Verse By Verse Romans Archives

Romans 6:15-18 – Is Sin OK?

Some people say to themselves, “Well, sin’s still all around us, and we still live in this mortal flesh, so maybe we just keep on sinning till we get glorified after this body dies.”

But Romans 6:1–14 already answered that. Paul said no, we’re dead to sin now. Sin has no more dominion over us. We’re a new man in Christ, joined to His death and resurrection, so we walk in newness of life now.

Romans 6 teaches the crucified life, the resurrected life, and the new life we live in Christ.

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Romans 6:15-18 – Transcript

As we’ve said a number of times through this study, it’s difficult if not impossible, to fully understand what Paul’s teaching us in Romans unless we see it as one continuous letter.

The chapter and verse separations are extremely value as reference guides but it’s important to realise that they don’t segregate the letter into different subjects. Paul continues the one main subject for many verses and across chapters, injecting vital pieces of information that relate to that subject as he goes.

Romans 6:15-18 which we’re looking at today, is within the subject of Romans 6:1 which asks, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

Paul’s giving an in depth, multi-faceted explanation of this question and his answer to it in verse 2 is “God forbid.”

Some people say to themselves, “Well, sin’s still all around us, and we still live in this mortal flesh, so maybe we just keep on sinning till we get glorified after this body dies.”

Romans 6 teaches the crucified life, the resurrected life, and the new life we live in Christ.

Then Romans 6:15 reads,

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

At first glance this seems like a reinforcing of the question of Romans 6:1 but it’s not the same as verse 1.

Romans 6:1 asked, “Shall we continue in sin?” while verse 15 asks, “Since we’re under grace and not under the law, does that mean sin is now okay?”

Paul’s just said the famous sentence in verse 14, (Romans 6:14),

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

So people are prone to jump to the wrong idea thinking, “If there’s no law and no punishment, then sin must be fine.”

But Paul says this is the wrong idea.

Paul’s been teaching grace since Romans 3:24,

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

He uses the word grace eleven times from Romans chapters 3–6. We’ve learned the doctrine that we’re saved by grace, we stand in grace, and we live under the reign of grace. Now Romans 6–8 explains how to live in these sinful bodies while being under grace and the most common thinking is that if we’re saved by grace, and God isn’t judging sin today, and sin can’t condemn us, then why not sin? Can we rob a bank, kill someone, commit adultery, and it’s all fine?

Both believers and unbelievers accuse grace of giving a license to sin. They say that if you teach grace the way Paul teaches it, you’re letting people sin, even encouraging it.

Paul’s answer in Romans 6:15 is short: “God forbid.” That’s our answer too. Just because we’re not under the law doesn’t mean God’s okay with sin.

Sin’s still present in the world and in our mortal body, but grace never gives permission to sin. It’s true that God’s not judging sin today in this dispensation, but that doesn’t mean He wants us to do it.

Paul deals with this problem in Ephesians 5, 1 Corinthians 6, and all through Romans chapters 6–8. People hear the gospel of grace and think, “Well, if my works don’t save me or keep me saved, then sin mustn’t matter.”

But Paul spends two chapters showing how saved people should think about sin, good works, the law, and how to walk when there is no law and he’ll tell us every step to take.

Romans 8 shows the security we have in Christ. Some call it “once saved, always saved.” It’s not a great label, but the truth is there: if Christ saved us, we can’t undo what He did.

Israel under the new covenant didn’t have that same promise, so verses in Matthew, Hebrews, Peter, and John don’t describe our position today.

People say the teaching of grace is giving a license to sin. Some even call it heresy. But grace never says, “Go sin, God doesn’t care.”

Grace says we’re saved by Christ alone, we’re not under the law, and God forbid that we use that freedom to wantonly sin.

A lot of people think the only reason we won’t sin is if God threatens us, or if the law says “thou shalt not,” or if our eternal life is on the line.

We can find that kind of thinking in parts of the Bible, but not under grace. Many call this message “easy‑believism,” like believing is too easy.

But it wasn’t easy for Christ to die on the cross. It wasn’t easy for Him to rise from the dead. It isn’t easy for God to be long‑suffering toward sinners.

Easy believism is a thought that comes from a human perception of salvation and grace that refuses to accept that there’s nothing we personally, can do to either earn salvation or to keep salvation by the works of our own self.

We must do something! But what?

