THE GOSPEL OF
CHRIST
SPREADING THE SOUL-SAVING MESSAGE OF JESUs
(Chapter 6)
Introduction by narrator accompanied by a cappella singing:
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. Spreading the soul-saving message of Jesus. And now, Timothy Sparks and Ben Bailey.
Ben Bailey:
“Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom. 5:20). I’m Ben Bailey.
Timothy Sparks:
And I’m Timothy Sparks. Welcome to our study of the Book of Romans. We hope you will visit our website at www.thegospelofchrist.com. There, we have streaming audio and video lessons available, which we hope you will feel free to download to aid you in your study of God’s Word. We have a number of subjects and series of studies on various books of the Bible. We also make available DVDs and CDs of our broadcasts, completely free of charge. We even pay the postage. Also, feel free to send us an e-mail. We would be happy to hear from you. Send us your Bible questions, and we will be glad to answer them with a book, chapter, and verse response.
We now come to Romans 6. Paul’s discussion in this chapter is actually based upon his statement from Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded grace abounded much more.” Where sin abounded, God’s grace superabounded. God is able to deal with the sin problem. Why? Because of Christ’s willingness to come to this world and to die on the cross for your sins and for mine. God’s grace superabounded. That naturally leaves questions in the minds of readers of the Book of Romans. If God’s grace superabounds where sin had abounded greatly, then why can’t we just sin more and more, so that we, in turn, will receive more and more of God’s grace?
Ben Bailey:
Paul deals with this in Romans 6:1 when he asks, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” He says in verse 2, “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Paul’s point is that if we’ve died to sin, how shall we live again to sin? Once we became a child of God, we died to sin. We gave up our old, sinful ways. If we died to sin, we shouldn’t want to be living for it again. If a person is going to become a Christian, he must first and foremost be willing to give up a life of sin. Many people are not willing to leave their sin behind—whether it’s an addiction to drugs, alcohol, or tobacco, or whether it’s some kind of sexual sin. Some people can’t become a Christian because they’re simply unwilling to stop sinning. But if a person is willing, God is willing to help. He is willing to give you aid in those times. Remember the words of Paul in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This is the very reason that we cannot continue in sin.
Timothy Sparks:
Paul is telling us that the grace of God does not give us
a license to sin. The apostle asked, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue
in sin, that grace may abound? Certainly not!” What he is telling us is that
God’s grace doesn’t mean that you can commit any and every sin you want to do.
Rather, the grace of God enables us to escape the slavery of sin. Paul explains
in Romans 6:3-4 that we died to sin when we were buried with Christ in immersion.
Paul’s point in this context is not to tell us about the essentiality of
baptism. His point is to explain that when we were baptized into Christ (which,
yes, is an essential part of God’s plan of salvation), then we crucified and buried
the old man. Now, we have been raised—resurrected to live spiritually in
Christ. There is a spiritual resurrection, just as Christ was resurrected physically
from the dead. Paul’s point here was not to emphasize baptism. Instead, he was telling
Christians who had already been baptized that at they point they were baptized,
they had crucified their old selves and had been raised to live for Jesus.
