Dead to Sin, Alive to Christ: Grace for Righteous Living

Romans 6 brings the argument from justification into sanctification. God has provided righteousness through Jesus Christ, and now He has handed that righteousness over to His children. Sanctification means that God is making His people more like Jesus. Punctiliar sanctification happened at a point in time when Christ saved them. Linear sanctification keeps going all the way through life as God makes them sweeter, kinder, more patient, and more righteous. Ultimate sanctification comes when believers are glorified and finally with the Lord.

Sanctification is a work of God, not a little train saying, “I think I can.” God changes hearts, directions, and destinations through His Word and His Spirit. Sanctification also calls for action steps. God does not tell His people to sit in a recliner and wait to be changed. Grace empowers real decisions of obedience.

Paul raises the question that naturally follows Romans 5:20: if sin abounds and grace abounds more, should believers continue in sin so that grace may abound? Paul answers, “By no means.” Those who are in Christ have died to sin. Sin remains possible, temptation remains real, and believers can still yield themselves into its slavery, but sin no longer owns their destination or has the dominion it once had.

Baptism pictures this new reality. Believers have been united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Christ died once for all and will never die again. Christ’s people therefore reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. The old self was crucified so that the body of sin would be brought to nothing and believers would no longer have to serve sin.

Grace is not an opportunity to sin because forgiveness is available. Grace is an opportunity to grow in righteousness. A dramatic testimony of being rescued from terrible sin displays God’s mercy, but a quiet testimony of being kept from those sins also displays His grace. No child of God needs to go deeper into sin to gain a better testimony.

Paul calls believers not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies. Hands, feet, eyes, mouths, and minds can become instruments of unrighteousness, or they can be presented to God as instruments for righteousness. Temptation will come through traffic, relationships, work, lust, bitterness, deception, anger, and a hundred other places. God’s grace gives strength for one righteous decision at a time.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Grace is not permission to sin God’s grace covers sin completely, but grace never turns sin into something harmless. Paul’s answer is not soft or uncertain: “By no means.” Grace does not invite believers to test how far forgiveness reaches. Grace gives believers a new reason and power to choose what is right. [1:18:09]
• 2. Dead to sin, alive to Christ Union with Christ changes the believer’s basic identity and destination. Sin can still tempt, accuse, and even enslave for a season, but it no longer has rightful dominion. Christ’s death and resurrection mean that believers do not have to obey sin’s passions. A Christian can reckon on what God has already made true in Christ. [1:12:04]
• 3. God changes hearts through obedience Sanctification is not self-improvement by trying harder and harder. God does the deep work through His Word and Spirit, yet He calls His people to take actual action steps. Obedience does not earn transformation, but it is where God’s transforming work gets lived out. Righteousness often comes through one decision made at the moment of temptation. [1:19:42]
• 4. A quiet testimony still displays grace God’s grace is not only visible when He rescues somebody from a wrecked life. God’s grace is also visible when He preserves someone from sins they never needed to experience. A so-called boring testimony can tell of a great mercy: God kept a child close and made that child His own. Sin is never necessary in order to know the greatness of grace. [1:16:34]
• 5. Present every member to God Bodies are not neutral instruments. Eyes, mouths, hands, feet, and minds can be offered to sin or presented to God for righteousness. Sin often gains ground little by little, inch by inch, until it begins to dominate. God calls His people to place every practical part of life under His rule. [1:13:08]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [52:25] - Justification and Righteousness in Romans
• [53:59] - Three Kinds of Sanctification
• [57:01] - God Changes People Through Obedience
• [58:30] - Can Grace Become an Excuse for Sin?
• [1:03:09] - Consider Yourselves Dead to Sin
• [1:04:03] - Baptized Into Christ’s Death
• [1:08:23] - United With Christ in Resurrection
• [1:10:17] - No Longer Enslaved to Sin
• [1:13:08] - Instruments for Righteousness
• [1:15:18] - Grace for the Quiet Testimony
• [1:18:09] - Grace Is an Opportunity for Righteousness
• [1:21:30] - Choosing Righteousness in Temptation

Bible Reading

Romans 6:1-14
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” [52:20]

Romans 5:20
“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” [01:00:01]

Romans 6:11
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” [01:03:19]

Observation questions

1. What question does Paul raise in Romans 6:1 after stating in Romans 5:20 that grace abounds where sin increases, and how does he answer it? [01:01:44]
2. According to Romans 6:3–6, what events in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are believers said to be united with?
3. What does Romans 6:11 tell believers to consider true about themselves in relation to sin and to God? [01:12:31]
4. In Romans 6:12–14, what body parts or “members” can be presented either to sin or to God, and what is the result Paul warns against when sin is allowed to reign? [01:13:08]

Interpretation questions

1. Paul says believers have died to sin, yet he still commands them not to let sin reign. How do these two truths explain both the real struggle with temptation and the believer’s new freedom in Christ? [01:02:05]
2. Romans 6 connects being united with Christ’s death to walking in newness of life. What does this suggest about why salvation changes more than a person’s eternal destination? [01:06:40]
3. Paul tells believers to “consider” themselves dead to sin and alive to God. How can a person’s view of identity shape the choices made when temptation comes? [01:12:19]
4. Romans 6:14 says that sin will not have dominion over those under grace. Why does grace lead toward righteousness rather than becoming an excuse to keep sinning? [01:20:36]

Application questions

1. Is there an area where it is easy to think, “God will forgive me anyway,” and therefore treat sin too casually? What would it look like to replace that thought with the truth that grace is an opportunity to grow in righteousness? [01:18:09]
2. Which “member” is most often tempted to become an instrument of unrighteousness—eyes, mouth, mind, hands, feet, or something else? What is one specific way that same part of life could be presented to God this week? [01:13:51]
3. Think about a likely point of temptation in the coming week: traffic, work, a difficult relationship, entertainment, anger, lust, bitterness, or dishonesty. What righteous decision could be made in that moment? [01:20:10]
4. Where might sin be gaining ground little by little rather than through one dramatic choice? What boundary, honest conversation, or step toward help could keep it from becoming more controlling? [01:13:29]
5. Some believers have been rescued from very visible sin, while others have been kept from much of it. How can someone with a quieter testimony celebrate God’s grace without feeling that they needed a more destructive past? [01:16:48]
6. Sanctification is God’s work, but believers are called to take real action steps. What action step has God been putting on your heart—confession, accountability, reconciliation, changing a habit, or refusing a recurring temptation? [01:21:01]