Thoughts on Chapter 6
I have said this before but it really is impossible to look at these Chapters completely separately from each other as they work in progression with each other. Paul starts chapter 6 with this kind of incredulous statement. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” I think this is where it relates to Chapter 5 where he states that the more sin is revealed the more grace we find to deal with it and therefore it would be crazy to think that once we find and become aware of our sin that we would continue in it willingly. Of course not, Paul says we are to have died to sin and therefore it should be impossible for us to continue to live in it. Paul then declares theologically why we are baptized so that we get to participate in the death of Christ and therefore bury our own lives filled with sin so we can be raised from the dead to live a new life with him.
The question then becomes did we really die to sin? For some of us we would look at our lives and say in some areas we appear to be very much alive to sin and to that Paul might respond, “You need to die to that and bury it.” The power of this is that Jesus provided us a way to become free from the old habits of sin. Before Christ it was impossible to live free from it because the sin nature was our master that we were enslaved to. Through Christ we have the opportunity to live a new life without those past shackles holding us back. Paul is saying that is how we are to live, “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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.” (6:12-13)
The next verse that really stands out to me is verse 17-18, “But thanks be to God that, through 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. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” This wonderful picture of having the chains that we could not break falling from our lives while and then out of thankfulness and a heart full of love choose to obey and in a way become slaves of right living. Paul further explains that the end result of a life of sin is shame and death, but this new opportunity to live and be “controlled by righteousness” will lead to a life of fulfillment and holiness.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (vs. 23) Paul himself says he is just trying to illustrate a fact with a human illustration that really can’t be described with words. Death is the natural paycheck of living a life of sin, but in God’s world it’s not something we earn but are given and it’s so much better than just the opportunity to live but to live eternally with Him.