Thus, they were to no longer live in the sins from which they been delivered. Baptism,
therefore, is seen as that which separates the sinner from the saint. It’s much
like in the day of Moses when he parted the
Ben Bailey:
Paul answers the question about continuing in sin by going to the heart and core of the Gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Why can’t we continue in sin? It is because of the death, burial and resurrection process we go through at conversion. When a person obeys the Gospel and becomes a child of God, he dies to a life of sin. If someone was converted and they didn’t die to a life of sin, then they really didn’t repent and weren’t converted the way God wanted them to be. So we die to sin. Then we’re buried with Christ. Just as Christ died and was buried, so we, too, died and were buried. At baptism, we bury our old life. We bury the old man in a watery grave. Then we rise to walk in “newness of life.” So we can’t continue a life of sin—because we died to it! We put that life behind us. This is a beautiful picture of the whole conversion process. Jesus was willing to die for me. I must die for Him by dying to sin. He was willing to be buried for me. I must bury my old man. He, by the power of God, was resurrected for me. So I, if I’m going to be like Christ, must be “resurrected” and start all over. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold all things are made new.” This, then, is the reason we can’t live a life of sin. Granted, it was not the point of the apostle Paul to talk about the essentiality of baptism in this context. But from the illustration he used, we can learn what the correct mode of baptism is. Paul would not use an illustration that would contradict the very idea of baptism. In our world today, baptism can be considered to be one of three things. It may be sprinkling, pouring, or complete and total immersion. But how does the Bible view baptism. Is it sprinkling? Is it pouring? Or is it immersion? Romans 6 serves answers that question decisively. Paul explains that it is a burial. Think about the last time you went to a funeral. The body of the deceased was completely encased in the ground—on both sides and on the bottom. Then dirt was poured on top of that. It wasn’t a little sprinkling of dirt on the body. It was completely immersed in dirt. The same thing is true of a baptism. In God’s plan of salvation, baptism is a burial—a complete immersion.
Timothy Sparks:
From Colossians 2:12, we learn that we are buried with
Christ in immersion. At a funeral, whom do you bury? Do you bury a person who’s
alive? No, you bury someone who has died. Paul is saying that at your baptism,
you were dead in sin, but then you were buried. You were buried a sinner. You
were raised a saint. Some in the religious world today want to contend that baptism
is not the point at which we are saved. They suggest, “You accept Jesus into
your heart, and that is the point at which you’re saved—prior to baptism.” According
to the Scriptures, that’s not correct. According to the Scriptures, a person is
dead in sin. He buries the sin at baptism, and then is raised to walk in
newness of life (
Ben Bailey:
In Romans 6, Paul discusses baptism as a burial. He does the same thing in Colossians 2:12 as well. There are really three other passages that go along with this, and that teach that baptism can only be properly administered via immersion. Think of John 3:23. The text indicates that John was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because “there was much water there.” Why did John need to baptize somewhere where there was “much water”? The only logical conclusion that we can reach is that he had to have enough water to fully immerse people. We might think of the example of Jesus. In Mark 1:10-11, we read of Jesus’ baptism. The text tells us that as Christ came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. The question we have to ask is this: Before someone can “come up out of” the water, what must they do prior to that? They have to “go down into” the water. Thus, Jesus baptism was full-body immersion. He went down into the water, and He came up out of the water. Then the Spirit descended upon Him. Many people today ask the popular question, “What would Jesus do?” When it comes to baptism, Jesus would be immersed. In fact, He was immersed! Another passage to remember as well is that of Acts 8 where we read of the conversion of the Ethiopian nobleman. We read that Philip and this man were traveling down the road. They came to a certain body of water. The nobleman said, “Here is water; what hinders me from being baptized?” Philip told him, “If you believe, you may.” He did believe. So, Philip and the nobleman got out of the chariot and went down into the water, where Philip baptized the nobleman. Afterwards, they both came up out of the water. This nobleman was traveling. No doubt, as any traveling man would, he had with him some water to drink. It was a long trip. There wasn’t a convenience store at every corner like there is in our culture today. No doubt he had taken something to drink along with him as he traveled through that dry region. Why is it the case that he didn’t just stay in the chariot and have Philip sprinkle a little water on him? It’s because baptism is full-body immersion. If you have not been baptized the way Jesus was—if you’ve not been baptized that way the Bible commands—you desperately need to do that. Your soul stands in jeopardy until you do it. We don’t say these things to offend you. Rather, we tell you this because we love your soul. We want you to obey the Gospel—the way God set it up to be obeyed.
