Blog 6 - Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

 


Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ


Read:

  •     Romans 6

Imagine a man who has been in prison for many years. One day he wakes up to find that his cell is wide open. He’s completely free to leave, but instead of walking out, he chooses to stay inside. Why? He’s become so used to life in prison he doesn’t know what freedom looks like anymore.

Why do think he stayed? What would you do in that situation?

You are probably thinking you would walk out and enjoy freedom. But this mirrors the message Paul gives us in Romans 6 as we are prisoners or slaves to our sin. However, we can be free from our sin when we put our trust in Jesus.

Paul starts by asking the question in verse 1 “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” Some people may say they are a Christian, but they don’t live like one. Maybe that’s you, maybe there’s a sin that you want to hold onto. You may lack the spiritual discipline to get rid of it. Jesus says in Matthew 6v24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other or else he will be to the one and despise the other.” We can see that sin can pull us away from God. For we cannot be slaves to sin and be slaves to God at the same time. (v15-16) In verse 2 Paul says, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Showing that Christ died for our sins so we should live our lives away from our old patterns of sin. But because we have now been saved, we should live like Christ. This doesn’t mean that as Christians we will never sin, but we should not be characterised by our sin.

Now verse 3, Paul reminds us that when we are not just baptised to in Jesus Christ but were also baptised to his death. This symbolises that just as Jesus died, buried and rose again, we died to our old selves and were buried with Him in baptism and alive again to God in Jesus. (V10-11)

Paul asks a similar question to verse 1 in verse 15. But this time we know we are alive in Christ and under the grace of God. So, can we still sin? Paul says, “Certainly not!” Some people may try and tell you that its fine, its just a little lie, or its just a bit of gossip. That sin will lead to more sin and more sin until we are back being slaves to sin once again (v19). We should be obedient to God, but if we do what goes against God then we will continue to be slaves to sin. Paul tells us to be slaves to righteousness (v18) from being free from sin.

As sin leads to death in the well-known verse, Romans 6v23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now Paul doesn’t mean literal death but a spiritual death. (As seen in Revelation 20v14) This is because our sin separates us from God. But God gives us the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ which gives us a way to be free from our sins. So let us be thankful that we can be together with Christ through Jesus death on the cross. As He has conquered death, and we can have life through Him.

Dear Lord, thank you for your abundant grace and never-ending mercy for us. Thank you for sending your son that we could be free from the death sin brings and we are alive in you. Help us to not be slaves to sin but walk in righteousness and Christlikeness everyday of our lives. Amen.

 

Going Deeper Questions

What does it mean to be baptised with Christ? How does that encourage us in our day to day lives? (v3-5)

How does it make you feel that we were Spiritually dead? How does this show God’s love and grace towards us?

How does God’s grace and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ impact our approach to sin? (v14-15)

Righteousness means to live according to God’s standard and to be pure and blameless in His sight. What is the relationship between obedience and righteousness in Romans 6? How does it differ from works-based righteousness? (v16-18)

We see in this passage that sin leads to death, but verse 9 that death has no dominion over him. How does that encourage us when we are feeling overwhelmed by sin and pressures of life?

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