Explore the depths of spiritual freedom as we unpack Romans 6’s powerful message on overcoming sin’s dominion. Learn how Paul’s teachings guide us from being bound under the law to embracing the freedom that comes with grace. This thought-provoking discussion challenges the traditional motivations of guilt, urging us instead to cultivate a life of gratitude – a compelling insight into how love and thankfulness become the new driving forces of our faith journey.
00:00:05 Introduction to Romans 6: Freedom from Sin
So now you might notice that Romans 6 is divided into two parts. Now that’s not simply the translator’s division, although those divisions are often made by translators. In fact, there is a division by the translator, but the actual division is Paul’s. He’s now taking the question of being freed from sin in another direction, or perhaps with another way of illustrating it. He’s talked first of all about being dead to sin, being accounted as if we had already finished the whole sin business, the identity of it, the power of it, by no longer living under the sin kingdom of Adam. But now, by faith in Jesus, we are counted as if we were righteous and freed. And we are actually freed, but we are from the judgment of sin and the identity of it, but we’re still living in the sinful state and seeking to overcome and trying to resist temptation and so forth. That’s the first section. But now he’s talking about freedom from being a slave. He says, you remember, and the connection between the first section and the second is verses 14 and 15. Verse 14 in the old section is for sin shall not have dominion, shall not rule, shall not reign over you. And so there he’s clearly talking about the sin kingdom of Adam since he’s using the word dominion and reigning. For you are not under the law, but under grace. So the connection now between verses 14 and 15 is the issue of law, but only as a brief introduction. He’s not going to deal with it in detail yet. That’s going to come in chapter 7. But he says this in verse 15, which brings the new section now. Well now, what’s he asking here? Shall we sin in the sense of shall we do an act or a thought of sin, or shall we consider ourselves still in the sin kingdom of Adam simply because we’re no longer condemned by sin and identified in that kingdom? I think the whole context means shall we continue in the sin kingdom of Adam, though of course it could include our personal sins. But the bigger issue that we always need to keep alive in our minds is whether we are going to continue in the sin kingdom of Adam. Now, people who walk away from faith, walk away from God because they don’t feel their lives are worthy enough or because they’ve lost interest in God or because they’re sinning and just don’t want to believe anymore, they are walking back into the sin kingdom of Adam. Now, you and I may sin, you and I may be tempted and fall, but we may not necessarily be in the kingdom of Adam, because we did that sin in a moment of insanity or craziness or simply blocking God, but we still believe we’re in the kingdom of Jesus Christ where there is righteousness and life. So this is what makes sin less powerful, that is, sinful acts and sinful thoughts. When we realize, Lord, I’ve sinned, I confess to you, but I thank you that I’m not in the sin kingdom of Adam. I’m not identified by it. I’m not condemned by it. I am not abandoned in it. You are my righteousness, and Jesus is my kingdom, who has brought the kingdom to me and to the world. And I thank you that I live in that kingdom. That’s how we think, you see. That’s how we live by faith. But now Paul’s asking us a very important question. Shall we sin because we are not under law? Now remember the word, notice the word, the preposition under, not shall we sin because we disregard the law, but rather because we’re not under it. which suggests, again, kingdoms, doesn’t it? Dominion. Sin is over us in a dominion while we’re in the sin kingdom of Adam. But now, because we’re out of that kingdom, it’s no longer our dominion. It no longer has dominion over us. And the same with law. Shall we sin because we’re not under law? He’s going to talk about law as a dominion as well in chapter 7. But the question comes to us, now that we have a free conscience, in other words, the law is not condemning us because Christ took the judgment on our behalf, shall we keep on living in the kingdom of Adam? So we are challenged here, aren’t we? Once we have a new conscience, where does it take us? Once we’re freed from the old conscience, the conscience of condemnation and death and fear, how do we live? You see, the challenge is that we live now a new life for a new reason, not simply because we want to escape hell or because we want to escape judgment or because we want to escape guilt. When we’re simply living to escape guilt, we’re still children. We’re still kids who are watching out that a parent isn’t around while they steal a cookie. But now we have a new conscience, and that conscience has been given to us not because we no longer sin, not because we’re no longer guilty, but because we are no longer condemned for that sin or guilt. We are no longer identified in that. So how do we live then? What motivates