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The Letter to the Romans
FORMER ADVENTIST FELLOWSHIP BIBLE STUDY

COLLEEN MOORE TINKER
(Notes)

19. Dead to Sin

Romans 6:1-14

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-

7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (NIV)

Key Words and Phrases

Baptism

Baptized into Jesus' Death

Body of Sin

Glory of the Father

Instruments of Wickedness

In chapter six Paul moves from his discussion of our legacy of sin inherited from Adam into an explanation of how we can now be freed from the tyranny of this intrinsic sin. He begins by addressing the question raised by his statement in chapter 5:20: Where sin increased, grace increased all the more."

1. Some people were upset by the implication that under grace, people could ignore the moral constraints demanded by the law. Paul denounces the idea that a person living under grace would continue to live in sin. What does Paul mean when he says we died to sin? (see verses 6, 10, 10; 18; 8:18-14; Colossian 3:3-5; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:4-6; Acts 5:30-32)

2. Paul says in verses 3-4 that when we are baptized into Christ Jesus, we are baptized into his death. This fact is his explanation of how we have died to sin. What is the purpose of baptism? (see Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12; 36-38; 9:17-18; 10:44-48; Acts 16:13-15)

3. How are we baptized into Jesus' death? (2 Corinthians 4:10-11; 12:9-10; Galatians 3:20; 5:24-25; 6:14; Philippians 3:10-11; Colossians 2:11-12, 20-21; 3:2-4)

4. Paul now says that we may live a new life just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father. What exactly is the "glory of the Father," and how does His glory help us live a new life? (see Psalm 145:11; Colossians 1:10-11; 1 Peter 4:11; Revelation 1:5-6; 4:11;5:12-13;7:12; 19:1)

5. What is the "old self," the "body of sin" that has been "done away with" when we die with Christ? (see verse 16; Galatians 5:24; Ephesians 4:22-24, 30; Colossians 3:5, 9-10; Romans 7:21-24; 8:5-9)

6. When we die with Christ, Paul says, we die to sin. Then we are "alive to God in Christ Jesus," and "we will also live with him" and share his life that is free from the mastery of sin and death. In verse 11-14 Paul outlines three steps to a believer experiencing victory over sin in his new life. What is significant about the first step found in verse 11, "count yourselves dead to sin" and "alive in Christ"? (see John 1:12-13; Deuteronomy 14:1; Romans 8:13-14; 16-17; Ephesians 5:1; 1 John 3:1-2)

7. The second step toward victory over sin in a believer's life is: "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body." How does one not "let" sin reign in his body? (see v. 16-18; 20-22; 8:2, 4-6, 9,13-114; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; 5:17; 10:12-13; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; 6:14-18; Galatians 5:4, 16-26)

8. The third step in living a victorious life is offering one's self-body and mind-to God as "instruments of righteousness". What does it mean to offer one's self to God? (see Romans verses 16, 19; 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14-15; 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9, 24-25)

9. Paul concludes this argument by stating that because we are no longer under law, sin shall not be our master; we are under grace. If sin reigns in us when we are under the law, how does grace bring about our freedom from sin? (see Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:5-11)

Commitment

10. Have you experienced dying to sin and becoming alive to God in Jesus? If so, how has your life been different?

11. What sins still tempt you to let them "reign in your mortal body," and what is your biggest fear or difficulty in offering yourself to God?

12. Ask God to do what he needs to do in you in order to help you grow into who he wants you to be. Ask him to help you know what he wants you to know, to change in the ways he wants you to change, and to put his Spirit in the places of your weakness so He will be glorified in you. Praise Jesus for dying for your sake, and thank him for the Holy Spirit who marks you as belonging to God, a living soul visible to the universe.