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Read Romans 6:1-14
So chapter 6 opens with a question
based on the last thought of chapter 5. We rejoice in this truth,
that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (as in KJV) and
that as sin reigned in death, grace will reign through righteousness
much more. Paul, in chapter 6, opens with the question and answer
method that he has employed before in this book. It is as if there is
some imaginary person who Paul is talking to that keeps interrupting
him with questions. This was called the diatribe and was frequently
employed in ancient literature. What is the question that this
imaginary person poses to Paul? “Are we to continue in sin so that
grace may increase?” In other words, so if grace is going to
abound...literally superabound...over our sin, maybe we should just
sin more so that there will be more grace! Doesn’t that make
sense?
What is Paul’s response to this
question? “May it never be!” This was one of the strongest
negative words in the Greek language. We might translate it, “No
way!” or “Absolutely not!” Then Paul gives an answer to why he
is pushing back at this idea so hard. He tells them, “Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have
been baptized into His death?”
This is the only time in Romans that
Paul speaks of baptism. I’m finding out that when you read
commentaries on this chapter about this verse and the next one, which
also speaks of baptism, that there are about as many ideas of what
Paul means as their are commentators. Rather than turn to
commentators, we want to turn to scripture itself to help us
understand what Paul meant here.
Let’s look at baptism in other places
in the NT. First of all, there are several different baptisms
mentioned in the Bible. Can you name some? John’s baptism, Baptism
of the Holy Spirit, water baptism, are the three most predominate.
Let’s talk about John’s baptism briefly. Go with me to Matthew 3.
Let’s read beginning with verse 5. (Read Matthew 3:5-6) So John’s
baptism was a baptism of confessing sins, or of repentance as it says
later in the chapter. His baptism was preparing the way for the one
who could actually do something about their sins, who could atone for
them. John himself would point to a greater baptism to come. (Read
Matthew 3:11) John prophesies here that Jesus would baptize them with
the Holy Spirit and fire. I don’t think that this is two different
baptisms. Rather, I believe that this is two different ways of
describing the same experience. (In Mark, he says, “He will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit.)
When would this happen? At Pentecost.
Read Acts 1:4, 5. So here, Jesus reiterates John’s prophesy adding
“not many days from now.” Let’s go to Acts 2. Read 2:1-5. This
is the literal fulfillment of John’s prophesy. After this, Peter
preaches a powerful message. Let’s pick up at the end of this
message. (Read 2:37-42). After Peter himself had been filled with the
Holy Spirit, he was able to preach as he had never preached before.
And the gospel had an effect on people like it had never had before.
They were pierced to the heart, in other words, it went straight
through to the depths of their being. Their immediate response was,
“what shall we do?” Peter responds that they should repent and be
baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of sins. The result
would be that they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He
would go on and exhort them to be saved. But...to be saved from what?
From this perverse generation. Three thousand responded. Did they
then go on their merry way and return to life as if nothing had
happened? Not hardly! Verse 42 says that they “continually devoted
themselves, to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to breaking
of bread (or communion), and to prayer. Let’s read on. (Read verses
43-44) When you read this, you can’t help but see power. These
people’s lives had been totally transformed by the work of the Holy
Spirit. Think about John’s prophecy. He said that this baptism
would be like fire. What does fire do when it touches something? It
burns out impurities. And it transforms. Nothing touched by fire is
ever the same again. These people would never be the same again. The
baptism of the Holy Ghost utterly changed their lives forever. Yet,
there were outward signs, but they were only a demonstration of what
had happened in the heart.
Let’s go to one more scripture before
we go back to Romans. Read 1 Peter 3:18-21. Peter says that Jesus was
put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. He mentions
Noah. He and his family were brought through a monumental baptism,
weren’t they. Were things different after their baptism in water?
You bet they were! When they left the ark, they were entering into a
new world. The old world was gone. In verse 21, Peter says that this
corresponds to baptism. Here, he is obviously talking of water
baptism. It doesn’t literally save us, but it is a figure of our
salvation. He says it’s not the removal of dirt from the physical
flesh, but “the answer of a good conscience before God.” (KJV)
When you are baptized, you are participating in a one-act drama. You
are portraying the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You are
saying that you believe that Jesus died for your sins, that he was
buried for your sins, and that He was raised to intercede for you
forever. However, you are also acknowledging that something has
happened in you. You have been baptized with the Holy Ghost (which is
none other than the Spirit of Christ), that your sins are washed
away, that your conscience has been made clean...and that you have
been saved from the filth of this world...from this perverse
generation that you and I live in. You are not just saved from hell
to go to heaven. You are saved from the old life to begin a new life.
(2 Cor. 2:14-17?)
Let’s go back to Romans 6. Let’s
re-read verses 3 and 4. How many baptisms were there at Pentecost? 2
. I believe there are two baptisms here in Romans 6 as well. There is
the baptism of the Holy Spirit in verse 3 which he described as being
baptized into Christ Jesus...being baptized into his death. This was
for those at Pentecost a transformative event. For those who have
been born of the Spirit or regenerated, it is also a transformative
event. In verse 3, Paul says, “therefore (or because of this) we
have been buried with Him through baptism into death,” (that’s
transformation...the old life is gone now!). As Jesus was raised into
a new life of power and purpose, so we now are raised that we might
walk into a new life.
