Romans · New Testament · Romans 6:1–14
Sin's Power Is Broken
The Story
Paul opens by confronting the logical abuse that his teaching on grace invites — if grace increases where sin increases, why not keep sinning? His answer is immediate and forceful: "Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?" He then grounds this in the meaning of baptism — when believers were joined to Christ in baptism, they joined Him in His death, were buried with Him, and just as He was raised by the glorious power of the Father, they are now to live new lives. The union with Christ in death means a union with Christ in resurrection: the old sinful self was crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power, and those who have died with Him have been set free from sin's power. Paul is careful to establish what Christ's resurrection secures: "We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God." From this reality Paul draws a direct command for how believers are to think about themselves: "So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus." He then turns this from a matter of identity to a matter of daily choice — sin must not be allowed to control the way they live, and no part of the body is to be handed over as an instrument of evil; instead, the whole person is to be given completely to God as an instrument of righteousness. The passage closes with a declaration of the new standing: "Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace."
The Message
Paul's argument is that the death of the old self with Christ is not a metaphor for moral improvement — it is a settled fact that changes what a believer is and therefore what a believer is to do. Sin has not merely been forgiven; its power as master has been broken. The commands that follow — do not let sin control you, do not give your body to evil — are not the means by which freedom is earned but the appropriate response of those who have already been freed.