, do not count on it, but consider themselves as still the subjects of sin. They still think they must make their concessions to the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof, and must give place to the devil. They still grant to sin a certain inevitable control and claim. And Sin takes all the scope you give it.

      The next verse (Rom. 6:12) is very enlightening. "Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." This shows (1) that if you choose to do so, you can still let sin reign in your mortal body, notwithstanding the fact that, in Christ, you have died to sin. (And (2) that you do not need to do so, for he says "Let not." The right and power is now yours to refuse. If by faith you grasp the fact of Christ's death, (not only for sin, but to sin) on your behalf, and that that death is truly yours, and you reckon on it, sin will be powerless to enforce its claim and sway over you. In all this you are not dealing with legal fiction, but with realities--just as the scientist reckons on the sure operation of a law of nature. Nor may we stop with negatives here. Not only do we reckon ourselves dead unto sin, but we also reckon ourselves as alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord; and so we present ourselves unto God as alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

      Take your place then as one who through Christ crucified is dead to sin, and through Christ risen, is raised with Him, and is therefore alive unto God. [28]

      In the sixth chapter of Romans the reasons are set forth why a Christian should no longer live in sin. The first was that we are dead to sin by the death of Jesus Christ, which being for us, is counted as ours. The second is this: "Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law but under grace." (Rom. 6:14.) Time was when we were bondservants of sin; but now the dominion of sin over us is ended. If a Christian still continues in sin now, he does so needlessly. Sin can not now hold dominion over him except by his leave (vs. 12, 13).

      But how is that dominion of sin broken? The answer is, by the fact that now "ye are not under law but under grace." For a deep and somewhat mysterious reason the law became the power by which sin gets the upper hand of us. (1 Cor. 15:56.) "For apart from the law sin is dead." (Rom. 7:8). How "sin"--that evil principle that resides in our fleshly nature--takes advantage of us by means of the law and thus gains dominion over us is set forth in Rom. 7 (vs. 5, 7-22). This is true not of Mosaic law alone, but (as the omission of the article in Rom. 6:14, 15 and 7:7, 8, shows) of law in general, all statutory law, all external codes of precepts, written or unwritten, designed to control men's actions. While law to some extent restrains open outbreaks of evil, it nevertheless serves to bring a man into bondage to sin. This will be explained more fully in Rom. 7.

      The one point before us at this time is that sin's dominion is broken because we are no longer under law.

      If it be asked how it happens that we are no longer under law, the answer lies again in the fact of Christ's death for us. For His death became ours when we were baptized into Christ (Rom. 6:5). Now the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth. But "we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held," and "ye were made dead to the law by the body of Christ." (Rom. 7:1, 4, 6.)

      But if we are not under law, by what is our life and conduct controlled now? The answer is "By grace." "Ye are not under law but under grace." "That as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign in righteousness." (5:21.) And what is grace? And how does grace reign? Grace is God's free favor and goodness to the unworthy. His lovingkindness controls us now. It is as if He said: "You now belong to me; and I belong to you. My interests are your interests; your interests are mine. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Now go, see and find how you may serve and walk to please Me and to advance my glory." Moreover the grace of God comes "instructing us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." (Tit. 2:11-13.)

      This may seem to be all too slender bond, and too weak to hold us in the path of righteousness. What would hinder a man of such wide liberty from going back into the ways of sin? This is the question that is now taken up and answered; and in the answer is contained the third reason why the Christian should no longer continue in sin. [29]

      "What then? shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sill unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"

      For, though, in obeying from the heart the pattern of the teaching (i. e. of Christ's death, burial, resurrection: see v. 4) we were freed from the servitude of sin and made servants of righteousness--yet, as verse 12 already showed, we were not deprived of the right of choice, nor compelled to live in the new position in which we were placed. We can, if we choose, go back to our old master, and thus again become servants of sin. This the apostle implores us not to do. For were we not delivered from that by the death of Christ, in our obedience to the gospel? (vs. 17, 18). He uses a simple human illustration (v. 19). He reminds them of the former days when they were servants of sin, and righteousness had no claim on them--how aimless, fruitless, shameful was that service. "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life."

      The final verse sums up the prospect of the servitude of sin, and the service of righteousness respectively: "For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Sin pays wages. We get what is coming to us, and it is all due and well-deserved--an evil, endless harvest. But eternal life is not a wage. If we lived a thousand years and filled up each day with good works, it could not cancel one sin from our record, nor could we earn thereby God's salvation. Eternal life is the free gift of God--a gift by grace, 5:15--in Christ Jesus our Lord.

      Before we leave this weighty chapter a word must be said concerning the much fought-over subject of baptism, which is mentioned in verses 3 and 4. Some deny that here baptism in water is referred to. But whenever "baptism" is mentioned, simply, and without further explanation, it never means anything else. To put an unusual significance on a word, arbitrarily, just because it suits our preconception to do so, violates the fundamental principle of fair exegesis. The baptism of the Spirit can only be received, not obeyed; but this is obviously an act of obedience. (See vs. 17, 18.) It is also clear that this step brought them "into Christ" (v. 3). As in Matt. 28:19 it is said to bring men "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"; and in Acts 8:16 and 19:5 "into the name of the Lord Jesus," so here it is said to introduce us into Christ.^*

      Baptism is not, as some have thought, an ordinance placed within the church; there is nothing in the church that is to be done just once. All that is in the church is stedfastly and continually to be repeated. (Acts 2:42.) But baptism is once for all; which necessarily marks it as initiatory. No magic power, no merit, no efficacy [30] lies in the act itself; but as "the obedience of faith" (comp. Rom. 1:5; 16:26) it cannot be set aside without rejecting the counsel of God against ourselves. (Comp. Luke 7:29, 30.) It is also perfectly plain (so that even those who practice otherwise admit it, a very few partisan extremists only excepted) that the baptism commanded by our Lord is immersion, for it portrays a burial and a resurrection. (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12.)

      What new line of teaching begins with Romans 6? What perversion of Paul's teaching on grace is guarded against? What reason does he first give to show that a Christian should not continue in sin? How did we die to sin? When did His death and resurrection actually become ours? What is the practical point for us? (Verse 11.) What do we learn from verse 12? What do we learn concerning baptism in verses 3 and 4? Why does sin no longer hold dominion over the Christian? How is it that the Christian is no longer under law? By what then is he controlled? When and how did he become a servant of righteousness? When a servant of sin, did he bear any fruit? What is his life and prospect now? What does Sin pay its servants? Is eternal life a pay for anything or is it a free gift? [31]

[LOR2 27-31]