He goes on with this thought in verse
5. This baptism of the Holy Spirit unites us with Him in the likeness
of His death. Because of this, we can be assured that we will be
raised in the likeness of His resurrection. But Paul doesn’t stop
there. The effect of this is not only that we will ultimately be
raised with Christ at the final resurrection, but it has an effect
for right now. Look at the order of things in verse 6. First of all,
in this baptism, he says that our old man (or old self) was crucified
with Him. We died. What is the result of this death? That our body of
sin might be done away with? What do you think he meant by that? Do
you think he means the physical body? I don’t think so. My physical
body is still hanging around! I believe he’s talking about our old
life. The way we used to do things in the body. The word translated
“done away with” means “to render idle, inactivated,
unemployed.” Our old nature is still there, but now it’s
unemployed! What is the purpose of this body of sin being
inactivated? So that we would no longer be slaves to sin. In other
words, that we would now be free from sin. This is the answer to the
question in verse 1. Jesus doesn’t just save us from our sins so
that we can continue sinning. He saves us from our sins so that we
can be freed from sin!
Then in verse 7 Paul continues his
thought by saying that “he who has died is freed from sin.” What
do you think he means by that? In verse 6, he depicts sin as a
master. Before we are “baptized into Christ”, we are held in
bondage by that master. We sin because we are sinners. We are sinners
because we sin. Without Christ, we are alive to sin but dead to God.
With Christ, we are alive to God but dead to sin. This doesn’t mean
that we have no capacity to sin anymore. It means that we have lost
our love for sin. What tasted good to us doesn’t taste good
anymore. We are no longer rebels against God.
In verses 8 through 10, Paul uses
Christ as an example of being dead to sin. Jesus, of course, had no
sin, yet He became sin for us on the cross. In verse 10, it tells us
that He died to sin once for all. That was on the cross. The result
of sin was death. Sin did all it could to Christ. Sin killed him.
Your sins and my sins killed Jesus. But now, the result of that sin,
death, has no more dominion over Him. He died once, never to die
again. In Hebrews, it says, He ever lives to make intercession for
us. Here it says, “the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Before we go on, I want to talk some
about this baptism into death. Paul takes it for granted that all of
his Roman brothers and sisters in Christ understand what he is
talking about...that they have all experienced this. I’m afraid
today that the average Christian wouldn’t have a clue what he’s
talking about. This “death to sin” is the call of Christ to walk
with Him. It is the call to leave all and follow Him. Repentance
means to turn one way and walk the other way. That is the essence of
what we are called to do in Christ. We cannot turn to Christ and His
new life without turning from the old life. Yet men today seem to
think that they can be in Christ and in sin at the same time.
Bacholorette...Hannah Brown...I
refuse to not stand in the sun. I refuse to feel shame. I refuse to
believe the lies and evil that flood my comments. I am standing firm
in believing that maybe God wants to use a mess like me to point to
His goodness and grace….“I have had sex and Jesus still loves
me!”
David Wilkerson…”The reason that
we continue in sin is because we don’t have the fear of God in
us…There is no victory over any besetting sin unless the fear of
God has been implanted.”
We
live in an era of what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace.” It is
grace that doesn’t change us. It is grace that gives us salvation,
but doesn’t call us to renounce sin.
"Cheap
grace is the idea that "grace" did it all for me so I do
not need to change my lifestyle. The believer who accepts the idea of
"cheap grace" thinks he can continue to live like the rest
of the world. Instead of following Christ in a radical way, the
Christian lost in cheap grace thinks he can simply enjoy the
consolations of his grace." ~
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"When
Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." ~ Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
Watchman
Nee:
If a believer could understand the
full implication of the cross at the time he is born anew he would be
freed wholly from sin on the one side and on the other be in
possession of a new life. It is indeed regrettable that many workers
fail to present this full salvation to sinners, so that the latter
believe just half God's salvation. This leaves them as it were only
half-saved: their sins are forgiven, but they lack the strength to
cease from sin. Moreover, even on those occasions when salvation is
presented completely sinners desire just to have their sins forgiven
for they do not sincerely expect deliverance from the power of sin.
This equally renders them half-saved.
If a person is “half-saved” as
Watchman Nee calls it, are they really saved? I wouldn’t bank on.
In the first 5 chapters of Romans, Paul
outlines the wonderful news of salvation by grace through faith.
Beginning in chapter 6, Paul gives us “the other side of the coin.”
This is what distinguishes “cheap grace” from “costly grace.”
Here, we are “bid to come and die.”
