Romans 6
Apostle has spoken so magnificently of the completeness of God’s grace for sinners that he anticipates being accused of what today we would call “anti-nomianism” (against law).
As we said last week we should especially note two things at the outset.
1.) His understanding of the Gospel is so completely Christ centered that he can be accused of antinomianism.
2.) He thoroughly rejects and refutes being antinomian.
For the Apostle Baptism is the hinge point of new realities for the believer. In Baptism we are thoroughly identified w/ Christ so that His death becomes our death and His resurrection becomes our resurrection. This reality has the inevitable implication that we, being dead to sin as the dominating control center in our lives, are free to walk in newness of life.
“Old man” — Reference to who we were in Adam
“Body of Sin” — Whole of our fallen nature or the whole self in all of its fallenness.
“Might be done away” — In the sense of being the necessarily controlling agency in our lives.
In Baptism we died to our old mode of existence.
“Reckon yourselves” — Become who you are
12 — Imperative // 13 Imperative
— Certain realities have been laid out about what God has done and these realities have need to be considered true by believers.
Illustration — Emancipation
14 — Indicative “Sin shall not have dominion” — (Indicative) Promise not (Imperative) exhortation
The Apostle throughout this chapter has often personified sin as all consuming power center. In vs. 14 Paul lays out the promise that Sin shall no longer be their Lord for they have another Lord … Jesus. The reason that sin will not have dominion is because they are
6:14 — “Not under law, but under grace” — Now in light of what is said elsewhere in Romans (3:31, 7:12, 14a, 8:4, 13:8-10) we dare not conclude that this mean that, because of grace we have no relationship to the law.
We must keep in mind the contrast here is between “under law” and “under grace.”
I would submit that what is being said here is that believers are no longer under the law as a condemning reality but are under grace as a reality of God’s undeserved favor towards them.
So, if read this way vs. 14 would teach,
For sin is not your Lord, for you are not under God’s condemnation as thundered by the law against sin but you are under God’s undeserved favor.
If they were under God’s condemnation as thundered by the Law then Sin would be their Lord but as they are now under God’s undeserved favor (grace) Sin is not their Lord.
Such an understanding honors the way that Paul speaks of the Law elsewhere while at the same time making sense of this passage.
vs. 15 —
Again the accusation is raised that the Apostle has just navigated himself into an antinomian position w/ this slight difference
In vs. 1 the false inference gathered from 5:20 that is being warded off is that we should sin to make grace abound. Here the false inference gathered from vs. 14b that is being warded off is that sinful acts to not matter anymore more as far as Christians are concerned because we are no longer under the condemnation of the law but are under grace.
This inference is warded off by an appeal to reason that includes the idea of the Antithesis.
1.) Appeal to reason — You are the slaves of which ever master you obey. Sinful acts do matter because they indicate who your master really is.
2.) Antithesis — You have only two alternatives from which to choose concerning whom you will be slaves to.
Seed of the Serpent vs. Seed of the Woman.
