Taken from a message preached by Dr J Stewart Gillespie:

'The Body of Sin' (Romans Chapter 6 verse 6)

In response to the question of Roms 6:1 “shall we continue in sin?” we saw 4 reasons why we should not continue in sin:

1.We are dead to sin
2.We are alive to God
3.We no longer serve sin – we serve God
4.Sin remains sin

1.because I'm dead to Sin (6:1-7)

What does it mean to be “dead to sin”?
Does it mean to be unresponsive to sin?

Dead people are unresponsive, aren't they?
In this case then the bulk of Roms 6 would be redundant – the middle section (6:12-20) and 3rd reason for not sinning (cf. Vs 11-13).
If we were “dead to sin” in the sense of being unresponsive to sin there would be no possibility of : “yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin” (v13) and we would hardly require to “reckon” ourselves “dead indeed unto sin” for we would be “dead indeed” (6:11) unto sin!
Be careful what you use to interpret the scriptures!
Personal experience, common sense or even a reliable medical text book is not appropriate!
We only have Divine warrant for using scripture to interpret scripture (1Co2:13; 2 Tim2:15; Rom15:4; 2Peter1:19) guided by the Spirit of God (John 16:13; 1Jo2:27)
This death is positional 'in Christ' (Rom6:3, 5, 6, 8)
What is the significance of being “dead to sin”?
Death is the boundary line for the rule of 'king sin' (5:21)
I have been taken out of the realm / rule / reign of sin by the death of Christ
I am no longer under the absolute authority of King Sin
Every Kingdom has a boundary and the boundary of sin is death (Rom5:21)
By virtue of my position in Christ I am “dead to sin”

Man in creation was able to sin
Man after the fall was unable not to sin
Man in redemption is able not to sin
Man in eternity is unable to sin

I don't continue in sin because:
1 - I don't have to sin
2 - because I'm alive to God (6:8-11)

We saw that we were definitely dead in Roms 6:

(a)v2 - “dead”
(b)v3 - “baptised” + “dead”
(c)v4 - “buried” + “baptised” + “dead”

We are definitely dead!
This seemed a rather strange thought until we realised that in fact it was a very familiar truth but viewed from an unusual perspective – from the back!
We noticed a transition in v5: “planted” - that's burial with a future!
To be dead to sin is the other side of being alive to God!
We though that we ought to stretch ourselves a little and try to understand what this meant practically!
Keeping my feet firmly planted on earth what does this actually mean?
We looked at 2 Kings 4 and the son of the Shunammite

I see through His eyes:

This gives the believer a different perspective on others!
Isn't it amazing how callous the unsaved can be about others?
Referring to some as useless, as the dregs of society, as a waste of space and finding individuals to look down their nose at.
We look at others not through the eyes of the critic but through the eyes of Christ!
This would revolutionise fellowship in the local assembly.

I speak with His lips

I work with His hands:

Some things I just do not see, I cannot imagine the hands of Christ turning to:

Dealing drugs
Rolling a joint
Holding a can of beer
Punching someone's lights out
Filling in a lottery form
Flicking through a pornographic magazine

Then we turned to Colossians chp 3 and we saw that it wasn't just vivid imagination on my part that saw in the hands, eyes and mouth of the resurrected lad of 2 Kings 4 a picture of our dependence upon Christ as the source of life for our new life but rather these are the very features of a NT believer whose life is given over to Christ!
I don't continue in sin because:
I don't like to sin.

These 4 reasons for not continuing in sin are not an unconnected 'list' but rather they follow on from one another in a logical spiritual order.
We have seen already the connection between the 1st 2 reasons – they are really just opposite sides of the same reason!
Between the first 2 reasons and the last reasons there is a crossroads: 6:6.
An important verse and perhaps the most difficult verse in the chapter.
If we fail to understand this verse:

i.we will miss the connection between these reasons
ii.we will fail to see the chapter as one integral whole and probably only see a load of disjointed thoughts
iii.we will most likely fail to understand the reason why we ought not to serve sin any longer
iv.we will miss the main reason in Roms 6 behind our sanctification ie. The reason 'WHY' we ought not to sin.
v.we will probably thus find that our own personal holiness will suffer – if we lack a reason for holiness we will lack motivation to holiness!



Romans 6:6 presents a complete view of holiness:

1.Past: “our old man was crucified”
2.Present: “that henceforth we should not serve sin”
3.Future: “that the body of sin might be destroyed”

Notice in this list I have given these tenses in their chronological order, according to time but this is different from the order in the verse!
Herein lies to key to understanding the verse!
Paul gives us 2 great events – past and future, consider what has happened in the past “our old man was crucified” and consider what will happen in the future: “that the body of sin might be destroyed” and now live your life in the light of that!
The believer lives out his life between what has been completed and what will be completed and ought to make intelligent decisions in the light of these 2 great events!

1.“the old man” - What we were before we were saved, our old life as ruled by the flesh drawing us to constantly live a life taken up with satisfying the apetites of the body, lusts of the flesh and the cares of this world (Eph 4:22; Col3:9)

2.“that the body of sin might be destroyed” - is this:

(a)Sin Personified – Sin viewed as a person dieing on the cross? - John Calvin and Hodge, JN Darby all had this view of the verse – that in this verse I am looking back at Calvary, I see Christ hanging on the cross, I see Him dieing for my sins (Col 2:14) and I see their my sins hanging with Him, judged at Calvary.

