Monday, April 4, 2016

FREEDOM FROM SIN

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Freedom from Sin

by R. Kent Hughes

Romans 6:1-14
One of the dangers of preaching salvation by grace alone is that it can be interpreted as license to do whatever one wishes. The Apostle Paul was well aware of this tendency, as we saw in Romans 3:8 where he mentioned that some were slanderously reporting that he and his followers were saying, “Why not do evil that good may come?” Because of this type of misrepresentation, Paul was always on guard when he made a strong statement about grace. So when he said in Romans 5:20, “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” he knew the worst would be made of it by some. He knew that a pernicious logic would be applied: “Well, if sin brings more grace, let’s sin!” He also knew such thinking was not only logical to some minds, it was also natural because sin has its “fleeting pleasures” (Hebrews 11:25). He knew, too, that sinning could even be twisted into a religious duty, because it provides an opportunity for God to give his grace and love and thus glorify himself. Even people who have claimed to be Christians have thought this!
The church in Corinth had this problem, for when Paul insisted that an incestuous couple be excommunicated, there were some who saw nothing wrong with the incest, thinking it was an excellent display of Christian liberty (cf.1 Corinthians 5).
A famous historical instance of such thought comes from the Russian monk Rasputin, who dominated the Romanov family in their final years. Rasputin taught that salvation came through repeated experiences of sin and repentance. He argued that because those who sin more require more forgiveness, those who sin with abandon will as they repent experience greater joy; therefore, it is the believer’s duty to sin. At times this type of thinking has been intellectualized, as in the nineteenth century in James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.1 Today this thinking is very common among those who wish to justify their sexual lifestyles. I have actually had such rationalizations seriously presented to me as if they were based on the Bible.
So when Paul said, “But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” he could sense the inevitable question coming and went ahead and voiced it himself: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). His answer was: “By no means!” (Romans 6:2) (“May it never be,” NASB; “Of course not!” TLB; “God forbid,” KJV; “No, no!,” NEB; “What a ghastly thought!” Phillips). Paul has no use for even the slightest intimation that grace encourages sin. In fact, he finishes Romans 6:2 with a question to the contrary: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The remainder of the chapter goes on to substantiate his position.
Romans 6:3-14 answer the question, how do those of us who are under grace live without being characterized by sin? How are we to live lives of victory? Paul answers logically. First, by understanding the nature of our identification with Christ (Romans 6:2-10). Second, byaccepting our identification with Christ as true (Romans 6:11). Third, by yielding to the Christ with whom we are so wonderfully identified (Romans 6:12-13).
The Nature of Our Identification with Christ (vv. 2–10)
For Paul, what a believer understands is terribly important. Paul was convinced that Christian living depends on Christian learning, that duty follows doctrine. Therefore, it is natural that he attempts to increase our knowledge. The key word in Romans 6:3-10 is “know,” which occurs three times: “Do you not know...” (Romans 6:3), “We know...” (Romans 6:6), and “We know...” (Romans 6:9). Above all, Paul wants us to know or understand the nature of our union with Christ.
To help us, he employs the powerful metaphor of baptism. For Paul, a believer’s baptism symbolizes wondrous realities. Ron Ritchie, a pastor on the West Coast, experienced a beautiful illustration of this when he was conducting a baptism service in the Pacific Ocean.
A woman came up to him and asked him to baptize her 9-year-old daughter. Ron was reluctant to do so without finding out whether the girl really understood what was happening, so he began to question her and to teach her about the reality behind the water baptism. He was gesturing as he talked to her, and noticed the shadow of his hand as it fell on the sand. So he said to the little girl, “Do you see the shadow of my hand on the sand? Now that is just the shadow; the hand is the real thing. And when you came to Jesus, when you believed in Jesus, that was the real baptism. You were joined to him, and what happened to him happened to you. Jesus was alive; then he died, was buried, and then he arose from the dead. And that is what happened to you when you believed in him.” He pointed to the shadow on the sand and said, “When you go down in the water and are raised up again, that is a picture of what has already happened.” The girl immediately caught on and said, “Yes, that is what I want to do because Jesus has come into my life.”2
Baptism is the shadow of what happened to us when we met Christ. Keeping that in mind, let us examine Romans 6:3-5:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
The overall emphasis of these verses is upon our profound identity with Christ. Baptism bears with it the idea of identification, especially when it is linked to a person’s name. For instance, 1 Corinthians 10:2 tells us that the Israelites were “baptized into Moses”—referring not to water baptism, but to the fact that they became united with him as never before as they recognized his leadership and their dependence on him. So it is with Christ. When we were baptized into him (Matthew 28:19), we achieved a profound identification.
Our text further emphasizes this identity in Romans 6:5, which uses a botanical term in saying we have become “united with him.” The word “united” (Greek: symphytoi, “grown together”) pictures a branch bound to another—they are grafted together. That describes our union with Christ. The Scripture boldly affirms this in a number of places. Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” So close is our identification with Christ that we are, so to speak, robed with him. 1 Corinthians 12:13 adds: “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”—the Body of Christ. There could not be a more profound identity or union. To state our union concisely:
Our spiritual history began at the cross. We were there in the sense that in God’s sight we were joined to Him who actually suffered on it. The time element should not disturb us, because if we sinned in Adam, it is equally possible to have died to sin with Christ.3
This is our position. We do not have to be conscious of it any more than of our conscious participation in Adam’s sin. It is a fact: we are identified with Christ.
The specific emphasis of Romans 6:3-5 is that we are so profoundly identified with Christ’s death and resurrection that we actually did die with him and truly were raised with him, so that we now share in his resurrection life. Again the Scriptures attest to this. Galatians 2:20 tells us: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Galatians 6:14 says: “...the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Just as we died with him, we were also resurrected with him. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1). Whereas before we had only a solidarity with Adam’s sin, now that has been broken and we have a solidarity with Christ, the Second Adam, in his death and resurrection. We need to know and count on this if we are to experience victory over sin.
What that means practically in life is this: as Christ did not serve sin, neither must we. Romans 6:6-7 go on:
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
The “old self” is the kind of person we were before our conversion. That self was crucified with Christ. “The body of sin”—the body as it was, a vehicle of sin—has been rendered inoperative. Paul concludes this explanation of our union and deliverance in Romans 6:8-10:
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Paul emphasizes that when Christ died he died “once for all.” This is a technical term used repeatedly in the book of Hebrews to emphasize the finality of Christ’s work. Paul made this emphasis because the believer must have full confidence that the Captain of his salvation will never again come under the power of sin and death.
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