If there was anything we could do to earn or keep salvation there’d be no grace, only our works and Jesus Christ would have hung on that cross in vain. It would have been a wrongful death sacrifice if that wasn’t the only act which could bring salvation and the hope of life to mankind.

This’s another huge stumblingblock for unsaved Jew and Gentile alike. “You mean you can be a vile sinner and still receive salvation and eternal life through God’s grace? Impossible,” they say.

But, the gospel is “easy” only because our works are not part of it. Christ did the work.

People say grace gives a license to sin. They say, “If you teach grace like Paul does, you’re telling people they can sin and nothing’ll happen.” They ask, “What reason do people have to do right?”

All these complaints come from two big errors,

Error #1: Grace means sin is permitted.

Error #2: The law is the best way to control sin.

These errors are common amongst legalists, and especially amongst self‑righteous people, and even in saved people who don’t understand grace.

Some teach this thing called “lordship salvation,” saying that you must prove your salvation by your works, or else you’re not really saved.

That puts people back under a law system—Old Testament law or “New Covenant law”, mistakenly believing that the Holy Spirit helps you keep rules to control sin.

They think rules, fear, and punishment are what keeps a Christian in line while many others go the opposite way, thinking that grace means that works don’t matter at all, so there’s no point in doing good. Just sin and thank God for grace.” That’s wrong too.

Romans 6 deals with the first error—people who don’t resist sin. Romans 7 deals with the second error—people who think the law controls sin.

Romans 3:20 reminds us that the law does not remove sin. It says the law gives the knowledge of sin. Romans 5:20 says the law makes the offense abound.

You don’t stop sin by passing a law—you just catch sinners. The law can scare people, but it can’t change their heart, can’t change their desire to sin. Fear of punishment may hold someone back for a while, but if that fear goes away, the desire’s still there.

1 Corinthians 15:56 says that the strength of sin is the law. So using the law to control sin actually gives sin more power.

Paul uses the picture of a schoolmaster. When the teacher’s in the room, kids behave. When the teacher steps out, chaos starts. That’s how people think grace works: “If the law leaves, we’ll all go wild,” but grace doesn’t leave us a child. Grace teaches us to grow up.

1 Corinthians 14:20 says not to be children in understanding. When we grow up, we gain wisdom and responsibility—things no law can give. A law can’t say, “Be wise,” and suddenly we’re wise.

But grace, through Paul’s epistles, teaches God’s wisdom and how to live as grown‑up sons of God.

Under grace, the law’s removed, and God gives us the chance to walk as a mature son. Can we still act childish? Yes, we can! Should we? No.

Can we grow up in Christ? Yes. Grace gives us the tools to live the way we ought to. Those tools are God’s wisdom, God’s truth, and the new life in Christ.

Paul says this in Ephesians 4:14,

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Once we know Christ and come to the unity of the faith, we should no longer be children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.

That ties right back to Romans 6:1–14. We’re a new man in Christ, not a child who gets fooled by almost everything. Grown up people aren’t tricked as easily as kids are. Once we know something, we can stand on it.

That’s how Paul describes our life in this present evil world. We live in mortal bodies, but we don’t need the law to control us. We need to know who we are in Christ and walk by God’s wisdom.

Paul’s old schoolmaster picture only goes so far. Grace doesn’t remove the teacher and let the kids run wild. Grace kills the old man.

Romans 6:6–7 says our old man is crucified with Christ. Grace doesn’t permit sin. Grace kills sin.

If someone thinks that grace means “I can sin now,” they don’t understand Romans 5 and Romans 6:1–14. Grace never teaches sin’s ok. Grace teaches who we are in Christ.

Calling grace a “license to sin,” is a giant myth.

Titus 2:11–12 says,

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

At first that sounds like law—“do good, avoid evil”—but Paul says grace is a teacher here and grace teaches this, not the law. Grace teaches righteousness without the law.

It doesn’t teach sin with exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss. It teaches that God gives us righteousness freely, and that righteousness should outwork in our life.

If we want to teach salvation by grace alone, or “once saved, always saved,” or that nothing we do can earn or keep salvation, we must teach it from Paul’s epistles. Paul’s the apostle of grace. The only other way to get that doctrine is to invent a system where God saves us by election without us ever believing anything. But Scripture says we must believe the gospel.

Before Paul answers the question of Romans 6:15,

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?…

…we need to understand sin itself.

Romans chapters 1–3 shows that we’re all sinners. Romans chapters 5–6 talks about sin in two ways:

Sin nature (what we inherited from Adam) and Sins (the actions we commit).

