Session 15 | Romans 6:6-14
Romans 5:12-8:39 | Giving Testimony To The Validity Of The Mystery
Supplemental Resource, Romans Graphically Presented, pg. 28
Romans 6:1-7:25 | A Message To Believing Jews In Overlap Times
Supplemental Resource, Romans Graphically Presented, pgs. 32-34
Romans 6:3-14 | Baptized Into Christ
Supplemental Resource, Romans Graphically Presented, pgs. 33
Verses 3-5 – see session 14
#### Verse 6 – Green
Paul has been (and continues) with the first-person plural pronoun, in reference to himself and his apostolic brothers. If these verses are taken to refer directly to the Body of Christ, the pronoun usage is difficult to explain. We will note a change of pronoun beginning in verse 8.
When the apostles (and those who followed them) took baptism in the name of Jesus, they were buried with him by baptism unto death (v. 5), that is, they took a death sentence upon themselves. Now Paul says that having done so, we should not serve sin.
Even though you and I have not taken a death sentence upon ourselves by following Christ, we would still agree that we should not serve sin, having become an ambassador for Christ.
#### Verse 7 – Green
This verse is simply stated and challenging to interpret. The verse cannot simply be saying that dead people no longer sin (for such a message see verse 22, or 1 Peter 4:1). Rather, it is saying that he that is dead is justified from sin. On justified, see the Strong’s lexicon (“to render righteous”) and the KJV translator’s note.
Whatever the meaning of the verse, I would caution against simplistic answers. It could be a reference to those faithful Jews who had died for Christ, and Paul was convinced they would stand with Him as well.
#### Verse 8 – Green
Is a saved person, having received a gift of salvation, able to claim to be dead with Christ? Is it a work to be dead with Christ?
The verb translated dead is the aorist active tense. As in verse 10, it can be understood to be as we died, and thus fits what we have been saying all along, that the sect of the Nazarene took upon themselves a death sentence when they were baptized in Jesus’ name. Paul is saying, with faithful resignation, that if the apostles die because of their alliance with Christ, they will gain life with Him.
The one struggling with this should ask, "must we die with Christ in order to live with Him? No person who holds to a free-grace theology would give an affirmative answer, since dying with Christ and believing in Christ are not the same.
What we have in this verse is something that, when taken literally, works well for the Kingdom Gospel but not for the Grace Gospel. Under Grace, this verse cannot be taken literally.
#### Verses 9-10 – Blue
These verses both summarize what Paul has said and give introduction to the words he is about to say. In verses 1-8 Paul has been speaking in the first-person plural (we), and in verses 11 and following he will be speaking in the second-person plural (ye).
The truths of verses 9-10 are a theological truth valid both in the Kingdom sense and in the Grace sense, thus I have put them in blue letters, as directly applicable to us.
Christ has been raised from the dead once for all, and death hath no more dominion over him. He died unto sin once but today and forevermore he liveth.
#### Verse 11 – Blue
Paul now switches from speaking of himself and the apostles to speaking to the Roman Jews. I have given this blue lettering because they are now not under the law, but under grace (v. 14), thus making them to be under the same dispensational truth as we are today.
Paul would like his audience (them and us) to consider themselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. This is remarkably different than an instruction to die to sin in order to live with him (v. 8), and such is an instruction he never gave. But for a believer under grace to reckon…yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin is simply to call for an appropriate response to God’s grace.
#### Verse 12 – Blue
Being alive unto God the believer can but should not let sin reign in the mortal body. Yet how easy it is to obey the body rather than to live for the glory of God. Sin must constantly be on a believer’s “radar,” and he or she must constantly strive to overcome the lusts of the flesh.
Note that this neither saves a person nor gives any proof or evidence of their salvation. There are many moralists and ascetics who deny the flesh, and this is not proof of holiness nor salvation. The idea that works must prove salvation comes from failing to rightly divide the Scriptures.
Southern Baptist Pastor JD Greer expresses the “works prove your salvation” theology in his article Two Ways To Know You Are Saved. He says,
Rather than thinking of salvation like a certificate, imagine it more like sitting in a chair. When you first got saved, confessing Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you “sat down” in the chair. Later on, when you begin to doubt, you don’t need to recall the memory of sitting down. You need to just look down and see that you are currently sitting. Your present posture is better proof than a past memory. …The way you know you are doing it now is not by remembering when you first started doing it, but by reflecting on the present posture of your heart. So the question is not, “Can I remember praying a prayer?” or “Was my conversion experience really emotional?” The important question is, “Are you currently resting on Jesus as the payment for your sin?”[1]
It is certainly right for a believer to work to live holy lives. It is always wrong to equate such efforts as proof of salvation.
#### Verse 13 – Blue
Paul continues by elaborating on verse 12. The English word member comes from Latin membrum, meaning any part of the body (compare James 3:5).
The word yield is from the Greek παρίστημι [paristami], which is literally to stand next to. Thus, Paul says, don’t stand next to unrighteousness but stand next to God."
#### Verse 14 – Blue
The verb translated have dominion is in the future tense. The reason that sin shall not have dominion over you relates to being not under the law, but under grace. The word sin is ἁμαρτία [hamartia], which is to miss the mark. Under the law there is a mark to miss. Under grace, however, there is only a gift to receive!
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[[1]](#_ftnref1) Greer, JD. Two Ways To Know You Are Saved. [https://jdgreear.com/2-ways-to-know-you-are-saved/](https://jdgreear.com/2-ways-to-know-you-are-saved/). (Accessed March 9, 2023).
