OIPINION —
In Romans 6, Paul is dealing with a couple of objections he must have encountered more than a time or two in sharing the good news of Jesus. The first one is in v. 1, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” The other objection is voiced in 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” In both these, the objector is trying to suggest that Paul’s gospel of grace (5:1- 2) doesn’t, can’t and won’t lead to righteous living.
Paul answers these objections by launching into a discussion about baptism. Although his words show the importance of baptism in coming to God, that’s not the point he wants to make. (No writer of the NT ever tried to prove the necessity
of baptism in coming to Christ because no one in NT times questioned the matter).
Paul’s purpose in talking about baptism is to show how coming to Jesus leads to continuing in Jesus. Just as exchanging vows in a wedding commits a man and a woman to living as husband and wife in marriage, justification through faith in Christ leads to pursuing a sanctified life for Christ.
Paul makes two points. One is about the severance to sin that baptism pictures (v. 2-14). I counted 15 occurrences of words like “death,” “die,” “died” and “crucified” in this section. Death carries the idea of separation. When we die physically our spirit is separated from our body (James 2:26). We die spiritually when we are separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).
Jesus’ death on the cross severed His connection with sin (v. 10). At the cross He completed His sacrificial work in connection with sin (John 19:30). The Hebrew writer tells us in 9:28 (NASB) that when He returns, it will be “without reference to sin.” Paul is teaching that baptism does the same thing for disciples. They were baptized “into His death” so it severed their connection with sin (v. 3). Their past life of sin was just that — past!
The other point he makes is about the nature of enslavement (v. 15-23). We are a slave to whoever we present ourselves to for obedience. They had been slaves to sin but in baptism they became “slaves of righteousness” (v. 18).
They needed to live a life that reflected this truth. In Paul’s time, many people in the Roman Empire were slaves, so his first century readers wouldn’t have batted an eye when they read this. They would have knowingly nodded their heads. For us today,
talk of enslavement makes us squeamish and uncomfortable as we think about things like new world slavery or human trafficking.
Nonetheless it is true that we are all slaves of something. There is something we put above everything else (for many people it is themselves). Paul is reminding his readers that at baptism they made the commitment, in becoming followers of Jesus, to become slaves of righteousness. Therefore, carelessly sinning because they were under grace rather than the law was not an option.
What has Paul said in Romans 6? He has reminded his readers that at baptism they died to sin and made the commitment to become slaves of righteousness. He’s definitively shown how the roots of baptism are designed to lead to the fruits of righteous living.
Bruce Green’s new book, called This Is the Day, is available on Amazon.
