Can I Sin More So That I Get More Grace? Part 5

Romans 6:8-11 says,

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

It is vital, when seeking to understand Bible verses, to study verses within context.

In doing this, we will arrive at the proper interpretation and application.

We cannot allow our emotional, traditional, or denominational understanding of Scripture to prevent us from proper Bible study methods.

If we fail to interpret Romans 6 based upon the reason Paul wrote it, we will arrive at a different understanding and application of this chapter than what Paul intended.

Please refer back to my previous blogs on Romans 6 to get the background of why Paul teaches as he does in this chapter.

The context of Romans 6 is that Paul is responding to those who are asking if they can sin all the more since the more they sin the more grace they get (see Romans 5:20, Romans 6:1-2).

His instructions in Romans 6:8-10 to those asking this question are the following;

• We died with Christ in his death.

• The death Jesus died, he died to sin once and for all.

• Jesus cannot die again since he eliminated what caused death, sin.

• Jesus was raised from death.

• Death no longer has mastery over him.

• The life Jesus lives, he lives unto God.

• We have been raised from the dead with Jesus.

In Romans 6:11, notice how Paul changes from the use of the word “we” to the use of the word “you”.

With the use of the word “you,” Paul is not writing to the believers whose lives have been transformed by grace and who are not using grace as a license to sin.

The use of the word “you” refers back to those who are asking if they can sin more, since the more a person sins the more grace they get.

In Romans 6:11, Paul specifically addresses this group when he states:

“So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul presents a very sound, logical response to those seeking to sin more because of grace.

Very simply, Paul says that since Jesus died to sin once for all and that he also rose from the dead and lives unto God, and since they have been identified with Jesus in his death and resurrection, then they too should count themselves dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus.

This group was seeking to do the opposite.

They were counting themselves alive to sin and dead to God, which is the reverse of what Jesus had done for them and was contradictory to their union and identification with Christ in his death and resurrection.

We will examine more of Paul’s response to this group in Part 6.

CLICK HERE to read Part Six.