What does it mean to be dead to sin? – Romans 6:1-5
Does grace give us an excuse to
live in sin? Unfortunately, many
throughout the history of the Christian church have drawn this very
conclusion. They argue that since we are
justified by faith apart from works (Paul’s argument in chapter 3-4), and since
this salvation is secure (Paul’s argument in chapter 5), we no longer have to
worry about the sins in our life. In
fact, given what the apostle just got through saying, that where sin abounded grace
did much more abound (5:20-21), it seems logical to conclude that grace is
magnified whenever and wherever sin abounds.
Paul is going to argue that this
isn’t the case. Not only is the occasion
for his argument rooted in a possible objection to his previous statement in
chapter 5, but it is organically rooted in his argument from our union with
Christ in the previous chapter. The
argument is this: just as we have union with Adam so that what he did accrues
to those who are in him, even so believers have union with Christ so that what
he did accrues to them. However, Christ
did not just deliver us from the guilt of sin, but also from the power of
sin. So if we claim to have union with
Christ and yet go on living in sin, we are living in a fundamental
contradiction to the reality of his redemptive work on our behalf.
The apostle’s answer to the
objection of verse 1 is that we have died to sin (ver. 2). Obviously, if you are dead to sin it’s
impossible to live in it. But what does
he mean by this? What does it mean to be
dead to sin? Now it’s important that we
understand from the very outset what the apostle is claiming and what he is not
claiming in making that statement.
Otherwise, we will go wrong in the application of the truths of this
chapter to our lives. Since this is the
central thesis to Paul’s argument, it’s important that we really understand
what he is saying here.
What I am going to argue is that
being dead to sin does not mean moral perfection, nor positional perfection,
but rather spiritual transformation.
Not Moral Perfection
First, of all, he is not saying
that if you are a Christian, you become morally perfect so that you no longer have
to struggle against sin. That would
contradict what he says later on, especially in verses 11-14. We are exhorted to not let sin have dominion
over us, not to let it reign in our mortal bodies. In 8:13, we are commanded to mortify the
sinful deeds of our bodies through the power of the Spirit. Now none of this would be necessary (not to
mention the exhortations of chapters 12-15!) if being dead to sin meant that we
are morally perfect and without sin by virtue of our union with Christ.
Now there are some throughout the
history of the church who have taught that you can be justified by faith but
that later on you may just be able to break through the power of sin over your
life and move to a different level so that you no longer have to struggle and
fight with sin any longer. Let me just
say that that is nowhere taught anywhere in Scripture. There is no indication that this side of
heaven we can achieve a sort of perfection in which we are no longer prone to
the assaults of sin. Every believer, no
matter where they are in their spiritual trajectory, are liable to fall into
sin. Let the one who thinks he stands
take heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10:12). I
don’t care how long you have been a Christian, or how many victories you have
achieved, you need to be as vigilant against sin as the newest believer. Some of the greatest moral and spiritual
failures recorded in Scripture didn’t happen to new converts but to established
saints. One thinks of King David, or the
apostle Peter, for example. It was after
Elijah’s greatest victory over the prophets of Baal that he sunk to his lowest
level of unbelief and defeatism.
Now I am not saying that you
can’t grow in grace. Of course we should
expect that. There should be in all of
us who have experienced the grace of God in our lives a measure of growth. We are to “grow up in every way into him who
is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15).
There is something wrong with us if there we are no more spiritually
mature now than we were when we were first converted to Christ.
But what I am saying is that
being dead to sin doesn’t mean that the struggle against sin goes away. And you shouldn’t conclude that because you
have these inward struggles with sin that you are not a Christian. In fact, I would say that the fact that you
are struggling against sin is evidence of life.
I would worry about someone who thought they didn’t need to worry about
sin in their life. That’s not evidence
of spiritual maturity but of spiritual folly.
Not Positional Perfection
Second, neither does the apostle only
mean by being “dead to sin” that we are legally dead to the claims of sin upon
us, what I before referred to as positional perfection. In other words, there are some who look at
these words and think that the apostle is claiming something here about our
legal position in Christ (which is perfect), even if it is not an actual
reality in our lives. This is closer to
the truth of these verses, but it is not quite right. For clearly the apostle is not just talking
about what we are positionally in Christ, but also about how his atonement has
been applied to our lives. Now it is
true that in virtue of our union with Christ that sin has no claims upon us,
and this reality is pointed to in verse 7, but the apostle is also at pains to
argue that there are definite and real differences in the lives of those who
have died to sin.
Again, we must remember that this
is an argument against continuing in sin that grace might abound. Being dead to sin is a reason why we no
longer live in sin, why it is utterly ridiculous to imagine those who are in
Christ continuing in sin. Therefore
being dead to sin must have some reference to the breaking of the power of sin
over our lives.
Spiritual Transformation
And this is what I believe is the
key idea in these words. To be dead
to sin means to be freed from the power of sin over us. It means spiritual transformation. Note that the entire context refers over and
over again to the reign of sin, to the power of sin, to the dominion of sin, to
the enslaving authority of sin (cf. 5:21; 6:6, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22). To be dead to sin must therefore have
reference to the breaking of this power of sin in the life.