Timothy Sparks:
Another thing we learn from this study of what God would have us to do is that Jesus was baptized “to fulfill all righteousness.” When Jesus came to John, John said, “I have need to be immersed by you, and are you coming to me?” (Mt. 3:14). Jesus said “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is appropriate for us to fulfill all righteousness” (vs. 15). Jesus was not immersed for the same reason that you and I must be immersed. Jesus had no sin. Rather, He had to be baptized because it was a command of God. In order to fulfill all righteousness—in order to do all that was right—Jesus had to be baptized. Today, we have to be baptized so that we can be forgiven. It’s not just, ,“Well I think God wants me to do it.” It’s the fact that God has said, to use Peter’s words, “baptism also saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21). Baptism is the point at which we come into Christ. Paul said in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as have been immersed into Christ, have put on Christ.” Do you want to be clothed with Christ? Then you must be immersed in water so that you can access His cleansing blood and come into Him. It is by baptism that we are baptized “into one body by the one spirit” (1 Cor.12:13). We learn that we come into the one body, into the church (Eph. 1:22-23). The body is the church (Col. 1:18). If you want to be a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you want to have the forgiveness of your sins, if you want to be able to walk in newness of life, you must believe that Jesus is the Son of God. You must repent of your paste sins. You must confess Christ as God’s Son. And you must baptized into Christ. After you come up out of the watery grave of immersion, then you can live for Jesus all the days of your life. Jesus says, “Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). From an in-depth study of Romans 6, we learn how people in the first century were separated from their sin, and what they did to get into Christ.
Ben Bailey:
Once we become a child of God, sin must no longer have dominion over us. If we’re God’s child, and if we’re living the way God wants us to, we have removed the shackles of sin. Yes, we can become entangled again, but God doesn’t want that to happen to us. That’s why Paul says in Romans 6:11, “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Once I become a child of God, every day of my life I have to make a dedicated, valiant effort to stay away from sin. Sin lies at the door. Its desire is to have power over us. Sin is always a temptation, but as a Christian I have to be striving every single day to stay away from it. If there are certain sins in your life that tempy you, stay away from them. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:4-5 to “withdraw” himself from all kinds of evil and ungodliness. Whatever it takes, get away from it. You might think of the example of Joseph, one of God’s great servants. Potiphar’s wife tried to tempt Joseph to commit adultery with her. One day, Potiphar’s wife and Joseph were in the house together. She wanted him to lie with her. But he left his clothes and ran out the house in his undergarments. That’s what it means to stay away from sin! But, if we do at times sin (and all of us will), there is a second law of pardon available tous. Once we become Christians, we are forgiven of all the sin that we have had in our life. Acts 8 serves as a great example of the second law of pardon. Simon the sorcerer obeys the Gospel, thereby becoming a Christian. But he sees the apostles do certain miracles, and as a result, he desires in his heart to have the gift of God so he can make money. He has the wrong motives. Peter tells him that he’s bound by iniquity and the gall of bitterness. He has sin in his life again. What does he do to rid himself of that sin? He said to Peter, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me” (Acts 8:24). We learn a great lesson about how we can have our sins forgiven after we have become a Christian. As John put it, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7).
Timothy Sparks:
We must continually walk in the light of God’s will. Remember Psalm 119:105. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” God Himself is light. We must walk in the light of His Word. As we continue in Romans 6, Paul brings us back again to the question with which he started this discussion. In Romans 6:1, he asked, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Notice verse 15: “What then, shall we sin because we’re not under law, but under grace?” No, never.” He uses the same terminology that he did in verse 1. He uses a double negative, which in some translations is stated as “God forbid.” Paul’s point is that we are not under law, but under grace. That grace, however, does not give us a license to sin. Instead, God’s grace enables us to be free from sin. Paul made a similar point in Galatians 5:1ff. Paul wrote: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” The context of Galatians 5, of course, is that we are not to let the Old Law entangle us and enslave us. But on a more practical level for you and me, the message also is that we must not let the sins from which we have been delivered entangle us again. Hebrews 12:1 tells us that as we run the race of life, we’re to lay aside every weight, as well as the sin which so easily ensnares us. If sin is weighing us down, we are cast it off if we are to succeed in running the race of life. In that particular setting, all of the people from the Old Testament who composed the “hall of fame of faith” (Heb. 11) are seen as being in the crowd cheering us on. But Jesus Christ, Himself is seen at the finish line. He is there, and we are to keep our eyes and gaze permanently fixed on Him. “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before you, endured the cross, despising the shame and has set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). As Paul put it in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul wants us to know that we are not under law, but under grace (Rom. 6:15). Then, as we look at Romans 6:16-17, he explains that have some decisions, some choices to make.
