Romans 6

Volume 1

Romans Chapter 6

3752 words

Ro 6:1-11.

THE

BEARING OF

JUSTIFICATION BY

GRACE UPON A

HOLY

LIFE.

1. What, &c.--The subject of this third division of our

Epistle announces itself at once in the opening question, "Shall we

(or, as the true reading is, "May we," "Are we to") continue in sin,

that grace may abound?" Had the apostle's doctrine been that salvation

depends in any degree upon our good works, no such objection to

it could have been made. Against the doctrine of a purely gratuitous

justification, the objection is plausible; nor has there ever been an

age in which it has not been urged. That it was brought against

the apostles, we know from

Ro 3:8;

and we gather from

Ga 5:13;

1Pe 2:16;

Jude 4,

that some did give occasion to the charge; but that it was a total

perversion of the doctrine of Grace the apostle here proceeds to

show.

2. God forbid--"That be far from us"; the instincts of the new

creature revolting at the thought.

How shall we, that are dead, &c.--literally, and more forcibly, "We

who died to sin (as presently to be explained), how shall we live any

longer therein?"

3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus

Christ--compare

1Co 10:2.

were baptized into his death?--sealed with the seal of heaven, and as

it were formally entered and articled, to all the benefits and all

the obligations of Christian discipleship in general, and of His

death in particular. And since He was "made sin" and "a curse for

us"

(2Co 5:21;

Ga 5:13),

"bearing our sins in His own body on the tree," and "rising again for

our justification"

(Ro 4:25;

1Pe 2:24),

our whole sinful case and condition, thus taken up into His Person, has

been brought to an end in His death. Whoso, then, has been baptized

into Christ's death has formally surrendered the whole state and life

of sin, as in Christ a dead thing. He has sealed himself to be not only

"the righteousness of God in Him," but "a new creature"; and as he

cannot be in Christ to the one effect and not to the other, for they

are one thing, he has bidden farewell, by baptism into Christ's death,

to his entire connection with sin. "How," then, "can he live any longer

therein?" The two things are as contradictory in the fact as they are

in the terms.

4. Therefore we are--rather, "were" (it being a past act, completed

at once).

buried with him, by baptism into death--(The comma we

have placed after "him" will show what the sense is. It is not, "By

baptism we are buried with Him into death," which makes no sense at

all; but, "By baptism with Him into death we are buried with

Him"; in other words, "By the same baptism which publicly enters us

into His death, we are made partakers of His burial

also"). To leave a dead body unburied is represented, alike in heathen

authors as in Scripture, as the greatest indignity

(Re 11:8, 9).

It was fitting, therefore, that Christ, after "dying for our sins

according to the Scriptures," should "descend into the lower parts of

the earth"

(Eph 4:9).

As this was the last and lowest step of His humiliation, so it was the

honorable dissolution of His last link of connection with that life

which He laid down for us; and we, in being "buried with Him by our

baptism into His death," have by this public act severed our last link

of connection with that whole sinful condition and life which Christ

brought to an end in His death.

that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

Father--that is, by such a forth-putting of the Father's power as was the effulgence of His whole glory.

even so we also--as risen to a new life with Him.

should walk in newness of life--But what is that "newness?" Surely

if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful,

the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether

a holy life; so that every time we go back to "those things whereof we

are now ashamed"

(Ro 6:21),

we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and "forget

that we have been purged from our old sins"

(2Pe 1:9).

(Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to in this verse,

as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does not seem to us of

much consequence. Many interpreters think it is, and it may be so. But

as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times was exclusively by

immersion [see on

Ac 2:41],

so sprinkling and washing are indifferently used in the

New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus.

And just as the woman with the issue of blood got virtue out of Christ

in the simple contact of the element with the body, symbolizing

living contact with Christ crucified; the mode and extent of suffusion

being indifferent and variable with climate and circumstances).

5. For if we have been planted together--literally, "have become

formed together." (The word is used here only).

in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of

his resurrection--that is, "Since Christ's death and resurrection

are inseparable in their efficacy, union with Him in the one carries

with it participation in the other, for privilege and for duty alike."

The future tense is used of participation in His resurrection,

because this is but partially realized in the present state. (See on

Ro 5:19).