What does it mean for the power
of sin to be broken in our lives? Well,
I would suggest that it means the following things.
First, it means that the enslaving
attraction of sin has been broken in our lives. Now of course I’m not suggesting that sin no
longer has its appeal to believers. If
that were the case, we wouldn’t have to have these exhortations to beware of
the deceitfulness of sin (cf. Heb. 3:13).
Sin deceives us by appealing to us.
But there is a difference. Before
we are born again, we may see that certain sins are less desirable because of
the consequences that are attached to them, but when we are born again, we
begin to see sin for what it is, that it is undesirable in itself. We begin to grieve over sins in ways that we
did not do before.
One of the reasons why sin loses
its appeal is because it has been supplanted by a superior attraction in the
heart, namely, that of God. The real
difference between someone who is in Christ and someone who is not in Christ is
the fundamental loyalty and allegiance of the heart. Those who are still “in the flesh” and
enslaved to sin are those who love themselves more than they love Christ. They may say they love God but the priorities
of their lives tell a different story. But
whereas we once loved our own sovereignty, now we with pleasure embrace the
sovereignty of God over our own lives.
We begin to taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
I often tell people that the
first time I realized I was a mathematician was the first time I read the proof
of a certain theorem and thought it was beautiful. It is one thing to read proofs and understand
them, but to read a mathematical proof and see the beauty in it is what
sets someone who is a mathematician apart from those who simply do math. In the same way, what sets a Christian apart
from those who merely do Christianity is that the true Christian sees
the glory of God and the beauty of God and the majesty of God. This is partly what the apostle is getting at
when we wrote, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Those
who see that no longer see a life apart from God as freedom but as the slavery
that it is. And in seeing that, sin
loses its power over us.
Recently I picked up the Marsden
biography of Jonathan Edwards. In it he
recounts Edwards’ own explanation of his conversion. Edwards describes how as he was reading 1
Tim. 1:17 (“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever.
Amen.” KJV), upon which “there came into my soul, and was as it were
diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the divine being; a new sense,
quite different from anything I ever experienced before.” He goes on to say that “I thought with
myself, how excellent a Being that was; and how happy I should be, if I might
enjoy that God, and be wrapped up to God in heaven, and be as it were swallowed
up in him.” He described it as a “new
sort of affection” toward God.[1] That’s the difference, and what “breaks the
power of cancelled sin.” It doesn’t
matter what sort of experience you have or have not had; what matters is what
has the attraction of your heart: is it God or is it something else? For until God has the love of our hearts, we
will still remain in bondage to sin.
Another way to put it is that
dying to sin breaks the blinding enslavement of sin within us. Sin is attractive to us because it blinds us
to greater glories. “And even if our
gospel is veiled [hid, KJV], it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of his world has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). Sin deadens our senses to spiritual delights
and realities. It is not really
primarily an intellectual problem as it is a moral and spiritual struggle. Edwards notes that up to the point of his
conversion he had had all these intellectual problems with the sovereignty of
God and the gospel. Then one day they
disappeared; and Edwards, who never lost the ability to think acutely about the
most knotty theological and philosophical problems of his day, couldn’t really
explain how this had happened – except that one day what had once seemed
unreasonable and objectionable now seemed delightful and glorious. The blinders had been removed.
But I think being dead to sin
means something much more. What is to
explain the loss of attraction that sin once had and the deliverance from
spiritual blindness? It can only be
explained by virtue of our union with Christ in his redemptive work. Because of this, there is now a power at work
in us that there never was before.
This is the whole point of verses
3-5. How can we die to sin? Because we have died with Christ: “Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? We were buried therefore with
him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a
death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like
his.”
Here is the argument: we who are
believers (as evidenced by baptism) have died with Christ. However, we not only die with him, but we
share with him in his resurrection. The
result of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection is so that “we
too might walk in newness of life.” If
we are united with him in his death, we will also be united with him in his
resurrection, and this means a different kind of life, a new life. We are dead to sin because we now live for
Christ. There has been a fundamental
change of allegiance. Once we were
enslaved by sin; now we serve and obey Jesus as our King.
But it is utterly crucial for us
to see that what makes the difference is not something in us; we are changed in
virtue of our union with Christ in his redemptive work. The life that we now experience (6:4) is the
life that he gives (5:17, 21). Our
ability to fling off the shackles of sin’s dominion and power do not come from
our own power or ability. They come from
Jesus Christ, and are intimately connected to his death and resurrection on our
behalf.
Here it is important to see the
connection between these verses and 5:12-21.
You are either in Adam or in Christ.
If you are in Adam, then you share in his death – and that death is more
than just physical death, but moral and spiritual death. But if you are in Christ, you share in his
life. Paul is now telling us what this
life looks like and what the implications are for your life. However, we must understand that this life
only comes to us as we are in Christ, united to him through the Spirit and by
faith. This life is not a product of our
own willing and doing. It is not the
result of trying harder. It is not the
outcome of a decision. Rather, it is the
fruit of our Lord’s redemptive work on our behalf, of which we become partakers
when it is applied to us by faith.
