6:2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death,
6:3 Or don't you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?6:4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death,
that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we also might walk in newness of life.
6:6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him,6:8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;
that the body of sin might be done away with,
so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.6:7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
6:9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more.Applications:
Death no more has dominion over him!
6:10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time;
but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
6:11 Thus also consider yourselves also to be dead to sin,6:12 Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
6:14 For sin will not have dominion over you.
For you are not under law, but under grace.
Application
How do you go about counting (reckoning) yourselves to be dead to sin
but alive to God?
List various motivations we may have for not sinning.
How might you go about not letting sin reign in and through your physical
body?
vs 14 What does "not being under law, but under grace" have
to do with sin not being our master?
vs 3 Baptized into Christ: This is not the same as being baptized into water. For water baptism doesn't save any more than communion does. Many, if not most Christians, are water baptized before they really believe. Many are baptized simply as a sign they are commiting themselves to follow Christ. But they are not actually saved until they put their faith in His atoning work on the cross. And many do not even realized what that means for them personally until some time later in their Christian life. "Baptize" simply means to immerse one thing into another. You can immerse something into water or fire or Christ. To be immersed into Christ is like Noah being placed into the Ark. There he was safe from God's wrath, represented by the flood waters.
vs 4-10 When we were immersed into Christ, we were immersed into his death. He speaks of death in the past tense. So what is it that we died with respect to? For we still face a physical death in the future. We have died with respect to the wrath that sin incurs, having had our sins forgiven. And not only so, but also raised with him and now being alive with respect to God.
vs 7 "anyone who has died has been freed from sin". The word "freed" is "justified" which indicates that he is not talking about the influence of sin over one's behavior, but over one's destiny. By ellipsis according to the context this really means "anyone who has died with Christ has been justified from sin".
vs 11-13 Therefore, according to this section, the motivation for not sinning is that by faith we reckon that our salvation status has been changed. By the grace of God our sins have been forgiven having been payed for through the death of Christ and now we have a living relationship with God whom we serve and a destiny which has been made secure. If this is our new status and the new role to which we have been assigned, then it is only appropriate that we physically behave that way by ceasing from sin and rather offering our bodies in service to God, which implies also that we have the ability to do so.
vs 14 What does "sin shall not be your master" mean? His statement "because you are not under law, but under grace." reinforces the idea of "master over your destiny". For as believers our destiny is no longer determined by whether we sin or not, as if we were under the law, but by the fact that our sins have been graciously forgiven. Furthermore, he's using the future tense "shall not", as opposed to the subjunctive "should not" or present "does not", to again reinforce the idea of sin controlling our future destiny. But if he's referring to our destiny, then what then is the motivation for not sinning. Same as
1John 3:2,3 "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."But for those under the law, who have sin as their master controlling their destiny, what is their motivation to sin? Simply the fact that, having sinned, they are condemned and a change of behavior will not change that fact. Thus they behave as condemned people in the futility of their thinking and depravity of their hearts.
However there is another aspect of sin not having dominion over us which John alludes to in 1st John. That is that having been born of God, sin no longer has mastery over our behavior. For speaking in a lifestyle sense, John writes: "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." 1John 3:9 (niv) The greek word for "cannot" indicates he is speaking of a loss of ability as a result of being born of God. We of course continue to experience struggle with sin, but it is no longer viewed as a master over our behavior, but simply an enemy which we will inevitably overcome. For "everyone born of God overcomes the world."1John 5:4 These are inevitable effects that God graciously works in us under the New Covenant. For not only are we forgiven of sin, but also are being transformed to be made into the image of Christ. These are the two aspects of the New Covenant "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." Heb 10:16,16