Romans 6:1-14 Grace and Sin - Part 1 of 2

“But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,…What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Rom 5:20; 6:1

One of the ways that we know we are properly teaching justification by faith is by the questions that arise from the teaching. When someone properly understands justification by faith and the gift aspect of it (i.e. the grace or unmerited favor aspect of it), a question that is likely to be asked is “Isn’t this a license to sin?” When we get that question, we know we are teaching justification properly.

What is Paul’s answer to the question “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” His answer is “By no means!” Now this is where it gets interesting - look how Paul expounds on his answer. He goes to the subject of baptism and the meaning of it. Yes, he’s talking about water baptism.

Water baptism is a statement concerning a commitment related to death, burial and resurrection. I’ve always thought of water baptism as a dual sermon. It is a sermon that proclaims that the Messiah Jesus, in whom you have placed your faith, died, was buried and rose from the dead. The parallel sermon is that you died, you were buried and rose from the dead. The waters of baptism are like an invisible dye and once you’ve been immersed in them, you are forever stained and identified with this dual message.

Now for some expounding. Paul makes it clear about certain things we as believers should “know”. See how he says “don’t you know” (v.3), “for we know” (v.6), “we believe” (v.8), and “we know” (v.9). And what is it that “we know” and “believe”. In a nutshell, we should know and believe three things:

1. Baptism means that you considered yourself to have been crucified with Jesus. As a Wycliffe missionary once told me,” it is just as if, and every bit as true as” being literally crucified with Jesus. To make the decision to be baptized is to make the decision to be crucified.
2. To be crucified with Jesus means that the sin nature no longer rules over us. We are freed from the sin nature as a master in the same way that a slave who dies is no longer ruled by his master.
3. Crucifixion is followed by resurrection. Resurrection means that we come back to life not merely for the sake of living but for the purpose of living under God’s rule.

Take a moment and give some thought to your own baptism. Think of the meaning of it. Let your brain process what you’ve done according to Romans 6. Now, go live for God!