Romans: The Glory of the Gospelಮಾದರಿ

Set Free!

Our salvation is assured, not because we are sinless but because Christ was, and his righteousness covers us—even when we continue to struggle. The apostle Paul has been driving this point home as he seeks to show us our spiritual security in Christ. He has just finished explaining that grace trumps sin: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds more,” he wrote in 5:20 (ESV). Hearing this, some might think that they can sin all they want since sin merely provides more opportunity for God to showcase his grace. But to live that way is an abuse of grace, which Paul clarifies for us today. The bottom line is, if we truly grasp the grace we’ve been given, we’ll hate sin more and more and turn away from it. Even so—even as believers who hate sin—we still fall into it. Our struggle against temptation so often seems like two steps forward and one back (sometimes two or three steps back). Slow or seemingly delayed progress in Christian growth can discourage us at times and even threaten our assurance of salvation. If your battles with sin are making you question your place in Christ, you’ll find fresh encouragement in this portion of Romans.

Spiritually speaking, being united to Christ makes us completely different people living in a completely different realm under a completely different rule. Formerly, we were dead in sin, but now we are alive to God; formerly, we were tied to this world, but now we are joined to Christ; formerly, we loved to obey sin, Satan, and worldly powers, but now we long to obey God and live in his ways. The change hasn’t been perfected in us yet, but if we’re in Christ, we can be sure it’s happening.

When temptation is especially strong, it can seem like we have no choice but to sin, but Paul exposes why it doesn’t have to be that way:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:12–14, ESV)

Once we have been united to Christ, never again will God hold our sin against us. And the fact is, we still sin as we live out our faith in day-to-day life. Throughout this time, from our conversion until we are taken home to heaven, God sanctifies us. The word sanctify means “set apart,” and it’s used by theologians to refer to the Lord’s transforming work in our lives. Unlike our once-for-all-time justification, sanctification is a lifelong process. As we live out our faith in everyday life, God is slowly but surely changing us to resemble and reflect our Lord Jesus.

Reflection: You are promised that “sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14, ESV). How does having this promise empower you in your fight against sin?