How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Romans 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ² May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for he who has died is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. ²² But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In our legal system there is, or at least is supposed to be a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Justice requires that one be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. With us in regard to sin, we are all guilty, there is no question, no doubt that we could not live completely free from sin. As Psalm 14:1-3 says:  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”     They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.  The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. There is not a presumption of innocence, we are all guilty of sin. But, by grace we are not judged, found guilty based on our own actions but rather we are judged as righteous in Christ. The text says: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.      The wages, the just punishment or result of sin is death, but we have instead been given life by grace.

Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Since Christ died for us while we were sinners, Paul then asks the question, can we continue in sin because of grace? The text says:   What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?        Although it is a free gift, one we do nothing to deserve, we cannot presume on grace. We cannot choose to continue in sin and presume that grace will continue over justice. Living in sin does not increase or enhance the grace of God.  Paul says:   Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?      Choosing sin is choosing bondage. As Paul says, we become slaves to sin when we choose to obey sin rather than God.  Paul says:    For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.    Impurity, sin and lawlessness result in further sin and lawlessness. A little sin leads to bigger sins. The answer, Paul says, is to do what is right, which results in sanctification.

We are justified, judged as righteous in Christ, freed from the wages of sin the moment we believe and receive grace. We do not become righteous so that we can come to God. Jesus came that we would be seen as righteous through Him. Yet as we live we are called to this process of sanctification. Choosing daily to live in the righteousness Christ provides. Jesus says:   “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) We are not crucified for our sins. That is not our daily cross to bear. The cross of Christ did that. Jesus paid the price for all sin. Verse 10 of the text says:  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all.  So the daily taking up of our cross is not to pay the price for our sin, but rather to daily choose to deny ourselves, our lusts and our disobedience, to daily choose to live with Christ. Verse 10-11 of the text continues:  but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.    Jesus Himself says:  ^“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

We choose daily whether to live in the abundant life, the resurrection life that Jesus gives or to follow the thief, to believe the lie and continue in bondage to sin. We are not presumed innocent and we cannot presume on grace.  Grace does not eliminate sin. Jesus did not come to redeem sin, to make sin acceptable. The wages of sin is still death, in spite of the grace of God. Grace provides us the opportunity to walk in the abundant life Christ offers. The text says:  Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,  knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;  for he who has died is freed from sin.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the demonstration of Your love, that while I was a sinner, Christ died for me. Lord Jesus Christ thank You that You paid the price for sin, once for all. There is nothing more I can do, You redeemed me. Holy Spirit, thank You for daily guiding me in sanctification, for leading me to take up my cross, to deny myself and to live the abundant life Christ came to give. May I never presume on grace, but rather in grace may I also walk in righteousness.    Amen