Reflections on Romans 6:1-7 - Freedom from Sin

Does sin enhance God’s grace? It may be strange but bad theology can lead to corrupt living. For instance, does our sin achieve the purposes of God? Does our sinfulness magnify the grace of God, or does our sin make God look more gracious? Or, as the Apostle Paul put it: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” In short, no way! Sin is the way of death and Satan. God’s grace and power changes our hearts so that we can serve him in righteousness with a pure heart. God’s grace is to destroy death and sin in our lives, and to break our bondage to its consequences – eternal condemnation and destruction.
However, we all know that even once we have been delivered from spiritual death unto salvation, that we continue to be attracted to sinful thoughts and behaviors. Our sin nature calls out and demands that we do what is wrong, and encourages us to curse God and to cause harm to others. The big question is why do we continue to sin, after we have become believers in Christ? The Bible text asks, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2). The Scriptures continually tell us that God has killed our old sinful natures and now we live in newness of life by the Holy Spirit of God. Yet, many believers harbor bitterness and resentment towards God and anger with others. The gospel message tells us that we are “crucified with Christ.” When Christ died on the cross for our sins, we died with him. He died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. He took the death sentence for us all. His burial confirms and validates our execution with him. However, just as we died with him, we were also resurrected with him to eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Our daily lives are different because of our connection to God through faith in Christ Jesus. We now have a new perspective and understanding of what life is all about. We now look through the knowledgeable eyes of faith. Our vision has been corrected and is focused on God’s purpose that we become like him and love others. We see God in all his magnificence. His glorious presence changes who we are, for to see God is to have our minds transformed and our life purpose permanently changed. Our vision broadens to see not only God, but to see the needy and to love the imperfect people of the world. It is a vision that overpowers and radically alters our minds. We become a new person with a new identity and thought process. Sin no longer has the power to condemn us to spiritual death. The power of sin’s eternal punishment of separation from God is revoked. God’s presence now renews our minds and we are free from sin and death (Romans 6:7). We have received a reprieve from God, for the sentence of death has been carried out on us in Christ, and we are now free from the bondage and enslavement of sin.
You may ask, “If I have been ‘set free from sin,’ why do I still have sin in my life?” The Bible states that if we say we are sinless, we call God a liar. This appears to be a confusing assertion, for we are free from sin but still sin. So, in what sense are we free from sin? Our punishment for sin has been acquitted, and we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This freedom from the consequences of sin is the expression of God’s love for us. Our death certificate has been certified and executed in Christ. Death no longer has any call on our lives; its dominion has been broken once for all. Christ has resuscitated our lifeless souls and breathed new life into us, but the sense is prophetic here in that sin is not totally done away with in our souls until our bodies are resurrected at a coming appointed time in the future. In this, our victory over sin is still in transition until that day, for our bodies still carry the curse of death and the inclination to sin (Ephesians 4:22-24; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57). Our physical death is the ultimate victory over sin.
When we come to Christ in faith, the death blow has been delivered. However, the process of death is not immediate. For example, cut a flower from the garden and it looks good for awhile, but soon decay sets in and nothing can restore it to life again. It slowly wilts away. Likewise, cut down an evergreen tree and it looks fine for quite some time, but slowly death appears and the needles dry out and turn brown. When the plants were cut off from the source of life, they looked okay for a season, but they were dead at the moment they were cut off from the roots and the nourishment of the ground. Death has occurred in our lives, and as time passes its power and appeal diminishes. Sin has been killed, but the process of its passing takes time. However, by the grace of God, we have been grafted back into the source of live, and death is loosing ground to the life giving presence of the Holy Spirit of God. Sin has been killed, and righteousness has been given life. The death symptoms are passing away, and the life giving flow of the sap of life is restoring our spiritual life to a vibrant and restored state of growth into eternal life, for “those baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). The righteousness of Christ protects us from God’s wrath on sin, for by faith we partake of Christ’s perfection (Colossians 1:12-14).
Furthermore, although we are positionally set free from sin, we still live in a sinful world. The world, the flesh, and the Devil are continually trying to stir up the remnants of sin in us. Our new garments of shining white clothes glow with the glory of God’s provision for us in Christ. We have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ. He has provided us with everlasting forgiveness and eternal reconciliation by cleansing our souls from sin. The agents of sin in the world are always throwing the dirt of sin at us to try and tarnish the purity of our souls in Christ, but the grace of God continually cleanses our spoiled garments and keeps them pure white. The glory of God in us delivers us from the effects of sin on our souls, for we no longer fall short of his glory. The presence of the Holy Spirit guarantees our total acceptance before God. He has made a way of escape for us (1 Corinthians 10:13). As the prophets of old wrote, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin” (Psalm 32:1-2); and, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). May all praise be “to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of [God’s] glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24). God has graciously made it possible for us to feel comfortable in his holy presence, and to confidently converse with him with full assurance of our acceptance before him (Hebrews 10:19-23).