6, 7. Knowing this, &c.--The apostle now grows more definite and

vivid in expressing the sin-destroying efficacy of our union with the

crucified Saviour.

that our old man--"our old selves"; that is, "all that we were

in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ" (compare

Col 3:9, 10;

Eph 4:22-24;

Ga 2:20; 5:24; 6:14).

is--rather, "was."

crucified with him--in order.

that the body of sin--not a figure for "the mass of sin"; nor the

"material body," considered as the seat of sin, which it is not; but

(as we judge) for "sin as it dwells in us in our present embodied state, under the law of the fall."

might be destroyed--(in Christ's death)--to the end.

that henceforth we should not serve sin--"be in bondage to sin."

7. For he that is dead--rather, "hath died."

is freed--"hath been set free."

from sin--literally, "justified," "acquitted," "got his discharge from

sin." As death dissolves all claims, so the whole claim of sin, not only

to "reign unto death," but to keep its victims in sinful bondage, has

been discharged once for all, by the believer's penal death in the death

of Christ; so that he is no longer a "debtor to the flesh to live

after the flesh"

(Ro 8:12).

8. Now if we be dead--"if we died."

with Christ, &c.--See on

Ro 6:5.

9-11. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no

more dominion over him--Though Christ's death was in the most absolute

sense a voluntary act

(Joh 10:17, 18;

Ac 2:24),

that voluntary surrender gave death such rightful "dominion over

Him" as dissolved its dominion over us. But this once

past, "death hath," even in that sense, "dominion over Him no

more."

10. For in that he died, he died unto--that is, in obedience to the

claims of

sin once--for all.

but in that he liveth, he liveth unto--in obedience to the claims of

God.

God--There never, indeed, was a time when Christ did not "live unto

God." But in the days of His flesh He did so under the continual burden

of sin "laid on Him"

(Isa 53:6;

2Co 5:21);

whereas, now that He has "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," He

"liveth unto God," the acquitted and accepted Surety, unchallenged and

unclouded by the claims of sin.

11. Likewise--even as your Lord Himself.

reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed--"dead on the one hand"

unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord--(The words,

"our Lord," at the close of this verse, are wanting in the best

manuscripts.)

Note, (1) "Antinomianism is not only an error; it is a falsehood

and a slander" [HODGE].

That "we should continue in sin that grace may

abound," not only is never the deliberate sentiment of any real believer

in the doctrine of Grace, but is abhorrent to every Christian mind, as a

monstrous abuse of the most glorious of all truths

(Ro 6:1).

(2) As the death of Christ is not only the expiation of guilt, but the

death of sin itself in all who are vitally united to Him; so the

resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of believers, not only to

acceptance with God, but to newness of life

(Ro 6:2-11).

(3) In the light of these two truths, let all who name the name of

Christ "examine themselves whether they be in the faith."

Ro 6:12-23.

WHAT

PRACTICAL

USE

BELIEVERS

SHOULD

MAKE OF

THEIR

DEATH TO

SIN AND

LIFE TO

GOD THROUGH

UNION TO THE

CRUCIFIED

SAVIOUR.

Not content with showing that his doctrine has no tendency to relax the

obligations to a holy life, the apostle here proceeds to enforce these

obligations.

12. Let not sin therefore--as a Master

reign--(The reader will observe that wherever in this section the words

"Sin," "Obedience," "Righteousness," "Uncleanness," "Iniquity," are

figuratively used, to represent a Master, they are here printed in

capitals, to make this manifest to the eye, and so save explanation).

in your mortal body, that ye should obey it--sin.

in the lusts thereof--"the lusts of the body," as the Greek makes

evident. (The other reading, perhaps the true one, "that ye should obey

the lusts thereof," comes to the same thing). The "body" is here viewed

as the instrument by which all the sins of the heart become facts of the

outward life, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites; and it is

called "our mortal body," probably to remind us how unsuitable is

this reign of sin in those who are "alive from the dead." But the reign

here meant is the unchecked dominion of sin within us. Its outward

acts are next referred to.

13. Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto

Sin, but yield yourselves--this is the great surrender.

unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and--as the fruit of

this.

your members--till now prostituted to sin.

instruments of righteousness unto God--But what if indwelling sin

should prove too strong for us? The reply is: But it will not.