us? If guilt and shame and fear were the motivation to escape condemnation by God or hell, then what motivates us now that we don’t have guilt? It’s a big question, isn’t it? And when you search into your hearts, you slowly begin to believe, I’m now living a new life because I am loved by God and because I love God. And you say that to yourself and you say, yeah, but it’s such a piddling little love that I have, it isn’t much. I mean, I don’t love enough. No, maybe you don’t. In fact, not maybe, certainly you don’t. Certainly I don’t. But that little bit is precious, isn’t it? I mean, if you’ve been, for instance, in an abusive family relationship, or if you’ve been addicted and you’re endlessly escaping guilt and shame and fear, and that’s been the main motivation of your life, always to escape guilt, shame and fear, by either no addiction or more addiction, You understand that, right? If I have no addiction, then I don’t have guilt, shame, and fear. And if I do have guilt, shame, and fear, then I’d better have more addiction to escape it. Now, if we don’t have guilt and shame and fear, but we’ve had it all our lives as a way of living, how do we now live? And we’re being drawn to the idea of gratitude, of thankfulness, and you say to yourself, but my goodness, my gratitude is so flimsy, how will that motivate me? But just think of gratitude as a gentle, what shall I say, string of silk wrapping around your body, but if that silk keeps wrapping around your body, my goodness, it becomes as strong as steel, doesn’t it, after a while? You see, the more we respond to gratitude and the more we give gratitude, then the more we will live by gratitude. to wake up in the morning to thank God for his love and his mercy to us, to want to give generously to someone in need because of the gratitude that we have for how God gave generously to us when we were in need and were always in need. These are the ways of motivation. So then, what then, shall we sin, verse 6 to 15, shall we sin, live in the sin kingdom of Adam, because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. The same certainly not that he said, expressed at the beginning of chapter 6. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live in it any longer? We do not continue in the sin kingdom because we died to it. We have a new life. And now we do not live in the sin kingdom because we’re under grace. Grace is God’s undeserved kindness to us. It is His mercy. It is His tender compassion. It is His long-suffering mercy. And that gradually enables us to mature from operating by guilt to operating by gratitude. Think of it then, your old life operated by guilt, that is either escaping from it in addictions and sin, or trying to escape from it by endlessly trying placating God and trying to please Him so that He wouldn’t condemn you anymore, all those false ways of living as a Christian. That’s your old life, the old carnal life or the old religious life. Now, instead of living by guilt and shame or trying to escape it, you’re living by gratitude. So that brings us to verse 16. Now Paul is using the word slave here in a negative sense. He uses the word slave in a positive sense in the book of Galatians. We’re now slaves of God in a love-slave relationship. But now he’s using it, but here he’s using it in a negative sense. And he’s saying, because I’m not under condemnation anymore, God is not trying to control me endlessly by guilt, but by his love and his mercy and his grace to me, his long-suffering, I’m beginning to like God. I’m beginning to enjoy him. He’s nice. He’s kind to me. He’s helpful. He is my helper. And because of that, I want to avoid being a slave to the old way of life that was the way of escaping guilt, or trying to appease God to get rid of my guilt, or escaping it by going back into addiction. I don’t want to live a life of escape anymore. I want to live a life of gratitude. I want to live a life of peace. I want to live a life of joy. You notice when Paul talks about rejoicing, I mean, in Philippians he said, finally, my brethren, rejoice. And you look at that and you say, what in the world for? I don’t have anything to rejoice over. But you do, you see. Once you realize who you are in Christ, how he has taken away your judgment, how you are no longer identified as a sinner and condemned for it, how you are no longer under the condemnation of the law so that you are free from guilt, you have to say, what motivates me? And at first, you might feel on shaky ground and think there’s nothing under you. And then you say, I’m going to be grateful. I am going to live a life of gratitude to God. Thank you for joining me, everyone, today. Colin Cook here, and How It Happens is the program you’ve been listening to, which you can hear any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. And if you’d like to make a donation to the program, it would be so much appreciated. This is listener-supported radio. You can send your donation to FaithQuest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Or you can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. Thanks so much for all your support. I do appreciate it and your kind notes. And I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
