Sin No Longer Has Dominion Over You

In Romans 6:1, the Apostle Paul asks a very important question: “Can we continue to sin that grace may abound?”
This question was very relevant to his audience. The Jews had always lived with the understanding that obedience to the law was what saved them from God’s wrath and made them acceptable to Him. However, Paul tipped their worldview on its head. In Romans 1-5, he opened their eyes to the weakness of the law, implying that while it pointed out what was right, it did not give the power to save; only faith in Christ’s finished work offers salvation.

It is therefore expected that their natural question would be, “Since grace is what saves, can we continue in sin?” Paul anticipates this and provides the answer – emphatically, no. The Greek word Paul uses for “God forbid” (Gr. mē ginomai) is written in the optative mood, which, in New Testament writing, expresses the strongest possible wish regarding an event. In other words, Paul is saying in the strongest possible way: NO, grace does not permit sin.

Like Paul’s original audience, even today some people believe it is acceptable to continue living in sin because Jesus loves us unconditionally and has saved us not by works, but by grace (Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 2:8-9). To this line of thinking, I echo Paul’s emphatic NO.

How can God be okay with a life of sin? Think about it. God left His glory, came to earth, walked this corrupt world, humbled Himself, and died a criminal’s death because of our sin. How, then, could He be okay with us continuing in the very sin He suffered so greatly to resolve? Indeed, God forbid!

Paul goes on to give several reasons why believers cannot continue to live in sin.

1. We are dead to sin and therefore cannot continue to live in it (Romans 6:2).
When something is dead, it no longer exists; therefore, it has no place to thrive or function. Believers are dead to sin, meaning we no longer have union with the sinful nature and are no longer subject to its rule. We therefore cannot continue in sin.

2. We have been baptized into Christ’s death (v. 3).
When Christ died, He dealt with the sin problem. He defeated sin, nailing it to the Cross. And He did this for us. Through Him, as our vicarious sacrifice, we also defeated death (Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

3. We have been raised with Christ by the glory of the Father and must walk in newness of life (v. 4).
When Christ died, He died to sin; when He rose, He rose to righteousness. Remember: He did this for us. As He died, we died; and as He rose, we rose to righteousness (vv. 5-11). We cannot continue living in sin because we now have a new life in Christ. This is the newness of life we are called to walk in. It is our new nature. We are free from sin (Romans 8:10-11; Colossians 3:1-4; Ephesians 2:4-6).

4. Believers can now refuse to let sin reign in their bodies (vv. 12-13).
Paul makes it clear that this is not passive. We are to actively reject sin’s work in and through us by continually presenting our bodies to God and yielding ourselves to Him, so that we are instruments of righteousness rather than instruments of sin.

5. We are not under the law (vv. 14-15).
Neither submission to grace nor freedom from the law is a license to sin. As Paul explains in Romans 7, although the law is good, just, and pure, it only led him to more sin because it revealed how flawed he truly was. He realized there was nothing he could do to make himself right before God apart from grace. The law, therefore, is powerless to save (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:10). Believers are no longer under the law. So how can we continue in sin when the law that once subjected us to sin no longer has dominion over us? Neither the non-subjection to the law in Christ nor the presence of grace permits sin.

6. Continuing in sin reveals who one’s master is (vv. 16-18).
Whatever controls our attention so that we cannot live without it is our master, and we become its slave. One can be a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. Slavery to righteousness means being continually compelled to obey God and live righteously. Slavery to sin leads to death; slavery to obedience leads to life. We were once slaves to sin, but now we are servants of righteousness.

In summary, when one is a sinner, they willingly yield themselves to sinful and fleshly desires. Now that one is a believer in Christ, they must willingly and consciously yield themselves to righteousness (v. 19). When a person subjects themselves to sin, the end is death. When one submits to God, they are set apart to live a life of holiness and enjoy everlasting life (vv. 20-23).

Salvation is received by faith (believing in one’s heart and confessing with one’s mouth that Jesus is Lord) (Romans 10:9-10). However, living out our salvation is not passive. We must work it out with the help and power of the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:12; Galatians 5:25).

Nourish Your Spirit