Page 44 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

theology is displayed for all to see. He used that pattern twice in this chapter to make two points.
We are made able to live in newness of life apart from sin by the death and resurrection of Christ by
which He died to sin on our behalf.

The key question in the first paragraph is “If our sin gives an opportunity for God’s grace to be displayed,
shouldn’t we go on sinning?”34 What the question introduced is a discussion by Paul in which he taught
the proper relationship between the reality of sin and the grace of God in responding to sin. After giving a
strongly stated “No” as the answer to that question, Paul used further questions to draw his readers into
the exercise of thinking through the theology that undergirds his answer. He directed them to think about
who Christ is, who they are, and what Christ has done in them and for them in showing the grace of God
in his work of redemption.

Who are they? They are first people who have died to sin and who therefore must not live controlled by
sin any longer. This reality has been graphically illustrated for them in the confirmation of their faith in
their baptism. Their baptism represented the reality that when they trusted in Jesus Christ, they were so
identified with Him that His death and resurrection counted as their death and resurrection.
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, they are no longer enslaved to sin and are alive to God. They
were set free from sin so that they could bear the image of God with integrity.

Who is Christ? He is the gift of God — the in-flesh demonstration of the love of God and the grace of God.
He is the one died to pay the penalty of sin. He is the one who raised from the dead and provides life to all
who trust in Him. He is the righteous one whose righteousness counts as the righteousness of all who
trust in Him. Because these things are so, they are to present themselves to God to be tools by which He
shows the glory of His grace through their changed lives that now pursue righteousness rather than
unrighteousness.

Because of who Jesus is and who those who trust in Him are — because he has done that piece of
theology for them — Paul used the next paragraph to give instructions about the proper use of the
freedom from sin that belonged to them.

The temptation is to sin so that grace might abound, but the instruction is to present themselves as tools
of God’s righteousness so that God’s righteousness will be seen living in this world through their words
and deeds. What now is to stifle sin in their lives is no longer the law but the grace of God. Living as
recipients of God’s grace they were made able to live as people who were dead to sin.

We are set free from slavery to sin so that we might use that freedom to serve righteousness that leads to
being set apart unto eternal life.

In verse 15 another volley of questions was used by Paul move the focus of his teaching to another aspect
of the relationship between sin and grace. The question is this “Since we are no longer bound to the law
because of grace should we sin to show that we are no longer ruled by the law?”35 Paul followed his “No
way” with another rhetorical question that pointed out that such an idea is absurd. To follow that
suggestion would just show that grace is not at work in you and that you are still slaves to sin.

The discussion that follows these questions focused on the nature of slavery to sin and its antidote,
slavery to righteousness. In his rhetorical question he proclaimed the principle that a person is a slave to
whoever they obey. Earlier in the chapter Paul declared who the Roman believers were because of
Christ’s work in their lives — they are corpses to sin. In verse 17 he looked back further in their lives to
who they were before they identified with Christ when he wrote, “But thanks be to God, that you who

34 Romans 6:1.
35 Romans 6:15.

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