Sin was certainly judged at Calvary but we notice:

i.That in vs 1-5 and again in vs 7,8 it is not sin that dies but me!

ii.If sin died or was crucified at Calvary would this be a reason for not allowing it to “reign in your mortal body” (v12) or to no longer “serve sin” (6:6)? Surely if sin was crucified at Calvary there is no longer any sin to serve for it is dead! I would expect the argument in the rest of the section to be: 'don't serve sin because sin is dead' but actually the argument is that I ought not to serve sin because I am dead!

iii.The means of destroying the body of sin was by crucifying “the old man” - would crucifying my old pre-christian life really bring about the death of sin itself? People die of cancer every day but that doesn't bring an end to cancer itself!

(b)Sin Neutralised - The Power of Sin over the Body? - Promoted by Albert Leckie and James Currie.

i.This interpretation immediately runs into a problem with the word “destroyed” because if this interpretation is correct the power of sin has been “destroyed” over the body, this is practically untrue! So these interpretors tend to change the translation of the verse to “anulled” - a valid translation elsewhere of this word when used in a legal sense elsewhere in Romans (Rom 3:3; 3:31; 4:14; 7:2) but perhaps not in a very similar contexts in 1 Corinthians (1 Co6:13). Even if we do translate the word as annulled we still have a problem as to what we mean by annulled. Here the commentators become a bit unstuck: 'Because the old man has been, in the reckoning of God judicially put to death as the result of the death of Christ, sin's power has 'been made of none effect' in relation to the believer. Henceforth he need not, he should not, serve sin...' (James B Currie p101) – actually if Mr Curries interpretation is correct it is hardly a case of 'need not' or 'should not' serve sin it would be really a case of 'cannot' serve sin!

ii.This interpretation seems to take inadequate account of the word “body” - the object of the destruction is not “sin” but the “body of sin”

iii.As already mentioned it is not “sin” that dies in any of the surrounding verses but rather self (6:2-5, 7-8,11).

iv.What is the effect of Calvary on my present human body? This interpretation suggests that Calvary liberates the body and frees it from sin. If this is the case how do we explain Rom 8:10 which seems to suggest that Calvary instead of liberating the convict puts him on death row! There is sin back again, the same sin that supposedly was 'anulled' at Calvary and it has killed the body!


(c)Sin Externalised- The Body as the instrument of sin

i.“body” has its usual meaning – the human body!

ii.At Calvary and by the work of Christ, sin was dealt with, a completed work completely saves (Heb10:14)

iii.In our experience we already see the fruit and consequences of that work, for from conversion we are the recipients of:

(1)A new heart (Ezek 36:26; Heb8:10)
(2)A new spirit (Ezek 36:26; John 3:5)
(3)A new mind (Heb8:10; Rom 12:2)
(4)A new creature (2 Co 5:17)
(5)There remains only one part of my being which has not been renewed by Calvary – my body! All that is left untouched from Adam. This too must one day be changed! A body once used to serve sin will be replaced by one fitted to serve Christ (1Co15:42-50). This new body comes as a consequence of Christ's resurrection, the subject of the previous verse (5:11).
iv.The effect of Adam is seen in tracing sin through Romans. From Rom1:1 to 5:11 there are 9 refs to sin, from 5:12-21 there are 9 refs to sin, in chp 6 there are 17 ref to sin and in chp 7, 15 ref to sin. With the introduction of Adam in 5:12 there is in Romans an explosion of sin!
v.The “body of sin” thus refers to my literal body, used to pursue the desires of the flesh and corrupted by sin. Calvary first condemns this body as it does condemn the whole of the person corrupted by sin: body, heart, mind, soul and spirit (Rom8:10), before the saving work of Calvary then renews the person, one day to complete that renewal with a new body (1Co15:42-50).
vi.Therefore I am currently a 'new creature' in a condemned house. A regenerate person in a degenerate body. This leaves me with a question: how should I live? As though the house was not condemned, pretending that there is life in the old man yet? Pretending that all of those activities I once indulged in with my body actually and finally achieve anything? Or do I live not for the old body now dead because of sin but rather I live for the new self who does have a future, unlike the old body? It is this that forms the crossroads between the 1st 2 and the last 2 reasons of Romans 6 for not continuing in sin.

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These notes are from a message preached at Bridgend Gospel Hall, New Cumnock by Dr J Stewart Gillespie.

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“shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (6:1)

This verse might seem to present a bizarre idea, a strange suggestion At times grace shields from our horizon the full consequences of our sin God remains a Holy and Righteous God – He has not changed It is possible however for this kind of idea to creep into our thinking Am I trading on Gods Grace? Would my behaviour change if: i.If I thought that my lie / deception would be dealt with the same way as Ananias Saphira's was? (Acts 5) 2 believers lie to the Holy Spirit, maybe a little ½ lie – they sold the land and gave 'most' of it for the work of the Lord and said that they had given 'all' of it. Just a slight exaggeration? Did it really matter? Ananias executed on the spot by the Spirit of God and his wife executed 3 hours later! God has not changed! ii.If I thought that my greed / materialism would be dealt with in the same way as Achan's was – Joshua chp 7. Jericho has just fallen, and explicit instructions have been given by God that the city and all in it are cursed, nothing to be taken for any private use. The gold, silver, brass and iron can be used for the sanctuary but everything else is to be left. Achan – just one man amongst millions who obey, takes 3 items: “...a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight...” (Jos 7:21). Whats the big deal? A few items which were going to be wasted anyway? The righteousness of God was the BIG deal. “...a goodly Babylonish garment” - “a trendy outfit from the high street.” Because of this disobedience of one man the entire army of Israel is defeated at Ai and Achan and his sons and daughters and animals are stoned and burned! iii.If I thought that my grumbling would be dealt with the same way as Miriam's was (Num 12). Miriam and others had an issue with Moses leadership and wanted to push him out and move in (Num12:2). They take a round about approach to manoeuvring Moses out and attack him from the side – his wife (12:1) – not really the issue! Be careful how we approach a ministry that challenges us! iv.If I thought that discord with my brethren would be made as public as that of Euodias and Syntyche's was (Phil 4) – Paul wrote of it in a letter, sent it to the church, copied it around the world and published it for 2000 years! Way to go! If every email I wrote were copied to every recipient in outlook express, if every text message was copied to every number in my phone book, if every telephone conversation were recorded and made public, would I say / write or text the things I do? If it would change my behaviour to anticipate my sin being dealt with in these ways then I am trading on Divine Grace! I am banking on Gods Grace to allow me to continue in sin! 4 reasons why we don't continue in sin: 1.because I'm dead to Sin (6:1-8) 2.because I'm alive to God (6:8-11) 3.because I must serve God (6:11-21) 4.because sin remains sin (6:21-23) Dead to Sin This may seem a strange idea, awkward thought, after all I am alive, am I not? Positional truth – true because of my position in Christ, not because I hold the Bible at a strange angle! Positional truth is not the opposite of real truth either (as was once suggested by a preacher at a conference)! Positional truth is very real but not always fully realised! Positional truth is true of me because it is true of Christ and I am in Christ, I have a relationship with Him! Compare the benefits which the people of God had in the days of Samuel and David: they were in the land, with an inheritance, towns and homes to dwell in, but had they fought for them? Their forefathers had won them in the days of Joshua and because of their relationship with their forefathers what had previously been fought and won by another was now theirs! This is no new idea for us in Romans, should already be familiar with it, cf. Roms chp 3 +4 – justification by faith. I have been declared righteous! Am I righteous? God has said you are! How can I be righteous? Because of my position in Christ (3:26) Dead to sin doesn't mean unresponsive to sin (6:12-13) I have moved out of the realm / sphere of sin I have left the boundary within which king sin reigns (5:21) Sin reigns to death and no further! There is no sinning in heaven and there is no sinning in hell either! i.Adam as created was able to sin ii.After the fall man was unable not to sin iii.After the new birth man is able not to sin iv.In eternity man is unable to sin Does this idea of death to sin seem a strange truth? That Christianity begins with an end. This is the truth emphasised in the opening 8 verses of Romans chapter 6: i.death (v2) ii.baptism + death (v3) iii.burial + baptism + death (v4) iv.planted (v5) Does it all seem a bit odd – a bit strange? Actually its very familiar. It is a very familiar truth but viewed from an unusual angle – from the back This is familiar truth The truth of being dead to sin is the other side of being alive in Christ and alive to God! This is one truth, connected together for example in v5 “planted” - the seed sown in the autumn, dead and lifeless and unexciting shoots up in the spring. Burial and growth are 2 sides of the one truth! Planting is death with a prospect! Alive in Christ / Alive to God: 3 tremendous aspects: 1.Present Experience (v4) 2.Future Expectation (v5) 3.Eternal Enjoyment (v8) We notice the pattern that future hope is founded on present help This was the pattern noted previously in Rom 5:1-5 Future expectation was founded on present experience The same is true of life in Christ: future expectation is founded in present experience This is no subtlety of exposition This is no fine point of interpretation This is no needless digression This is why, as believers we have at times such a hard time! “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:” (2Co 5:1-2) “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” (2Co 4:16) It's not a pleasant thing to perish! The 2 truths go hand in hand: death to the old life and new life in Christ Our strength is taken that we might rest in His (Jer 9:23) The day will soon come when time and sense and wealth and strength have been long gone and all that abides is Him! In that day we will be grateful for all that the Lord stripped from us of earth prematurely that we might be drawn more closer to Him! What does it mean to be: “Alive to God” (6:10,12) “Alive through Jesus Christ” (6:11) 2 Kings 4: The chapter concerns a child of promise (4:16), just like Isaac (Gen18) and just like us (Gal4:28) This child of promise experiences a death, whilst busy in the field (4:18) and whilst reaping for his father Consider the chapter practically: what do we do when we hit a period of barrenness in our service for Christ? 1.Recycle: The approach of preachers gone stale. Some hark back to a day when things were fresher, when Christ was closer and draw from better and brighter days! I used to wonder what motivated so many dispensational preachers to affirm with such confidence that this was “the day of small things” (Zech4:10), until I realised that there were really speaking personally of their own spiritual experience. They could look back on better days when Christ was real and fresh to them! 2.Resign:

There was a day when faith was bright, Before the sun had reached its height (v20) But now beneath a darkening evening sky, With head so heavy and about to die (v19) I drop the scythe, the field I leave behind (v18) For from my Father's service I resign A better comfort I have found upon my bed (v21) Alas this is the place but for the dead!

3.Raised again / restored: Refreshed with the life of Christ again The Shunammite comes to Carmel (fruitfulness) She heads to Elisha, personally, only he will do, not his servant and not his staff, only Elisha personally. She would make it a priority to lay hold of Elisha (4:27,30)! The one who was the source of life would be the sustainer of life She would follow the pattern and path of Job and Jacob: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” (Job 13:15) “And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.” (Gen 32:26) A priority to pursue and lay hold of Him! Determination is needed to lay hold of Divine blessing (4:27,30) Restoration and revival (4:34) i.mouth to mouth ii.eyes to eyes iii.hands to hands The new life in Christ: i.mouth to mouth (Col 3:8) ii.eyes to eyes (Col 3:12-14) iii.hands to hands (Col3:9) Practically what is the new life in Christ? It is to: i.see with His eyes ii.speak with His lips iii.work with His hands Then I am living the life of Christ This is not works righteousness by the back door! This can only be achieved in the power of His Spirit! i.see with His eyes: Looking at one another not through the eyes of a critic but rather through the eyes of Christ (Col 3:12-14)! ii.speak with His lips (Col 3:8-9) iii.work with His hands (Col 3:9) When man sinned and left the service of God in the garden of Eden these 3 aspects of mans being were were consecrated to sin (Gen3:6): i.“woman saw” / “pleasant to eyes” - eyes ii.“she took” - hands iii.“did eat” - mouth The same pattern re-echoes in 1 Sam 14:27 in Jonathan as he partakes of the forbidden honey, hands eyes and mouth going in the wrong direction. In the fall Satan captured man's life with his: i.Action – hand ii.Appetite – month iii.Attention – eye In salvation Christ restores man's life with its: i.Action – hand ii.Appetite – mouth iii.Attention - eye One part of the anatomy I noted was missing in 2 Kings 4 – what about the feet? Why no mention of the feet? Very important part of the body for service – the walk! How do you take a dog a walk? Tie a rope around its feet and drag it? A collar and a lead – if you control the head the rest of the body follows on after! If he has my hands, my eyes and my mouth the rest will follow on after! I will live out the life of Christ! These notes are from a message preached at Bridgend Gospel Hall, New Cumnock by Dr J Stewart Gillespie. https://graceinchrist.org/romans

Taken from a Message Preached on Romans Chapter 6 Verse 2 by Dr J Stewart Gillespie

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It is possible to miss the simple message of Romans 6, to get away from the simplicity and clarity of it!

The Christian life begins with a conversion – an end to the old and a beginning of the new!

There would hardly be a more clear cut, a more dramatic way of putting it: black and white, right and wrong, life and death!

This is an absolute!

Salvation isn't doing a course, saying a prayer or filling in a form.

Salvation is a life changing transaction between me and God, which I enter into by faith:

F – Forsaking

A – All

I

T – Trust

H – Him

As I look back at that experience and as others look on – what should they see?

What can they see?:

1. Can't see faith – that's a spiritual thing

2. Can't see my thoughts

3. Can't see my turmoil

4. Can't see my feelings

5. Can't see the peace in my soul

But what they ought to be able to see is a change in my life!

Important to get the order right:

1. Salvation – by grace and through faith (Acts 16:31,John 3:16), because of that trust in Christ

2. Change – by the Spirit

3. 
   

Important to get the order right, or we can run into bother!

It's not me changing my life that forces God to save me but rather it is receiving Gods son as Saviour that changes me!

There ought to be a real before and after transition!

This before and after Grace contrast comes out in the chapters we have before us:

Romans 5 tells me that by relationship with Christ I am linked to His life

This comes out in the content of the text but also in the pattern or structure:

Rom 5:15 “free gift... grace of God...the gift by grace” - 3 times in the verse we have either the word for “grace” or the cognate word “gift”

Rom 5:16 “but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.” - verse 16 takes us on from the free gift to imputed “righteousness”

Rom 5:17 “they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one” verse 17 takes us through “grace” to “righteousness” and then further on to “life”

Rom 5:18 “justification of life.” - emphasises “life” again

Rom 5:19 “shall many be made righteous.” - back to “righteousness”

Rom 5:20 “grace”

Rom 5:21 “grace...righteousness...life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” - all 3 themes in the concluding verse

Notice the pattern then:

A – Grace (v15)

B – Righteousness (v16)

C – Life (v17)

C – Life (v18)

B – Righteousness (v19)

A – Grace (v20)

A chiasmatic structure / symmetry to the later half of chapter 5. Why?

