Encouragement from Romans 6

One of the great and wonderful Biblical truths concerning every Christian is that we have saved from our sins and we have been saved to be a Godly and holy people. A corollary Biblical truth concerning Christians is the not so wonderful truth that we continue to sin. As 1 John 1.8-10 makes clear, sin remains a reality in the life of the child of God. No Christian remaining on this earth has yet reached the place of sinlessness. We will get there when we step into glory, for for here and now sin remains a daily reality. The way we view sin is different from what it was when we in our unsaved condition. We used to love our sin and to live for it, but now that we have been redeemed, we are to sorrow over our sin and have longing to be fully and forever free from it. Until we step into eternity we will continue to commit sins and we will do so on a daily basis.

The Apostle Paul understood this struggle with sin in the life of the believer. If you read Romans 7 you see where he shares his own firsthand account of this struggle. Paul clearly understood the struggle, yet he did not look upon it with despair. He knew that every believer was fully equipped for this battle and that they were on the winning side. When we look at Romans 6 we are given a glimpse of what Paul had to say to believers about how to go about striving against sin in this life. In this passage, Paul sets forth a number of wonderful truths that we must always bear in mind as we engage in this daily fight against sin. Let me offer a summary of what he said.

We have died to sin [2].
We have been baptized into Christ’s death [3].
We are to now walk in newness of life [4].
We are united with Christ in both His death and resurrection [5].
Our old self was crucified with Christ [6a].
Our body of sin has been done away with [6b].
We are no longer to be slaves to sin [6c].
We have been freed from sin [7].
We live with Christ [8].
We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus [11].
Sin must not reign in our mortal bodies [12a].
We must not obey the lusts of sin [12b].
We must not present the members of our body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness [13a].
We must present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God [13b].
Sin is not our master [14].
We are no longer slaves of sin [17].
We have been made slaves of righteousness [18].
We must present our members as slaves to righteousness for the purpose of sanctification [19, 22].
Sin leads to death [23 a].
God’s grace leads to eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord [23b].

The purpose of all of that is to show us how we can live in victory over sin each and every day. It is a battle and we often fail quite miserably, but it does not have to be that way. Christ has done all that is necessary to not only deliver us from the penalty of sin, but also to break its power over us. What we must do is to rely upon His gracious provisions moment by moment always be ready to take the way of escape when temptation arises [see 1 Corinthians 10.13]. What Paul writes in Romans 6 should be a great encouragement to all Christians. It is a wonderful reminder of what Christ has done on our behalf. It is wonderful assurance of victory over sin in this life. God has called us to be a holy people. While we will never achieve perfect holiness in this life, let us endeavor to appropriate God’s gracious provisions more faithfully so that we sin less and less.