Ben Bailey:
Every day we have choices to make, but our decision-making process begins with that very first choice. Paul was so thankful that the Romans had “obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine at which they been delivered”. He says “Having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16-17). When we become a child of God, it’s not a free ticket to Heaven. I don’t just “fill a pew on Sunday morning” and then “have my ticket punched.” Rather, I obey from the heart the doctrine of God. I obey the laws of Christ. Yes, we are confronted with sin. Fortunately, we are not under law, but under grace. Being under grace doesn’t mean there aren’t any restrictions. There are restrictions, and we must live properly so as to obey God’s will. Then we become “slaves of righteousness.” This word for slave is the idea of a willing indentured servant—someone who gladly gives his life to serve another. We are slaves—slaves to do what’s right! Peter wrote, “Be holy, as he who has called you is holy” (1 Pet. 1:15). The writer of Hebrews said, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). In my life as a child of God, I battle sin, and every day I must try my hardest to win. When I fall, I must pick myself up and keep “pressing toward the mark of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). As a Christian, I’ve got to strive to be the right kind of slave. I can choose to be a slave of sin again. I can make it my life’s goal to leave Christ and give up on the church. But if I do, I will be lost. Paul said in Galatians 5:4; “You who strive to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace.” We can be lost after becoming a Christian. But we shouldn’t be lost. God doesn’t want us to be lost. That’s really the point Paul is trying to make. God has done everything He can. He doesn’t expect us, or want us, to be lost!
Timothy Sparks:
Notice what Paul says. “Do you not
know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s
slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading
to death, or of obedience leading
to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). Then notice verse 17, “But God be thanked
though you were slaves of sin. Yet you have obeyed from your heart that form of
doctrine to which you were delivered.” Then Paul says, “Having been set free
from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” Paul’s point is that we are
going to be the servant of whomever we obey. If we choose to serve the devil,
then we will his slave. If we choose to serve God, then we’ll be His slave.
Notice Romans 6:16 again, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves
slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey?” This reminds me of
Joshua 24:15. Joshua said to the people of
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1. In this lesson the statement is made that God’s grace “superabounded.” Explain what that means.
2. At baptism, we do two things to the “old man.” What are those two things?
3. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, when we come up out of the waters of baptism, something happens to us. What is that “something”?
4. Some in the religious world today suggest that baptism can actually be accomplished by any one of three modes. What are those three modes?
5. Two of the three modes of baptism (mentioned in question 4 above) are not actually baptism at all. Which two? Explain your answer.
6. Explain how the examples of John the Immerser (John 3:23) and the Ethiopian nobleman (Acts 8) fit into your answer to question 5.
7. Colossians 2:12 teaches us that, at baptism, two things take place. What are those two things?
8. Why was Jesus baptized?
9. Name something for which Jesus was not baptized.
10. Give two scriptures which teach that the church is the body, and that there is therefore only one church.
11. The text of Revelation 2:10—“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life”—has a dual meaning. Explain those two meanings.
12. What is Paul trying to get across to Christians in Romans 6:11?
13. Explain the “second law of pardon,” and give a scriptural example of where it was used successfully.
14. In Romans 6:1,15, Paul asked two questions. What were those two questions, and what were the answers to them?
15. Galatians 5 has a dual meaning—one that applied to people of the first century, and one that applies to us today in a practical sense. Explain those two meanings.
16. What did Paul mean when he said that we should be “slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:16-17)?
17. According to Galatians 5:4, what can happen to a Christian if he or she is not faithful to God?
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,