1. As an aid memoir? In days of low literacy and expensive parchments by the time the local church had finished reading and preaching chapter 5 the saints would have memorised it? Do we have low expectations of the Lords people as preachers? Do we have passive expectations of the ministry of Gods Word? Do we come expecting to allow the ministry to wash over us? The ministry meeting isn't a sauna – allow the warm comforting mist of ministry to waft over us and clear out our blocked pours whilst we slumber and relax! The ministry meeting is a school room where we need to focus down on the word of God, coming with an exercise to glean from the Lords word.

2. As part of the structure of the passage it focuses our attention on the key thought: “life” at the centre!

   In chapter 5 I am linked by relationship to Christ with His life!

Romans 6 begins by telling me that by relationship with Christ I am linked with His death!

Death is mentioned in every verse from 6:2 to 6:11.

Last week we noted that Romans 6 presents 4 reasons for not continuing in sin:

4 reasons why we don't continue in sin:

1. because I'm dead to Sin (6:1-7)

2. because I'm alive to God (6:8-11)

3. because I must serve God (6:12-20)

4. because sin remains sin (6:21-22)

1. because I'm dead to Sin (6:2-8)

In this section the Spirit doesn't so much use symmetry as repetition and a building up of an idea by piling one linked word to the next:

v2 – Death

v3 – Baptism and death

v4 – Burial, Baptism and Death

v5 – Planted – an extension of the idea of burial – this is burial with a future

Why say “planted” - why not say “buried” in v4?

Because “planted” is “buried” with a future”

If you dig up dandelions with all of their seeds, how do you dispose of them?

You don't take a handful of dandelion seeds and bury them? Why not? If you do you know they will have a future! That kind of burial is a planting!

The 2 ideas of spiritual death and resurrection in verse 4 and physical death and resurrection in verse 5 merge together here.

v6 – Body - “old man”, execution - “crucified” and destruction - “destroyed”

It becomes hard to miss the thought that I am “dead to sin”

vs2-3 – we are dead to sin

What does it mean to be “dead to sin”?

Notice “dead” is an aorist tense – point tense and usually past, a completed action

What does that mean?

Does this mean that we have lost the desire to sin?

Some point out that a dead body is an unresponsive thing, having the lost the ability to respond to light, touch, hearing and pain.

Having died to sin does that render us unresponsive, to sin, lacking any desire to sin?

This is inconsistent with 6:11-14 – for if being dead to sin renders us unresponsive and with no desire to sin and lacking the capacity to sin then Paul would hardly have to exhort us not to allow sin to reign in our bodies (6:12), not to obey sin (6:12) nor to give our bodies over to the service of sin (6:13)!

This interpretation is also inconsistent with Col 3:5 ff and Galatians 5:16ff.

We need to be wary of interpreting the scriptures with medical text books rather than using the scriptures to interpret themselves!

To understand 6:2 I think we need to look back at 5:21.

Before my conversion 'sin was King' (5:21)

I lived under the domain, the authority, the rule, the tyranny of King Sin (5:21)

Now I am saved I live in another Kingdom (5:21) the Kingdom of Grace under Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21).

I have at some point left the one Kingdom and come into the other.

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Col 1:13)

Every Kingdom has its boundary, its border to which the rule of the sovereign extends and thus no further:

Illust: Coming into Scotland from England, M74 sign “Scotland Failte ”

The boundary marker for the Kingdom of sin isn't a sign on the road or a line on the map, it is a boundary marker appropriate to sin.

Sin cannot cross the boundary marker of death!

That link between sin and death cannot be broken:

The Kingdom of Sin has a boundary: “as sin hath reigned unto death.” (5:21)

After death sin has no more claim upon me!

Does this mean there is no sinning in hell?

Sin is a falling short of Gods standard it is the rejection of or rebellion against the self revelation of God, but in hell, apart from the experience of Gods eternal judgement there is no revelation of God to reject, revile or rebel against:

• God is Light – and sin is described as a rebellion against and a rejection of that light (John 3:19), but eternal judgement is “outer darkness” it is the “blackness of darkness forever” - Jude 1:13.

• God is Love – and sin is a rejection of or a cutting off of the love of God into our life and experience (1John4:7,8) but eternal judgement is a “fearful looking forward to...” (Heb10:27) – a place dominated by fear because there is no love there (1 John4:18).

• God is Life – man's greatest outrage against God was to kill the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15) - but eternal judgement is the “second death” (Rev20:14)

• God is the source of Hope – but eternal judgement has no hope, it is eternal! (Heb6:2)

• God is Peace – but eternal judgement knows no peace - “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev 14:11)

• Christ is Saviour – John 16:9 compare Heb 10:26 – in eternal judgement there is no opportunity to reject Christ! There remaineth no more forgiveness of sins.

There is no revelation of God in hell to sin against!

At some point I came to the boundary of that kingdom of sin and crossed over into the Kingdom of Grace.

Being “dead to sin” represents a change of address from the Kingdom of Sin to the Kingdom of Grace

That link between sin and death:

It is an inevitable link – sin is a rebellion against God and a rejection of God, “in Him is life” therefore sin separated from the source of life and brings death

It is an inviolable link – that is a link that cannot be broken – because God has also decreed this link:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17)

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze 18:4)

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)

There is an exit from sin but that exit is labelled 'death'

The only way out of the Kingdom of Sin is by way of Death.

