Click here for Romans 6 audio:
Read it. Pray it. Share it. Live it.
After saying that grace abounds where sin increases (5:20), Paul answers the obvious objection: “So should we keep sinning?” His response is strong and clear: By no means! (vv. 1–2). Grace isn’t permission to stay the same—it’s power to live new. Believers have died to sin in the sense that sin no longer has absolute rule over us (vv. 2, 6, 14). Paul points to our union with Christ: we were baptized into Christ’s death and buried with Him, so that just as Christ was raised, we too might walk in newness of life (vv. 3–4). Our “old self” (who we were in Adam) was crucified with Christ so we would no longer be enslaved to sin (v. 6; cf. Gal. 2:20).
Because Christ has been raised and will never die again, His victory is permanent—and our union with Him changes everything (vv. 8–10). That’s why Paul tells us to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (v. 11). Then he calls for action: don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, and don’t offer yourself to sin as an instrument for unrighteousness. Instead, present yourself to God as someone brought from death to life, and offer your life to Him for righteousness (vv. 12–13). The promise underneath the command is hope-giving: sin will have no dominion over you, because you are not under law but under grace (v. 14; cf. Ezek. 36:25–27).
Paul pushes the point further: being “under grace” does not mean we can casually sin (v. 15). Everyone is serving a master—either sin (which leads to death) or obedience (which leads to righteousness) (v. 16). But Christians have been changed from the inside out. We were slaves to sin, but God has made us obedient from the heart to the gospel-shaped pattern of teaching, and we’ve been set free to become slaves of righteousness (vv. 17–18). Sin’s path produces shame and ends in death, but serving God bears fruit that leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life (v. 21–22). Paul ends with a famous contrast: sin pays wages—death—but God gives a gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (v. 23; cf. Eph. 2:8–9).
🌀 Reflection:
Where do you feel sin trying to “reign” again—your thoughts, temper, habits, secret compromises (v. 12)? Don’t argue with it like it’s your master. In Christ, you’ve died and risen to a new life—so start today by believing what God says is true: you are alive to Him (v. 11).
🎄 Christmas Reflection:
Christmas celebrates more than Jesus coming into the world—it celebrates why He came. The Son of God was born so that we could die to sin and live to God. The manger points forward to a cross and an empty tomb, where Jesus breaks sin’s power and gives new life to all who are united to Him. Because Christ has come, grace doesn’t just forgive us—it raises us to walk in newness of life (vv. 4, 11).
💬 Mission Challenge:
Tell someone this week that grace doesn’t just forgive—it frees. Share Romans 6:23 and explain the difference between what sin pays (“wages”) and what God gives (“free gift”), and invite them to trust Christ for new life (v. 23, 5:8–9).
Click here to return to the contents page for Phase 2.3 — The Savior, His Church, and the Mission.
Just Keith Harris 