This is a reality for every
Christian. Paul is not describing an
advanced level of Christianity, he is describing what is true of every one who
professes Christ, who is baptized. If we
say we believe in Christ then we are saying that we are united to Christ in his
death, burial, and resurrection. We
symbolize it in our baptism. This is not
graduate Christianity; this is Christianity 101.
Paul certainly believes that if
we are united to Christ in this way, then there will be some definite changes
in our lives. We will no longer continue
in sin. We will walk in newness of
life. Is there a “newness” in our
lives? The apostle assumes this to be
the case for everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ.
What conclusions can we draw from
this?
First, as we have already pointed
out, but I think important to emphasize, being dead to sin does not mean
that fighting sin becomes easy. Perhaps
more importantly, it does not mean that it is automatic. Becoming a Christian still means dying to
yourself, and it means persevering through hard times. No one in the early church would ever have
imaged that following Christ was easy.
And the process of sanctification, of becoming more and more like
Christ, is part and parcel of the enduring hardness that Paul called Timothy
(and us) to (2 Tim. 2:3). Paul, in
another place, likens the Christian life to a boxing match (1 Cor. 9:26-27),
hardly a metaphor for an easy going sanctification. If you are not wrestling hard with sin, you
are likely not growing in grace. More
than that, you are painting a target on your back for Satan. The fact that Paul goes on to say that we
should not let sin reign in our mortal bodies indicates that we are still in
the struggle against sin (Rom. 6:12).
For the fact that sin still wants to reign means that it is still
fighting against us, and unless we are willing to fight back, we are going to
succumb (cf. Heb. 12:4). Also the fact
that Paul mentions our “mortal bodies” reminds us that we are not yet in
heaven, that we are not yet perfect.
The point I am driving at is that
we should never become lazy with respect to growth in holiness. We should never take it for granted. The spiritual disciplines are important. Watchfulness is essential. Prayer and Bible reading must be
cultivated. We must avoid those things
which deaden our souls to spiritual things.
Otherwise, we are setting ourselves up for a major fall. And when we fall, we usually take others down
with us – very rarely do the consequences of sin stay in the tidy margins of
our own lives.
Second, it means that we can
never really achieve any measure of spiritual success apart from the grace of
Christ. Although it is true that our
death to sin does not make fighting sin easy, yet it does make it possible
because of who we are in Christ. It is
not possible for anyone to truly grapple with sin apart from the work of Christ
for us and in us. We can only put sin to
death by the grace of Christ, by virtue of our being united with him (cf. John
15:1-5).
What this means is that our
spiritual journey is not just about what we are doing; it is about communion
with our Lord. It is about relying on
him for grace and strength. Our victory
over sin is not a product of our sheer will power; rather it is the product of
the power of Christ in us, obtained by faith.
This is why the apostle John would write, “And this is the victory that
overcomes the world – our faith. Who is
it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son
of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).
Another way to put it is that the
epistles of the New Testament are not self-help manuals. Though it is vitally important to emphasize
the role we play in disciplining ourselves for godliness (cf. 1 Tim. 4:7), yet
we must also continually emphasize that we can only do this in a way that leads
to real growth in Christ-likeness when we do so through faith in Christ,
leaning upon him and trusting in him. Our
strength for the battle does not come from within, but from without – from
heaven itself. Do you want to put sin to
death? Then look to Christ! Continually come to him for help and strength
and grace. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me” (Gal. 2:20).
It also means that if you are not
a Christian and are struggling with sin, what you need is not better advice but
a Savior. The bonds of sin that restrain
us can never be broken by our own will-power.
It takes the power of God. You
need the gospel. You need to look to the
Savior before you need anything else.
Now this doesn’t mean that we
don’t do anything. This is no excuse for
laziness. But we must continually
preserve the balance of Phil. 2:12-13: work out your own salvation, yes – but
do so knowing that it is only possible because God is working in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.
Third, it means that if we are
in Christ, there will be a definite difference in our lives. Note how Paul puts it in verse 5: “we shall
certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” For Paul, sharing in Christ’s resurrection
means spiritual transformation (ver. 4; cf. also Phil. 3;10-11). It was unthinkable for Paul to imagine a
Christian whose life did not change as a result of his or her union with
Christ. Today, there are still people
around who claim you can be elect, born again, a believer, or whatever, and yet
go on living in sin. This is complete
and total rubbish. If you are a
Christian, there will be newness of life.
It is impossible to imagine Christ giving new life to someone and yet
that person going on as if they were still dead in their sins. I wonder if this is one reason why the
apostle mentions the “glory of the Father” in verse 4. It was the glory of the Father that raised
Christ from the dead, and that same glory and power is part of our own
spiritual resurrection (Eph. 1:19-20).
How can we not be completely transformed when shined upon by the glory
of the Father himself?
Are you a Christian? Then be encouraged! Don’t think that you are on this journey
alone, or that it is up to you to get to the end. You are united to Christ, and united to him,
to his power and grace for strength to fight the very thing that most threatens
your joy: sin. On the other hand, beware
of a legalistic spirit that looks inward instead of upward. Every step along the way, look to Christ,
rely on him, trust in him, and love him above all things.
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