Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

6:1 Paul is likely responding to a question posed regularly by his Jewish opponents. They did not raise this question so that they would have an excuse to sin, though in every age some have wrongly interpreted and applied Paul's gospel of grace to rationalize sin. Instead, Paul's opponents argued that his gospel must be mistaken since, in their view, it led people to continue in sin. Paul will now show why their interpretation of his gospel is mistaken.

6:2 Paul's gospel does not lead to more sin, since those who belong to Christ have died to sin (as explained in the following verses).

6:3 Christians died to sin when they were baptized into Christ. Paul is not arguing that baptism magically destroys the power of sin. Baptism is an outward, physical symbol of the inward, spiritual conversion of Christians.

6:4 In the early church, baptism was probably by immersion, at least as a general rule, though Christians dispute whether such a practice must always be followed literally today. Therefore, baptism pictures a person being buried with Christ (submersion under water) and being raised to new life with Christ (emergence from water). This symbolizes the person's union with, and incorporation into, Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they now have the power to live in newness of life.

6:6 The power of sin has been broken in those who believe, for their old self (lit., "old man," meaning who they were in Adam) was crucified and put to death with Christ. They were born into the world as sinners, with the result that their bodies were ruled by sin. Body of sin refers to the rule of sin, but without excluding the involvement of the personal self that lives through the body. Sin's rule, however, was broken when Christians died with Christ, and therefore they are no longer enslaved to sin. Paul does not argue that Christians do not sin at all (a view called sinless perfection); instead, the tyranny, domination, and rule of sin have been defeated for them. This means that the normal pattern of life for Christians should be progressive growth in sanctification, resulting in ever greater maturity and conformity to God's moral law in thought and action.

6:7 One who has died means one who has died with Christ.

6:10 died to sin. Jesus died because he took sin upon himself, but his resurrection demonstrates that he has defeated both sin and death.

6:11 Dead to sin means dead to the pervasive love for and ruling power of sin. Christians must realize that the mastery of sin has been broken in their lives (see note on v. 6).

6:12-13 The tension surfaces here between what God has already accomplished and the responsibility of his people to obey. They are still tempted by desires to sin and must not let those desires gain control. Each day they must give themselves afresh to God.

6:14 sin will have no dominion over you. This is not a command but a promise that sin will not triumph in the lives of Christians. Because they live in the new era of fulfillment, they are no longer under the old era of redemptive history; that is, they are no longer under law, where the Mosaic law and sin ruled over God's people. By contrast, under grace means living under the new covenant in Christ, in an era characterized by grace (cf. 3:24; 4:16; 5:2, 15-21).

6:15-23 The question posed in v. 1 is now explored from another angle, that is, shall a Christian continue to sin because sin's power over him is broken (v. 11) and thus there is little danger in sinning?

6:15 Paul emphatically rejects the idea that freedom from the old covenant era of being under law implies freedom to sin.

6:16 Moral decisions still matter for Christians. Giving in to sin results in people increasingly becoming obedient slaves to sin. (For a brief description of ancient slavery, see note on 1 Cor. 7:21.) This kind of activity eventually leads to death, not implying that genuine believers can actually lose their salvation but that sinning leads them in that direction, away from full enjoyment of life with Christ (cf. note on Gal. 5:4). Those who give themselves utterly to sin will die (face eternal punishment).

6:17-18 True Christians, however, will never live as slaves to sin, for God has transformed their hearts at conversion, so that they will now grow in their love of righteousness and in living according to God's Word.

6:19 Although Paul acknowledges that the illustration from slavery is imperfect, it nonetheless stresses the importance of giving oneself wholly to God rather than to sin.

6:20-21 When the readers were unbelievers, they were totally captivated by sin, and the end result of such sin is death (physical and spiritual death are probably both in view here). Sin always brings destructive results in people's lives.

6:22 Christians have a new status and a new destiny.

6:23 Those who give themselves to sin will die both physically and eternally, whereas Christians are assured of eternal life. Wages implies that the punishment for sin is what one has earned and what one deserves. Free gift is the opposite of something one deserves, which fits Paul's earlier emphasis on justification by grace alone (God's unmerited favor; see note on 4:16), through faith alone (trusting in Christ for justification; see 1:17; 3:21-4:25).