Let’s look at one more scripture
before we move on in Romans:
Read Titus 2:11-14
11
For
the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12
teaching
us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13
looking
for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior Jesus Christ, 14
who
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed
and purify for Himself His
own special people, zealous for good works. (NKJV)
God’s
grace brings salvation. It is available to all men. But this same
grace teaches us that we should deny ungodliness, worldly lusts or
desires and that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in
the present age. If we don’t teach that side of grace, we’ve only
taught half of the salvation story. That’s why we get so many “half
Christians.” I want to be a whole Christian, don’t you!
Let’s
look at verse 11. Up until now, Paul has told us to do only one
thing. What is it? Believe. That is one side of the coin. Now, here
on the other side of the coin is the call to follow Christ...and die
to sin. He says, as Christ died and was raised to die no more, you
have died with Him to sin no more. Now...consider yourselves to be
dead to sin.
To
die to sin does not mean that we can never sin anymore. As we’ve
already stated, it is death to the love of sin. Yet even the love of
sin can be resurrected in our lives if we don’t actively turn from
it. We have died to sin...now we have to act like it. And we have to
act like we are alive to God in Christ Jesus...which we are!
Verse
12 goes on to say, “Therefore, or as a result of this, don’t let
sin reign in our mortal bodies so that we obey its lusts.” Remember
what we talked about last week from the last verse of chapter 5? Sin
at one time reigned in our lives, but now we are under the reign of
grace. Why would we now turn back to our former master?
At
the end of the Civil War, all of the slaves in the United States were
set free. Yet, not all of them knew that they were free for some
time. Some of them, though legally free, were practically in bondage
to their old masters. In some cases, even after they found out that
they were free, they returned to their old masters because it was
what they knew. They were comfortable with being in slavery. This is
how it is with so many Christians. They have been set free from sin,
but they return to their old way of life. They haven’t considered
themselves to be dead to their old master.
Look
at verse 13. Paul says don’t go on presenting the members of your
body as members of unrighteousness but instead present yourselves to
God. The slave that was legally free but still under the will and
sway of their old masters were not really free, were they? The word
translate “present” means “to stand beside” or “to place at
one’s disposal.” How crazy would it be to be free from your old
tyrannical master and then present yourself to be at his disposal?
Yet, I’m afraid that is what so many do!
In
verse 14, Paul gives us the reason that we are not to present
ourselves to sin. Before we encountered Christ, sin had dominion over
us. It was our master. Yet, now, we have been made free from sin. We
are not under the law of sin but under grace.
I’d
like to end with the story of a man named William Cowper.
William
Cowper was born in England on November 26, l73l. His life was full
of personal anguish. At five, his mother died, and Cowper, a timid
and sensitive child, was treated with great cruelty by an older boy.
Other school experiences were also painful. At eighteen William began
to study law, and fell in love with his cousin Theodora Cowper, but
her father did not approve of the match. Neither of them ever
married.
After
completing law studies he made little exertion in the field. Later he
was offered a government position for which he would have to be
examined. William was so terrified of having to answer questions that
he worked himself into a fit of madness. At one point, he became so
despondent that he attempted suicide. After time in a private asylum,
he recovered his reason. Cowper moved to the country town of Olney,
where John Newton, the ex-slaver, was pastor. Soon they were close
friends.
In
1771, Newton, became concerned with Cowper's increasing melancholy.
Hoping to lift his spirits by keeping him busy, Newton suggested that
he and Cowper co-author a book of hymns. Newton himself often wrote
hymns to illustrate his Sunday sermons. "Amazing
Grace"
is one of the 280 hymns he wrote for the Olney Hymns. Cowper wrote 68
of the hymns, including "Oh for a closer walk with God,"
"God moves in a mysterious way," and "There is a
fountain filled with blood."
The
Olney Hymns first introduced Cowper to the world. Cowper kept writing
poetry and became famous. In
1773, Cowper became engaged to Mary Unwin, but he suffered another
attack of madness. He had terrible nightmares, believing that God has
rejected him. Cowper would never again enter a church or say a
prayer. When he recovered his health, he kept busy by gardening,
carpentry, and keeping animals. In spite of periods of acute
depression, Cowper's twenty-six years in Olney and later at Weston
Underwood were marked by great achievement as poet, hymn-writer, and
letter-writer. His first volume of poetry, Poems by William Cowper,
of the Inner Temple was published in 1782 to wide acclaim. William
Cowper died of dropsy on April 25, 1800. At the time of his death,
his Poems had already reached their tenth printing.
One
of his most famous hymns is hardly known now, yet I love the
sentiment of it. This depressed man, who even though famous, lived a
very difficult life, loved the Lord. He hated sin as much as he loved
God. So must we…
O
for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame, A light to
shine upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!
Where
is the blessedness I knew, When first I saw the Lord? Where is the
soul refreshing view Of Jesus, and His Word?
What
peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet their memory still! But they
have left an aching void The world can never fill.
Return,
O holy Dove, return,Sweet messenger of rest; I hate the sins that
made Thee mourn And drove Thee from my breast.
The
dearest idol I have known, Whate’er that idol be Help me to tear it
from Thy throne, And worship only Thee.
So
shall my walk be close with God, Calm and serene my frame; So purer
light shall mark the road That leads me to the Lamb.
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