Romans 6

Romans 6 provides a definitive refutation of antinomianism by demonstrating that the believer's justification through faith results in a vital union with Christ's death and resurrection, rendering continued slavery to sin incompatible with the new life in God.

• Paul poses a rhetorical question regarding the validity of continuing in sin to increase grace.
• He denies this logic by affirming the fundamental change in a believer's status: being dead to sin.
• He explains the mechanism of this change through the believer's identification with Christ in baptism, death, and resurrection.
• He issues the imperative to actively 'reckon' oneself as dead to sin and alive to God.
• He concludes with the analogy of slavery, exhorting believers to present their bodies to righteousness rather than sin.

• The rhetorical question: 'Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?' (v1)
• Baptism as a sign of union/burial with Christ (v3-4)
• The crucifixion of the 'old man' (v6)
• The imperative: 'Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead' (v11)
• The dichotomy of masters: sin leading to death, or obedience leading to righteousness (v16)
• The stark contrast of the end state: death vs. eternal life (v23)

This passage bridges the doctrine of justification (Rom 3-5) and the life of holiness (Rom 6-8), establishing that the gospel of grace does not negate the law of God but transforms the believer's heart to love righteousness. It provides the essential theological basis for Christian sanctification.

Because the believer is objectively united to Christ's death and resurrection, sin no longer has the legal or spiritual authority to reign over them; therefore, one must live in consistency with this new reality.

The chapter transitions from the theological indicative—explaining the objective fact of the believer's identification with Christ—to the practical imperative—commanding the believer to align their daily life with that truth.

• Sin shall not have dominion over you (v14)
• You shall also live with him (v8)
• The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (v23)

• Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God (v11)
• Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body (v12)
• Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin (v13)
• Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead (v13)
• Yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (v19)

• The end of those things is death (v21)
• The wages of sin is death (v23)

• The church in Rome was a diverse community of Jews and Gentiles living in the center of the Roman Empire, where the culture was marked by moral decay and the absolute authority of the Caesars.

• Paul utilizes the common Roman concept of slavery to explain allegiance. A slave had no autonomy; they were property. Paul subverts this by applying it to the spiritual realm: one either serves the master of Sin or the master of Righteousness.

• Romans 6 serves as the vital link between the positional righteousness established in chapters 1-5 and the practical, Spirit-filled life of chapter 8. Matthew Henry observes that 'sin may struggle in a real believer, and create him a great deal of trouble, but it shall not have dominion,' emphasizing that while the presence of sin remains, its legal and tyrannical reign is broken.

• This passage relies on the theme of 'death and life' found throughout the Torah and the Prophets. It anticipates the concept of the 'new creation' (2 Cor 5:17) and provides the basis for Paul's later arguments about the conflict between the flesh and the spirit.

• Reference to baptism (v3) echoes the 'washing' imagery of Ezekiel 36:25; the death and resurrection imagery alludes to the typology of the Temple/Covenant (death to the old age, life in the new).

• ἁμαρτία (hamartía) [G266]: Refers to sin not merely as an act, but as an abstract power or cosmic condition.
• βαπτίζω (baptízō) [G907]: To immerse or submerge; indicates total identification and inclusion.
• συνθάπτω (syntháptō) [G4916]: 'Buried together with'; compound verb emphasizes the intimate, inseparable union between the believer and Christ.
• λογίζομαι (logízomai - root of 'reckon'): An accounting term meaning to calculate or account to one's record; Paul uses this to mean 'count as fact because of the objective reality.'

• The shift from 'we' (inclusive of Paul and the believers as a body) to 'ye' (a direct command to the readers).
• The passive nature of 'we have been baptized' (v3) vs. the active imperative 'yield' (v13). The believer's standing is a gift, but the walk is an action.

• There is ongoing historical debate regarding whether 'baptized' (v3) refers to water baptism as a sacrament or to the spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Historic views differ, with many Reformed commentators emphasizing the internal reality signified by the ordinance, while some traditions place heavier weight on the ordinance itself as the means of the union described.