Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?

Romans 6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

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 today’s text it says:  The death that He died, He died to sin once for all. 1 Peter 3:18 says: … Christ also died for sins once for all…   Many today mistakenly believe that because Jesus died for our sins, once for all, that sin no longer matters. They believe and mislead others to believe that because of grace there are no longer consequences for sin since Jesus died to pay the price for all sin, past, present and future. The truth, as it says in today’s text, is: the wages of sin is death. The wages of sin, past, present and future is death. God’s grace given through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, His once for all death for our sins did not eliminate the consequences; the wages of sin. Rather, grace frees us from the power of sin. The text says:  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 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. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 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?   So those who are obedient to sin still experience the consequence of sin which is death. These are not just Paul’s words. In John 14:15 Jesus says:  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”      In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   So grace does not free us to continue in sin, but rather frees us to live in righteousness and obedience to Christ. Without righteousness, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  Paul says:  But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus sets a high standard for us. He says:  “You are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   God Himself repeatedly said in Deuteronomy: Be holy as I am holy.   The result of being freed from the power of sin is that we are sanctified. We are perfected as we are transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. Paul says:  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,  and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 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.   If we continue in sin, we are slaves to lawlessness, resulting in farther lawlessness.  A little sin never remains small and people rarely fall quickly into the depths of agregious sin, but rather allow small sin to grow. Galatians 5:9 says:  A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.   A little sin makes one a sinner. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 

Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit for Your grace; that You have freed me from the power of sin. Thank You that by Your grace You enable to walk in righteousness. Thank You for Your perfecting grace in my life.  Amen.