Romans 6: 9-14

My original intent was to let these verses stand on their own merit. When I read them they made total sense to me. I then read what the Life Application New Testament Commentary said and I had to put their words in. They added a lot or power to the words it is well worth reading. I feel a little lazy doing this but I there was nothing that I could have added that would have been better than this.

Rom 6:9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death no longer has any power over Him.

6:9 Jesus experienced physical death and rose from the dead, and he will never die again. His resurrection was a victory over death, so death no longer has any power over him. Paul concluded that dying with Christ, then, ends the power of death over us as well.

Rom 6:10 When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God.

6:10 Christ died once to defeat sin, emphasizing the finality and completeness of Christ’s work. When Christ groaned from the cross, “It is finished!” (Joh_19:30), he knew that the sacrifice was complete, once for all (see Heb_7:27). Unlike Christ, we will still fall into sin’s traps now and then; but like Christ who now lives for the glory of God, we can focus on living for God. God’s great plan was to liberate us from sin’s ruling power. Thus our perspectives, attitudes, relationships, and desires will change, in light of the incredible events that have taken place on our behalf—death to sin and the ability to come to God and live for him.

Rom 6:11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

6:11 If we have identified with Christ, what is true for him can be true for us. This identification starts in our minds by an act of mental reckoning or accounting. We can consider ourselves dead to sin. In other words, just as a dead body cannot respond to temptations or enticements, neither can we respond to them. Thus we are able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus because we have been given new life, a new lifestyle, and the sure promise of eternal life (see also Eph_2:5; Col_2:13).

Rom 6:12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

6:12 If we are dead to sin, how can sin still control us? We have died to sin, but we are constantly being freed from sin. When sin is in control, people have no choice but to give in to its lustful desires because they are its slaves (Rom_6:6). Believers have died to sin, but as long as we live in our mortal bodies, we will have the compulsion to sin. But only because we have died to sin do we have the power to no longer let it control us. We are, in fact, free from our slavery. But each day we must reject our old slave ways.

Rom 6:13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

6:13 While we are in our bodies, there will always be the chance that some actions will be sinful or used as a tool to distort our relationship with God or with others. Because our bodies are mortal (decaying and dying), we should not yield to sinful desires and temptations. Why yield to a decaying master? Why offer the parts of our bodies to sin, something to which we have died? Instead, Paul tells believers, give yourselves completely to God and use your whole body as a tool to do what is right. We have a choice. We have been given new life by God; thus, our bodies are to be given to him to use for promoting righteousness. We are to refuse sin and instead be wholly committed to living for God. We make these choices moment by moment.

Rom 6:14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace.

6:14 Sin cannot and will not ever again be our master because we are no longer subject to the law. What does it mean that we are not under the law?

·We are not under the law’s demands, as were the people of the Old Testament.

·We are not under curse implied by the impossible standard of the law (see Gal_3:10-14).

·We are not under its system of requirements, the ceremonial laws that had to be meticulously kept.

·We are not under the fear of failing the just standard of the law.

If believers were still under the law, then the sin would have to be master. By itself, the law produces both the proof and the acute awareness of sin but cannot direct or motivate a person to do what is right. Instead, believers are free by God’s grace because only grace can overcome sin. Only by living in that grace can we defeat the power of sin in our lives. When our lives are under the law alone, sin is our master. But when we live under grace, our master is God.