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

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 Far from it! 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, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may 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 the one 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 time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

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

¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it! ¹⁶ Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same 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 entrusted, ¹⁸ and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation 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 gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In Matthew 24, when Jesus was asked what the signs of the end of the age before His return would be, He said: “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many people.”  Perhaps the greatest deception of our time, the thing that misleads many people is the idea that Jesus has changed His opinion about sin; that if He were here today, He would embrace the immorality of our culture. Many are misled believing that grace give license to continue in sin. In today’s text it says: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?  If we truly understand that grace is undeserved favor and that it was given through the price of Jesus suffering and sacrifice on the cross, then how could we continue in sin.  The text ends saying: For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we presume on God’s gift of grace, continuing in sin, then we will receive the payment we deserve.  

In John 3:3 Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  2 Corinthians 5:17 says: If anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. We should not be misled. We cannot continue in our old sinful ways and be in Christ. We cannot continue as we were and see the kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter how many good things we do if we choose to continue in sin. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Our society, culture and government may make laws, but they do not determine what God calls lawlessness and sin. Just because something is legal does not mean that it is good. 1 John 1:5-10 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

The text says: What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it! Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 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 entrusted, and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. In John 14:15-17;26-27 Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth… the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.”  It is the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth who lives with us and in us when we are born again in Christ, who enables us to live as new and righteous creations in Christ.

Thank You heavenly Father for Your precious gift of amazing grace. Thank You Lord Jesus Christ for paying the price for my sin. May I never forget and never be misled believing that You would embrace the very things that You suffered and died to redeem us from. Thank You Holy Spirit for enabling and empowering me to walk as a new creation, in the righteousness of Christ. Amen.