14. For Sin shall not have dominion over you--as the slaves of a tyrant

lord.

for ye are not under the law, but under grace--The force of this

glorious assurance can only be felt by observing the grounds on which

it rests. To be "under the law" is, first, to be under its claim to

entire obedience; and so, next under its curse for the breach of these.

And as all power to obey can reach the sinner only through

Grace, of which the law knows nothing, it follows that to be

"under the law" is, finally, to be shut up under an inability to

keep it, and consequently to be the helpless slave of sin.

On the other hand, to be "under grace," is to be under the glorious

canopy and saving effects of that "grace which reigns through

righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (see on

Ro 5:20, 21).

The curse of the law has been completely lifted from off them; they are

made "the righteousness of God in Him"; and they are "alive unto God

through Jesus Christ." So that, as when they were "under the law," Sin

could not but have dominion over them, so now that they are

"under grace," Sin cannot but be subdued under them. If before,

Sin resistlessly triumphed, Grace will now be more than conqueror.

15, 16. What then? . . . Know ye not--it is a dictate of

common sense.

16. that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey--with the view of

obeying him.

his servants ye are to whom ye obey--to whom ye yield that obedience.

whether of Sin unto death--that is, "issuing in death," in the awful

sense of

Ro 8:6,

as the sinner's final condition.

or of Obedience unto righteousness--that is, obedience resulting in a

righteous character, as the enduring condition of the servant of new

Obedience

(1Jo 2:17;

Joh 8:34;

2Pe 2:19;

Mt 6:24).

17. But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of Sin--that is,

that this is a state of things now past and gone.

but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was

delivered you--rather, "whereunto ye were delivered" (Margin), or

cast, as in a mould. The idea is, that the teaching to which they had

heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them.

18. Being then--"And being"; it is the continuation and conclusion of

the preceding sentence; not a new one.

made free from Sin, ye became the servants of--"servants to"

Righteousness--The case is one of emancipation from entire

servitude to one Master to entire servitude to another, whose property

we are (see on

Ro 1:1).

There is no middle state of personal independence; for which we were

never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not that God

should reign over us, we were in righteous judgment "sold under Sin";

now being through grace "made free from Sin," it is only to become

"servants to Righteousness," which is our true freedom.

19. I speak after the manner of men--descending, for illustration, to

the level of common affairs.

because of the infirmity of your flesh--the weakness of your spiritual

apprehension.

for as ye have yielded--"as ye yielded," the thing being viewed as now

past.

your members servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto--the

practice of

iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to Righteousness unto

holiness--rather, "unto (the attainment of) sanctification," as the

same word is rendered in

2Th 2:13;

1Co 1:30;

1Pe 1:2:

--that is, "Looking back upon the heartiness with which ye

served Sin, and the lengths ye went to be stimulated now to like

zeal and like exuberance in the service of a better Master."

20. For when ye were the servants--"were servants"

of Sin, ye were free from--rather, "in respect of"

Righteousness--Difficulties have been made about this clause where

none exist. The import of it seems clearly to be this:--"Since no

servant can serve two masters, much less where their interests come into

deadly collision, and each demands the whole man, so, while ye were in

the service of Sin ye were in no proper sense the servants of

Righteousness, and never did it one act of real service: whatever might

be your conviction of the claims of Righteousness, your real services

were all and always given to Sin: Thus had ye full proof of the nature

and advantages of Sin's service." The searching question with which this

is followed up, shows that this is the meaning.

21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now

ashamed? for the end of those things is death--What permanent

advantage, and what abiding satisfaction, have those

things yielded? The apostle answers his own question:--"Abiding

satisfaction, did I ask? They have left only a sense of

'shame.' Permanent advantage? 'The end of them is

death.'" By saying they were "now ashamed," he makes it

plain that he is not referring to that disgust at themselves, and

remorse of conscience by which those who are the most helplessly "sold

under sin" are often stung to the quick; but that ingenuous feeling of

self-reproach, which pierces and weighs down the children of God, as

they think of the dishonor which their past life did to His name, the

ingratitude it displayed, the violence it did to their own conscience,

its deadening and degrading effects, and the death--"the second

death"--to which it was dragging them down, when mere Grace arrested

them. (On the sense of "death" here, see on

Ro 5:12-21,

Note 3, and

Ro 6:16: