WHAT DOES ROMANS 6 TO 8 MEAN?
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Romans 5:17-21
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
God sent the Law into the world to show people that they were sinners [Romans 5:20, Gal 3:24-25]. This is because the Law is the power of sin [1 Corinthians 15:56].
Anyone who believes the Gospel of Christ (that Christ died for sin and was raised from the dead [1 Corinthians 15:3-4]) has been given the gift of righteousness [Romans 5:1, 5:17, 8:4].
Therefore where sin increased grace increased more, because not only did believers get their sin forgiven, but they also received the gift of righteousness [Romans 5:20].
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Certainly not! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Romans 6:1-7
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Paul then says it is not possible for Christians to continue in sin, so that grace may increase even more to cover up that sin [Romans 6:1-2].
His explanation is that it is not possible for Christians to live in sin, because they have actually died to it [Romans 6:3] and are therefore no longer in it.
So your sinful flesh is no longer you [Colossians 2:11, Galatians 5:24], which means that effectively your body of sin has been destroyed [Romans 6:6].
Consequently, any acts of sin done in your flesh are not accredited to your account anymore, because your sinful flesh is no longer you [Romans 7:17, 20]. This is how you are actually free from sin [Romans 6:7].
Therefore, you can no longer sin before God [Romans 6:6, Romans 7:24-25, Colossians 2:11].
Since you can’t sin before God anymore, there is therefore no need for any more grace to cover up more sin [Romans 6:1-2].
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:8-14
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Just as Christ actually died, you actually died to sin and therefore do not relate to sin anymore [Romans 6:10-11].
You are alive to God, and relate to God [Romans 6:10-11].
Paul then says that now you are dead to sin, you are to reckon (know) that you are dead to sin, in order to not let sin reign in you [Romans 6:11].
This works because if you know that you are dead to sin and that you can no longer sin before God, then you will not put yourself under the Law to stop sinning. If you are not under the Law, then sin won’t reign in you [Romans 6:14], because the Law is the power of sin [1 Corinthians 15:56].
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Romans 6:15-18
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Paul then deals with the question: If you leave the law behind, will you sin?
He says that you won’t sin if you leave the Law behind [Romans 6:15].
When you believed the Gospel of Christ you yielded yourself to righteousness [Romans 1:16-17, 6:16-17]. This righteousness is ‘the gift of righteousness’ [Romans 5:17]. This means that you have the gift of righteousness.
Since you yielded yourself to ‘the gift of righteousness’, you are now a servant of ‘the gift of righteousness’ [Romans 5:17, 6:18].
Paul says that since you are a servant of ‘the gift of righteousness’, your obedience or disobedience is to ‘the gift of righteousness’, not to the Law [Romans 6:16, 6:18].
Consequently, you will only sin/do error if you do not serve ‘the gift of righteousness’.
To not serve ‘the gift of righteousness’ is to walk against the truth that you have ‘the gift of righteousness’.
So then, you will not sin if you do not put yourself under the Law. You will only sin/do error if you walk contrary to the truth that you have ‘the gift of righteousness’ [Romans 6:15-18].
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Romans 6:19-23
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
To “yield your members servants to righteousness” means to practically trust God that you have the gift of righteousness [Romans 5:17, 6:19].
Paul defines this earlier in the chapter when he says to not yield yourself to sin, but yield yourself to righteousness [Romans 6:11-13]. This means to practically trust God that you are dead to sin as well as having the gift of righteousness.
Effectively, this means to practically trust God that you are permanently righteous before Him (that you have the gift of righteousness and that you can no longer sin before God [Romans 6:6] – which means that you stay righteous before Him).
Paul says that if you practically trust God that you are permanently righteous before Him (stand upon the gift of righteousness) that is your fruit unto holiness [Romans 6:19, 22].
When you stand upon the gift of righteousness, you glorify God [Romans 5:1-2, 6:22].
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Romans 7:1-6
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
Earlier, Paul dealt with the question: If you leave the law behind, will you sin? He said that you won’t sin if you leave the Law behind [Romans 6:15].
His first argument as to how you won’t sin if you leave the Law behind is discussed in Romans 6:16-23.
Paul’s second argument [Romans 7:1-6] is based upon the definition of sin, which is that sin is the transgression of the Law [1 John 3:4].
Paul says that you died to the Law, through baptism into Christ [Romans 7:4].
Consequently, you are not under the Law [Romans 6:14, 7:6].
Since you are not under the Law, you cannot break the Law before God and therefore cannot sin before God [Romans 6:15].
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Romans 7:14-25
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Paul says that when he puts himself under the Law, and tries to do good he always fails [Romans 7:21].
He says that when he fails and breaks the Law, that it is no longer him, but sin in him [Romans 7:17, 20]. This is because Paul is dead to sin, and no longer sins before God [Romans 6:15].
Paul confirms this by declaring that he has been delivered from his body of sin through baptism into Christ [Romans 7:24-25, 6:6, Colossians 2:11].
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Paul says that based on all his teaching on being dead to sin (Romans 6) and being dead to the Law (Romans 7) there is therefore no guilty judgement for those in Christ [Romans 8:1].
This is because your body of sin has been destroyed [Romans 6:6, 7:24-25]. Therefore any acts of sin done in your sinful flesh are no longer accredited to your account as sin.
Effectively you no longer sin before God [Romans 7:17, 20].
Those in Christ walk after the Holy Spirit and not the flesh, since the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law sin and death [Romans 8:1-2]. What this means is that the Holy Spirit imparts the Life of Christ to your sinful flesh, which overpowers it’s sinful nature and produces the fruit of Spirit in it [Romans 8:2, 11, Galatians 5:23-24].
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Romans 8:7-14
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Your sinful flesh wars against God by nature [Romans 8:7]. Your sinful flesh can’t please God [Romans 8:8].
If you are a Christian you are ‘in the Spirit’ and the Holy Spirit imparts the life of Christ to your flesh [Romans 8:9].
You are not obliged to live according to your flesh, to try to keep it under control. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to keep your flesh under control [Romans 8:12].
The Holy Spirit will bear his fruit in you [Romans 8:11].
The flesh is your power to do things. Walking after the flesh is using your power to do things regarding keeping the Law. If you do this you will experience death (failure to keep the Law) [Romans 8:13].
So if you try to please God by trying to keep the Law, you won’t be able to do it [Romans 8:13, 7:21]. However, if you trust the Holy Spirit to bear His fruit in you, you will experience life (the life of Christ in you), according to the grace given to you [Romans 12:3].
Sons and daughters of God are led by the Spirit in this way [Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:1].
