Romans 6

What one statement in Romans 6 do you think Paul considered the most important point he was making in this chapter? Here are some contenders, though you can feel free to go in another direction.

• “Sin is dead to us. How can it be a part of our life anymore?” (Romans 6:2).
• “If we died with Christ, we’ll live with Christ. Believe it” (Romans 6:8).
• “Don’t let sin tell you how to live your life. Your body doesn’t have to do what sin tells it to do” (Romans 6:12).
• “Sin is not your boss anymore. You don’t answer to the law. You answer to grace” (Romans 6:14).
• “The salary we get when we work for sin is death. The gift we get from God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our leader” (Romans 6:23).

Paul says, “Sin is dead to us” (Romans 6:2). He tries to hammer that into our heads several different ways. In a word picture, he seems to portray our baptism as a kind of burial. We die. We are immersed. “This immersion that included death means that we were buried with him too” (Romans 6:4). Then we rise from the immersion as new people, much like Jesus did when he rose from the dead. Are we dead to sin? Or was Paul exaggerating, like preachers sometimes do?

Paul tells the Romans, “Stop volunteering your body parts to sin” (Romans 6:13). We all know which body parts come to mind first. But Paul doesn’t seem limited to the body parts we typically keep hidden. If Paul had to give examples of body parts that can either hurt or help, what examples do you think he would give?

A more literal translation of Romans 6:14 has Paul telling the Christians in Rome, “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for [you] are not under the law, but under grace” (King James Version). Paul said earlier, “If there’s no law, nobody broke it” (Romans 4:15). Where’s the accountability in this? And how is anyone supposed to know what they’re supposed to do if there aren’t any rules?

LIFE APPLICATION. Paul asks the rhetorical question, “So what are we going to say about all this? ‘We might as well keep on sinning so God can put his grace on display’?” (Romans 6:1). He answers his own question. “Absolutely not” (Romans 6:2). But do you think people today take the kindness and the forgiveness of God for granted? If so, what makes you think that?

LIFE APPLICATION. We live and work with people who sometimes put us in awkward ethical situations. They pressure us to do something that we don’t feel is right. How might this line from Paul relate to situations like that? “If you volunteer to work as someone’s slave, don’t you know that means you’re a slave to whoever you obey?  You can do what sin tells you and end up dead. Or you can do what God tells you and end up living the right kind of life” (Romans 6:16).