Romans 5 says by one man sin entered the world and death by sin. That’s the nature, the sin nature. Babies are born with that nature, even before they commit any sins. Romans 6:1 asks if we should continue in that nature we inherited from Adam. Paul says no—we’re a new man.

But Romans 6:15 asks about sins—the choices we make and the actions we commit.

“Shall we sin?” That’s about actions.

Christ saves us from both.

Romans 3:25 says His blood paid for the sins we committed. Romans 5–6 says He also saved us from sin, the sin nature we were born with, by giving us a new man. He delivered us from the death that Adam brought and that we inherited and from the guilt of our own actions.

Romans 5:21 says, “As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness.”

That’s talking about sin and grace as powers. Powers much bigger than just the things we do. Sin reigned because of Adam. Now grace reigns because of Christ.

In Romans 6 we learn we’re dead to sin. Romans 6:7 says, “He that is dead is freed from sin.”

That means sin has no more dominion over us. Jesus Christ cut us loose from Adam’s curse, the source of our mortality, the power that pulls us into death.

But then the question comes: “What about the sins I still commit? I know Christ forgave my sins. I know He took me out of Adam and put me in Christ. But what about the wrong things I continue to choose to do now?” That’s the issue Romans 6:15–23 deals with.

Before we talk about how to handle sins, we need to understand how sin comes out of a person. For that, Paul points us to James 1. James isn’t written to the Body of Christ, but the way sin works in a human heart has never changed. Dispensations change how God deals with people, not how sin operates. Whether in Israel or the Body of Christ, sinners are judged the same way if they die without salvation.

James 1:13 says, “Let no man say… I am tempted of God.” God never tempts anyone to sin. He doesn’t push us toward evil. Jesus Himself had no sin as we see in Hebrews 4 and 2 Corinthians 5:21, proving He’s God. God may test faithfulness, but He never tempts someone to do wrong.

James 1:14–15 explains how sin actually works:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

So sin doesn’t come from God. It comes from our own lust, our desires, what we want. Lust doesn’t always mean something sexual. It simply means “what I want,” “what I long for,” “what I love.” Paul uses the word concupiscence—the thing that our heart chases after. The problem is that our hearts are sinful (Jeremiah says desperately wicked), so our natural desires often run opposite to what God wants.

Sin happens when our desire meets something that entices us. It may be something we see, hear, or imagine and then we choose it. It takes both: the desire inside and the temptation outside.

It’s stirring up in us that thing that we want. We didn’t know we wanted it so much until now, and now we know we really want it. We’re being seduced. We’re excited to realise we can have that thing which we now desperately want.

So a person is enticed into getting that thing by our lust, our wants and desires.

That’s how sin’s born.

This’s why grace doesn’t tell us, “follow our heart.”

Grace teaches us to follow God’s wisdom, not our own wants. Grace doesn’t say, “Do whatever you feel.” Grace says our old man is dead (Romans 6:6). Grace doesn’t let the old man run wild. Grace kills him.

So Romans 6 is not about God tempting us or the law controlling us. It’s about understanding how sin works and how grace teaches us to live as a new man. Christ saved us from both sin (the sin nature) and from sins (the actions).

Romans 3:25 says His blood paid for the sins I committed. Romans 5–6 says He also delivered me from the sin nature I was born with.

Christ saved me from both the root, the nature, and the fruit, the sin actions.

James says lust conceives and brings forth sin. That means sin doesn’t just happen the moment we want something.

A desire isn’t sin by itself. Even an enticement isn’t sin yet. Jesus was hungry and He longed for bread. That wasn’t sin. The devil tempted Him: “Turn these stones into bread.” That was the enticement. But Jesus didn’t receive that thought. He didn’t let it form in His mind. He answered with Scripture and refused to yield. That’s why He didn’t sin.

James uses the picture of conception. To conceive means to receive something inside and let it form. Before conception, we may want a child, we may be drawn toward it, but nothing’s happened yet.

Sin works the same way. We have a desire. Something entices us. Then, in our mind, we form the thought: “I’ll do this.” Right there’s where sin’s born. First sinful thoughts, then sinful actions, then sinful habits, then bondage.

So how do we stop sin?

James shows the steps leading to it; lust → enticement → conception → sin. To stop sin, we need to interrupt that chain.

We change our desires, we remove enticements and we refuse to yield when temptation comes.

Now, that’s all very simple to understand, but very hard to do, and it happens thousands of times in life. And here’s the key point: if the law, self‑help, therapy, or human willpower could stop that process we don’t need Christ.

That’s why Paul doesn’t stop with James’s description.

Romans 6 is not a self‑help lesson. It’s about who we are in Christ.

Romans 6:15 asked, “Shall we sin?” Paul’s first answer is God forbid. But then he explains the deeper truth: we must know who we serve.

Romans 6:16–23 uses the word servant eight times. Paul isn’t talking about our service as in our actions. He’s talking about our identity—what we are.

That’s because sin doesn’t start with actions. It starts inside, with what we believe, what we know, and who we think we belong to.

If we deal with sin just by asking, “Is this action a sin?” we’re thinking like someone under the law. The law defines sin by commands and rules. But Romans 6 shows sin begins in the inner man with our desires, our thoughts and our beliefs.

So the real question is: what’s being formed inside us? Before Christ, sin was always forming in us, no matter how good we may have looked on the outside. Now, as a new man, something else can be formed—truth, righteousness, new desires.

Behaviour follows belief. Change what we know, change what’s in our mind and we change what we do. That’s why Paul keeps saying, “Know ye not…?” Romans 6 is the application of everything we learned in Romans 1–5. We simply can’t live the Christian life until we know who we are in Christ.

Paul ‘s already taught us grace—how God saved us by Christ’s finished work, how we’re justified by faith, not by our works, and how God freely gives us all things in Christ.

Now in Romans 6:16 he says,

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

“Know ye not…?” He points to a simple truth everybody understands, even outside of grace: whoever we obey, that’s who we serve. If we yield to something, we become its servant. If we obey sin, we’re serving sin. If we obey righteousness, we’re serving righteousness.

Paul uses this same idea in 1 Corinthians 6:12. He says,

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

He means, “I’m not under the law, but I refuse to let sin rule me.” Even under grace, a Christian should resist sin. We may still fail, but our mind should be in rebellion against sin, not in agreement with it.

Romans 6:16 puts the focus on what we are, not just what we do.

Paul asks, “Whose servant are you?” Jesus used the same principle in John 8:42 when He told the Pharisees,

…If God were your Father, ye would love me…

Their works showed who they really served.

In John 8:44 Jesus told them,

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.

They rejected the truth. The principle is simple: you know a tree by its fruit.

But under grace, something changes. We’re not under the law, we’re under grace. So whose authority are we under now? Grace’s authority and grace doesn’t make us a sinner who keeps sinning. Grace makes us a new man in Christ. Grace kills the old man. Grace teaches is to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Grace teaches righteousness without the law.

Titus 2:11 says,

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

So when someone says, “If we’re under grace, can we sin?” Paul says, “Don’t you know who you are? Don’t you know who you serve?”

If you’re under grace, you serve God through Christ, not sin, not the law, not your old man and not the world.

Romans 6:17 says,

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

See, we were the servants of sin. Past tense. We were in Adam. We were under sin. But now something’s changed and it doesn’t show up first in our actions, but in our identity. We’ve obeyed from the heart, obeyed the gospel, the one and only act that we ourselves can and must do to be saved. We believed what God said, His Word, and He made us something new.

Paul says the same thing in 1 Corinthians 6:11. After listing all sorts of sins, he says,

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

We’re no longer what we used to be.

So Romans 6 is not first about what we do or what we should do. It’s about who we are. Sin starts inside—desire, enticement, conception—so the answer’s got to start inside too.

Grace changes the inner man. Grace gives us new truth, new identity, new desires. And when belief changes, behaviour follows.

We’re not justified because we changed ourselves into a good person or turned our life around and stopped sinning. Only a dishonest person could look at himself and say they’re no longer committing sins. We all commit multiple sins before we’re even dressed in the morning and most of them we’re not even aware of.

No, no, no. We’re justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. It’s by grace we’re saved by faith.

We were a sinner, but we’re not one now—not because of our works, not because we’ve been miraculously converted into a person who never sins, but because of Christ’s work on that cross.

Paul keeps applying the gospel of grace to our whole life. The cross is not only how we get saved; it’s how we learn to live under grace, how we grow in wisdom, how we think and how we walk.

Colossians 2:2–3 says,

That their (our) hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Grace is far bigger than “I’m saved and now I can sin.” Grace changes who we are.

Romans 6:17 says, “Ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed.”

If Paul meant our good works, then he’d be teaching salvation by works. But Scripture is clear: Romans 3:28,

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Titus 3:5,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

So the “obedience” here is not our good deeds. Obey means to yield, to submit, to comply, and here it’s done without works.

Romans 1:5 calls this the obedience of faith.

Romans 16:26 says the gospel is preached “for the obedience of faith.” Romans 4:3 says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. That’s obedience, believing what God said.

So when Romans 6:17 says we “obeyed,” it means we believed the gospel. We obeyed “from the heart” the “form of doctrine” delivered to us—the message of grace, not the law.

That doctrine said:

– all are sinners

– the law cannot save

– Christ died and rose for us

– we’re justified freely by His grace

When we believed that, something changed inside of us. We stopped being a servant of sin and became a servant of righteousness—not by our works, but by God’s declaration.

Romans 5 says we’re justified by faith. Justified means declared righteous. God stamped “righteous” on us because of Christ. That makes us a servant of righteousness even before we do anything right.

Romans 6:18 says,

Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

If this meant “when you stop sinning, then you become righteous,” that would be the law. But Paul’s teaching righteousness by grace, not by performance.

Grace makes us what the law never could. Grace makes us righteous in Christ.

So when someone says, “If I’m under grace, can I sin?” Paul says, “You’re misunderstanding what grace did.” Grace didn’t just forgive us. Grace made us righteous. Grace put us under a new Master. Grace gave us a new identity. Grace made us a servant of God.

We may struggle to live it out and that’s another issue entirely—but we must first know who we are. If we think grace lets us sin, we don’t understand it. Grace makes us righteous by faith, not by works. Grace declares us washed, sanctified, and justified as 1 Corinthians 6:11 says. Grace gives us a new standing before God. Truly, grace is amazing.

So Paul’s carefully guiding us into a complete understanding of our salvation step by step and he’s pushing home the first critical piece of the puzzle, We’re declared righteous. That’s step one. Knowing who we are. God declared it about us and one day it’ll be true and complete because He’ll change this mortal flesh to immortality. He’ll take away the corruption. It’ll no longer exist and that’ll be a glorious and wonderful day. But this’s where we start. In the next episode we’ll complete Romans 6 by discovering that we’re servants of righteousness, and we’ll also discover exactly what that means and what our duty is as a servant.

Until then may God richly bless you in all knowledge of the truth.

Romans 6:12-14 – Living Under Grace

Romans chapter 6 is where Paul starts showing us how we live our life now that we’re in Christ.

If we want to know how to live now that we’re saved we go to Romans 6, 7, and 8 but to understand these chapters, we have to know Romans chapters 1–5.

Romans 6:12–14 finally brings us to the start of the practical side of the chapter. Verse 14 is that famous verse almost all Christians know, or should know,

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

But Paul doesn’t throw that out by itself. He builds up to it through everything he’s already taught in Romans 6:1–11.

If we pull verse 14 out of context, we can use it wrongly. It’s easy to see it as if sin doesn’t matter, or as if grace means we can live however we want, but reading the whole chapter doesn’t follow that thinking.

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Romans 6:12-14 – Transcript

Romans 6 began with the question in verse 1,

WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Paul answered in verse 2,

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Then he explained what that means. In verses 3–5 he showed that we’re identified with Christ or baptised into His death and resurrection.

In verses 5–7 he said we’re freed from sin, not sinless, but freed from its power.

In verses 8–11 he said we’re alive unto God, living Christ’s eternal life now.

So before Paul ever tells us what to do, how to live, he tells us who we are now. Our old man is dead and we live Christ’s life now. Eternal life has already begun for us in Him. Galatians 2:20 says it as well,

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Then comes Romans 6:12.

Romans 6:12 says,

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

The word therefore, which so often used by Paul throughout his epistles to tie concepts together means this command rests on everything he just proved, that we are in Christ.

And the word mortal shows he’s talking about our life right now, before glory.

In heaven sin won’t be present, but here, in our mortal body, sin’s still around. It can still try to reign and Paul says don’t let it.

Although sin’s still present it has no claim over a believer. Christ freed us from its power.

Our body will still die because it’s mortal, but sin can’t condemn us or demand our service.

Romans 8:23 says we’re still waiting for the redemption of our body. So yes, we still live in the same mortal flesh we were born with, but our soul and spirit are saved, and God even claims our body as His.

If we ignore sin, if we don’t care, if we don’t, quote, “let not sin reign,” then sin will still reign over us.

As saved people we can still walk around with sin ruling our life if we simply give up the fight.

This is where Paul begins to deal with our will. He’s not dealing with our works yet, but our will.

What do I want now that I’m a new creature? If I say, “I don’t care,” sin will take over by default.

When Paul says: “Let not sin reign.” That means don’t allow it to reign, don’t give it permission. Don’t hand it the throne of our lives.

Before we were saved, sin ruled automatically. After salvation, sin only rules if we let it. We can be saved and still live like a slave to sin if we refuse to reckon who we are.

Romans 6 is about rights. Who has the right to rule us now? Not sin. Not death. Christ does. Our life is hid with Christ in God remember. So Romans 6:11–14 is telling us to change our mind about who we think we are, because Christ has made us someone new — dead to sin, alive unto God, and no longer under the law but under grace.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” The “Let not” here clearly means do not allow.

Paul’s not talking about our outward actions yet — he’s talking about our will, our inner choice to either allow sin to rule or refuse it. This’s about who we give authority to in our mind.

Before we were saved, sin ruled everything — our body, our soul and our spirit. Romans 5:14 says “death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Romans 5:17 says “death reigned by one,” while Romans 5:14 says “sin hath reigned unto death.”

Sin was our master because we were in Adam. But now we’re in Christ. We’re dead with Him, risen with Him, freed from sin’s power, and alive unto God.

That’s what Paul has been teaching in Romans 6:1–11.

But now comes the problem!

Even though sin no longer has the right to rule us, many Christians still let it rule because we like sin too much. We tend to say, “I’m saved, so when I die I’ll go to heaven. Until then, sin is just too strong.” But that’s simply letting sin reign.

Grace doesn’t give us a list of rules — it changes how we think about ourselves. It teaches us to see sin, to regard sin as something that has no claim on us anymore.

Sin is still present in our mortal body, but it can’t condemn us, it can’t demand our service, and it can’t kill our soul. Our body is still mortal — Romans 8:23 says we are waiting for the redemption of our body — but our inner man is saved. So now the question is: what is our will?

If we don’t care, sin will still rule by default. If we reckon ourselves dead to sin, we can refuse its rule.

Romans 6:12 says.

let not sin reign… that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Before salvation, we had no choice but to obey sin. Now we do have a choice.

Romans 6:6 says our old man is crucified so we “should not serve sin.” Romans 6:7 says the one who is dead is “freed from sin.” We’re not free of sin — it’s still in our flesh — but we’re free from its power. What power? It’s power to reign over us. It’s power to be the centre point of our lives, to dictate our every thought and action, to shape who we are, to cause us to shame ourselves and to condemn us to eternal death. Sin’s power watches over us with excitement and glee at every failure, egging us on, while delighting in our destruction because of it.

So Paul’s logic so far in Romans 6 is simple:

Know we’re dead with Christ (Romans 6:3–7).

Know we’re alive unto God (Romans 6:8–10).

Reckon it true about ourself (Romans 6:11).

Therefore, don’t let sin reign (Romans 6:12).

This is not Paul saying, “Try harder.” This is Paul saying, “Believe who we are, then choose who we’ll obey.”

If we reckon ourself dead to sin, then refusing sin’s rule becomes the natural next step. We simply stop giving sin permission to sit on the throne of our life.

As we said, Romans 6 is about rights. Who has the right to rule us now? Not sin. Not death. Christ does. Our life is hid with Christ in God. So when Paul says, “let not sin reign,” he’s telling us to align our will with the truth God already declared — that we belong to Christ, not to sin.

The first step in living the Christian life is to refuse sin’s reign.

From now until we’re in glory, we’ll feel a conflict between flesh and spirit, between the old man, still present in our mortal body, and the new man we are in Christ.

We look in the mirror and see the same old face — that’s our mortal body, but by faith, and only by faith, we know we’re saved, regenerated, a new creature. One day we’ll see and experience that glory in our whole body, but right now we must believe what God says about us by faith.

So, we’re to disobey sin.

Sin acts like a king, a tyrant, a dictator. It ruled us from birth. It told us that this creature, this product of original sin in Adam is who we are and we must obey it.

But now we know the truth. That’s sin talking, not God. So we revolt. We say, “No — I’m in Christ Jesus.” That’s what “let not sin reign” means. It’s a righteous rebellion.

Sin still has power in this world. It still drags people to death. But it has no power over me in Christ.

Can sin tempt us? Absolutely. