seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Romans 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
a. Romans 6:6 Or be rendered powerless
b. Romans 6:23 Or through
Like I said yesterday..... this is as clear as mud. Paul has been touted as some great orator.... and to me... he's as clear as mud..... yuck. I read a few commentaries.... the easy English seemed to be the clearest for this morning.
Paul has emphasised God’s grace. So some people were suggesting that they were giving God honour by continuous sin. They were providing God with the opportunity to show more of his grace. Paul opposed this idea very strongly. It was a terrible idea. It was a strange way to think.
We know that sin used to control our lives. But our sinful lives ended when we became Christians. God rescued us from the power of sin. Of course, Christians still do wrong things. But they should certainly not allow sin to control their lives again.
Our ‘sinful bodies’ does not mean that the physical body itself is wicked. People called Gnostics thought this. But it is not true. ‘Sinful bodies’ means that sin controls our natural desires. Then our natural desires become sin. For example, it is natural for the body to need food. Sin can change our desire for food. We can want more food than we need. Perhaps we steal because we are greedy. And then other people suffer because we have taken their food away.
Sin does not really benefit anyone. It controls people. It ruins people’s lives. And it causes death. ‘Death’ is what Revelation (20:14; 21:8) calls the ‘second death’. This is the terrible punishment that is the result of sin. And it is permanent. But people do not have to suffer that punishment. Christ died so that we can be free from the power of sin. And we are free as soon as we invite him into our lives. Then, because Christ has freed us from sin, we can be God’s slaves. We can live a holy life on earth. And afterwards, we will live with God in heaven.
A soldier received his pay because he had earned it. His wages were what he deserved. A slave also had to work hard. But he did not receive any wages. He worked because his master forced him to work. So a slave’s efforts achieved nothing good for the slave
Paul has explained that Christians used to be slaves to sin. In other words, sin was like a master. Sin controlled their lives. But they received no wages and no benefits for their efforts. Death was the only result of their efforts.
God’s grace is wonderful. He gives a free gift that nobody deserves. People receive this gift of eternal life by faith in what Jesus did. People receive this free gift when they invite Jesus into their lives. Nobody could earn their own salvation. Only Jesus could pay the price to free people from sin. And he did that when he died on the cross.
I don't know if I got the message this morning. I tried reading several other commentaries.... and they were all gibberjabber to me. This one was kind of clear.... so remember.... I'm just an old half blind woman with an online Bible and some online commentary.... and I do not have a clue what I am talking about. I'm not a preacher..... I'm doing a chapter a day in the Bible... and I'm posting it online so I can keep myself honest. This isn't the first time I've had a problem with understanding the verses or the commentaries..... I didn't like Leviticus much either...OK... so where is Paul going with all this gibberjabber? I think he's talking about the old thought.... if we didn't sin we wouldn't need preachers..... so preachers only point out sin as sin because it's their job.... we're only human!
He could be saying "we wouldn't know we were sinning if we didn't have those stupid commandments breaking all the time......."
This morning.... the news is reporting that over 160,000 have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19. If we didn't have that test.... we wouldn't know that so-in-so had COVID.... they would have died anyway.... but the cause wouldn't have been known. Back in the days of polio..... kids were getting paralyzed..... my friends up the hill.... their mom was in an iron lung.... a big iron tube that slowly moved up and down to help her breath.... she lived in a tube and her children played on the floor around her...... it was horrible.... they wouldn't have called it polio if they hadn't had the test..
So Paul says.... "humans are all sick with this "sin" pandemic..... we sin because we can't help it..... pointing a sin out doesn't make it any more of a sin.... it just identifies the cause [like diagnosing] and the antidote is now available."
Unlike COVID-19...... the "sin pandemic" has a cure. Jesus brought the cure.... tested it.... proved it.... and offers it to us at no cost. All we have to do is believe!
Like I said.... this chapter is just not really clear..... I'm only trying to make it clear enough to learn something.....