On the other side of that door marked death the door is labelled either deliverance or damnation!

This is an interesting idea that death marks the boundary for the Kingdom of Sin but do you have any clear cut evidence of it?

Rom 6:7 “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

That word “freed” is very interesting because it is the word “δικαιόω” - justified!

How can death justify us from sin?

Does it not take the work of Christ to justify us from sin and make us right with God and bring us into a living relationship with God? (5:11-21)

Of course it does and I suspect that is why the word has been translated “freed” in this verse to avoid confusion!

This is “justify” in a different sense.

This justify does not have the positive thought of being declared righteous by a God satisfied with the work of Christ and being brought into a living relationship with God but this is the “justified” of a criminal, found guilty of a crime who takes his punishment and serves the sentence meted out.

He has done the crime and now he does the time.

Should he complete his punishment then the demands of righteousness are satisfied.

Sin demands death, once death has been reached sins demands have ended!

God doesn't defraud sin, He doesn't say 'I know that sin demands death but I'm going to bend the rules here.' Rather He pays the price for that righteous demand in the death of His Son!

We are therefore declared to have satisfied or fulfilled the Divine decree concerning sin:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17)

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze 18:4)

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)

So are you saying then that once we die then the demands of sin are satisfied and because we have suffered death for our sin we are then free from guilt?

Are saying that every sinner therefore who dies is justified and goes to heaven?

Who said anything about heaven?

The punishment for and the consequence of sin is death and without a Saviour death is simply not an event is an eternal state.

Hence eternal damnation in the lake of fire is referred to as the “second death” (Rev2:11; 20:6; 20:14; 21:8) for the just demands of sin against an eternal being is eternal death and separation.

But were there not in scripture those who have left the domain of sin without dieing?

1. Enoch (Gen 5:24; Heb11:5)

2. Elijah (2 Kings 2:11)

3. The saints of 1 Thess 4 and 1 Co 15:51

How is this possible?

The work of Christ involves not only Christ bearing my sin (Isa 53; 1 Peter 3:18) but also dieing my death and entering into that deep experience of separation from God: "My God, My God why hast thou forskaen me?" and experiencing that thick darkness:

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb 2:9)

Albert Leckie: “Here it is dead to sin as governing my life”

Martyn Lloyd Jones: “Christ died to the realm and to the rule and to the reign of sin...we are dead to sin in the sense that we are no longer under its rule, being out of the territory and the jurisdiction of sin”

Free from the Domain of sin (5:21) from the Demands of sin and from the Domination of sin (6:9-12)!

This identification this union with Christ not only in His Life but also in His death allows me to move out of the Kingdom of Sin and to move on from the Kingdom of Sin, it sets me free from the Domain, the Demands and the Domination of sin.

Union with the death of Christ frees me from the POWER and PLACE of sin and one day from the PRESENCE of sin.

As far back as Job this truth appears:

“If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” (Job 14:14)

Job saw death not simply as an end or termination but as a transition, not just a barrier but a boundary to something else, a transformation, a change!

Notice in this section we have a:

1. Burial

2. Baptism

3. Body (v6) – we have an old man hanging like a corpse on a cross

One of the reasons people don't come to Christ: we have too much invested in the Old Man

We make excuses that what the old man did was ok:

• well I had to do it

• my hands were tied

• I was advised to do it

• under the circumstances...

• I couldn't have coped any other way...

• It was different in those days...

• The pressures were such that...

The Christian is a person who has faced the facts that what he or she has done is wrong, sinful, offensive to God and deserving of eternal condemnation in hell.

These were not little blips, imperfections, difficulties – they were sins, I was wrong and I confess them, I see my need of cleansing and forgiveness and I understand that Christ dies for me and my sin!

To that cross of Christ my “old man” - my pre-conversion life is crucified!

It is a painful, pitiful, shameful and embarrassing thing to watch the crucifixion of the “old man” (6:6) and so often I shy away from it.

What is the “old man”? (6:6)

What is the difference between the “old man” and the “flesh”

1. The “old man” dies at conversion (Rom 6:6), ends, on a cross, dead and crucified at conversion. The old man is the pre-conversion life lived out under the power of the flesh

2. The flesh continues even after conversion (Col 3:5ff; Gal 5:16ff)

3. After conversion we live according to the Spirit and live as a “new man” (2 Co5:17; Eph4:24; Col3:9,10; Rom8:1ff)
   

I have been to the cross,

I have seen dyeing there,

Thy Son tortured and bleeding for me,

And as I moved to depart,

My direction had changed,

I could see myself hanging with thee.

Having left all I was,

At Calvary's tree,

I stand empty and barren and bare,

A new life I must live,

For the old life has gone,

By His life there is a new me.

To serve that 'old man'

Hanging dead on the tree

Would be to still live in the past

But to serve a risen Lord,

Who sits high above all

Gives life meaning and purpose that lasts

To live still in sin

Just cannot be done

Now that sin is condemned in the flesh

For if sin was once wrong

Before Calvary's tree

How much more

Since it cost God His Son?

Not just an offence

That is bitter to taste

Reaping death, disaster and loss

But now it is clear,

It was the reason that Christ

Shed His blood,

Gave His life on the Cross.

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Taken from a message preached on Romans Chapter 6 Verse 1 by Dr J Stewart Gillespie

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In Romans Chapter 5 we saw A Grace that: 1.G – Glory, the ultimate purpose of all Gods dealings in Grace. The Glory of God's Grace, is the reason (5:6,12) that is the reason for Gods permissive will in allowing Adams sin and Eden's fall (Eph1:5-6; 1:10-12) 2.R – Rejoices (5:3-5) in all of life's problems, in tribulations 3.A – Ability of Grace, able to save despite all of our inability. Grace removes (5:6) all obstacles to salvation – no one is lost because they lacked the ability, intelligence, know how or strength to be saved 4.C – Crowned, Grace is crowned King, Grace reigns (5:21) 5.E – Extends to wherever sign has been, Grace reaches (5:18,20) everywhere that sin has reached Not only that but a Grace sufficient for: 1.Life's Problems (5:1-5) 2.Salvations Plan (5:6-11) 3.Man's Plight (5:12-21) No matter what my problems there is grace sufficient for it? Correct! No matter how deep the hole Gods grace can reach me? Correct! No matter how big the mess Gods Grace can sort it out? Correct! Well that's just fine because I love causing problems, making a mess, picking fights, being the awkward customer, I thrive on conflict and contention and I quite enjoy my sin! So I can continue dabbling in my sin with the reassurance that the Lord can sort it all out! “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom6:1) Surely no one can seriously think like that? Gods Grace is not license to sin, because Gods Grace is not the opposite of righteousness. God does not cease to be righteous because He is Gracious His Grace is not His means of ignoring or neglecting His Righteousness but rather His Grace is His means of maintaining His Righteous integrity whilst being able to save the sinner: Rom 3:22, 26. Am I trading on Gods Grace? Would my behaviour change if: i.If I thought that my lie / deception would be dealt with the same way as Ananias Saphira's was? Acts 5 – 2 believers lie to the Holy Spirit, maybe a little ½ lie – they sold the land and gave 'most' of it for the work of the Lord and said that they had given 'all' of it. Just a slight exaggeration? Did it really matter? Ananias executed on the spot by the Spirit of God and his wife executed 3 hours later! God has not changed! ii.If I thought that my greed would be dealt with in the same way as Achan's was – Joshua chp 7. Jericho has just fallen, and explicit instructions have been given by God that the city and all in it are cursed, nothing to be taken for any private use. The gold, silver, brass and iron can be used for the sanctuary but everything else is to be left. Achan – just one man amongst millions who obey, takes 3 items: “...a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight...” (Jos 7:21). Whats the big deal? A few items which were going to be wasted anyway? The righteousness of God was the BIG deal. “...a goodly Babylonish garment” - “a trendy outfit from the high street.” Because of this disobedience of one man the entire army of Israel is defeated at Ai and Achan and his sons and daughters and animals are stoned and burned! iii.If I thought that my grumbling would be dealt with the same way as Miriam's was (Num 12). Miriam and others had an issue with Moses leadership and wanted to push him out and move in (Num12:2). They take a round about approach to manoeuvring Moses out and attack him from the side – his wife (12:1) – not really the issue! Be careful how we approach a ministry that challenges us! Miriam's grumbling against a faithful servant of the Lord was summarily dealt with! iv.If I thought that discord with my brethren would be made as public as that of Euodias and Syntyche's was (Phil 4) – Paul wrote of it in a letter, sent it to the church, copied it around the world and published it for 2000 years! Way to go! Took about relationship counselling apostle style! Name and shame – not invented by the newspapers in the 20th century! If it would change my behaviour to anticipate my sin being dealt with in these ways then I am trading on Divine Grace! I am banking on Gods Grace to allow me to continue in sin! 4 reasons why we don't continue in sin: 1.because I'm dead to Sin (6:1-7) 2.because I'm alive to God (6:8-11) 3.because I must serve God (6:12-20) 4.because sin remains sin (6:21-22) 1)because I'm dead to Sin (6:2-8) vs2-3 – we are dead to sin What does it mean to be “dead to sin”? Notice “dead” is an aorist tense – point tense and usually past, a completed action What does that mean? i.We have lost the desire to sin? Some point out that a dead body is an unresponsive thing, having the lost the ability to respond to light, touch, hearing and pain. Illust: check a person is dead: shine a light in pupils – no response, painful stimuli – no response. Having died to sin does that render us unresponsive, to sin, lacking any desire to sin? This inconsistent with 6:11-14 – for if being dead to sin renders us unresponsive and with no desire to sin and lacking the capacity to sin then Paul would hardly have to exhort us not to allow sin to reign in our bodies (6:12), not to obey sin (6:12) nor to give our bodies over to the service of sin (6:13)! This interpretation is also inconsistent with Col 3 and Galatians 5. We need to be wary of interpreting the scriptures with medical text books rather than using the scriptures to interpret themselves! ii.A broken relationship with sin (Montgomery Boice). Boice points out the same phrase is used of Christ in (6:10) where Christ discharged His responsibilities to sin, dealt with it and finished with sin at Calvary, His relationship with sin is now finished! This is true but what does this mean to me practically? To understand 6:2 I think we need to look back at 5:21. Before my conversion 'sin was King' (5:21) I lived under the domain, the authority, the rule, the tyranny of King Sin (5:21) Now I am saved I live in another Kingdom (5:21) the Kingdom of Grace under Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21). I have at some point left the one Kingdom and come into the other. This is what Colossians 1:3 says: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:” (Col 1:13) Every Kingdom has its boundary, its border to which the rule of the sovereign extends and thus no further: Coming into Scotland from England, M74 sign “Scotland Failte ” The boundary marker for the Kingdom of sin isn't a sign on the road or a line on the map, it is a boundary marker appropriate to sin. Sin cannot cross the boundary marker of death! That link between sin and death cannot be broken: The Kingdom of Sin has a boundary: “as sin hath reigned unto death.” (5:21) After death sin has no more claim upon me! Does this mean there is no sinning in hell? Sin is a falling short of Gods standard it is the rejection of or rebellion against the self revelation of God, but in hell, apart from the experience of Gods eternal judgement there is no revelation of God to reject, revile or rebel against: God is Light – and sin is described as a rebellion against and a rejection of that light (John 3:19), but eternal judgement is “outer darkness” it is the “blackness of darkness forever” God is Love – and sin is a rejection of or a cutting off of the love of God into our life and experience (1John4:7,8) but eternal judgement is a “fearful looking forward to...” (Heb10:27) – a place dominated by fear because there is no love there (1 John4:18). God is Life – man's greatest outrage against God was to kill the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15) - but eternal judgement is the “second death” (Rev20:14) God is the source of Hope – but eternal judgement has no hope, it is eternal! (Heb6:2) God is Peace – but eternal judgement knows no peace - “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev 14:11) There is no revelation of God in hell to sin against! At some point I came to the boundary of that kingdom of sin and crossed over into the Kingdom of Grace. Being “dead to sin” represents a change of address from the Kingdom of Sin to the Kingdom of Grace That link between sin and death: 1.It is an inevitable link – sin is a rebellion against God and a rejection of God, “in Him is life” therefore sin separated from the source of life and brings death 2.It is an inviolable link – that is a link that cannot be broken – because God has also decreed this link: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17) “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze 18:4) “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23) There is an exit from sin but that exit is labelled 'death' The only way out of the Kingdom of Sin is by way of Death. On the other side of that door marked death the door is labelled either deliverance or damnation! This is an interesting idea that death marks the boundary for the Kingdom of Sin but do you have any clear cut evidence of it? Rom 6:7 “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” That word “freed” is very interesting because it is the word “δικαιόω” - justified! How can death justify us from sin? Does it not take the work of Christ to justify us from sin and make us right with God and bring us into a living relationship with God? (5:11-21) Of course it does and I suspect that is why the word has been translated “freed” in this verse to avoid confusion! This is “justify” in a different sense. This justify does not have the positive thought of being declared righteous by a God satisfied with the work of Christ and being brought into a living relationship with God but this is the “justified” of a criminal, found guilty of a crime who takes his punishment and serves the sentence meted out. He has done the crime and now he does the time. Should he complete his punishment then the demands of righteousness are satisfied. Sin demands death, once death has been reached sins demands have ended! God doesn't defraud sin, He doesn't say 'I know that sin demands death but I'm going to bend the rules here.' Rather He pays the price for that rioghteous demand in the death of His Son! We are therefore declared to have satisfied or fulfilled the Divine decree concerning sin: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:17) “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Eze 18:4) “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23) So are you saying then that once we die then the demands of sin are satisfied and because we have suffered death for our sin we are then free from guilt? Are saying that every sinner therefore who dies is justified and goes to heaven? Who said anything about heaven? The punishment for and the consequence of sin is death and without a Saviour death is simply not an event is an eternal state. Hence eternal damnation in the lake of fire is referred to as the “second death” (Rev2:11; 20:6; 20:14; 21:8) for the just demands of sin against an eternal being is eternal death and separation. But were there not in scripture those who have left the domain of sin without dieing? 1.Enoch (Gen 5:24; Heb11:5) 2.Elijah (2 Kings 2:11) 3.The saints of 1 Thess 4 and 1 Co 15:51 How is this possible? The work of Christ involves not only Christ bearing my sin but also dieing my death: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb 2:9) Albert Leckie: “Here it is dead to sin as governing my life” Martyn Lloyd Jones: “Christ died to the realm and to the rule and to the reign of sin...we are dead to sin in the sense that we are no longer under its rule, being out of the territory and the jurisdiction of sin” Free from the Domain of sin (5:21) from the Demands of sin and from the Domination of sin (6:9-12)! This identification this union with Christ not only in His Life but also in His death allows me to move out of the Kingdom of Sin and to move on from the Kingdom of Sin, it sets me free from the Domain, the Demands and the Domination of sin. Union with the death of Christ frees me from the POWER and PLACE of sin and one day from the PRESENCE of sin. https://graceinchrist.org/romans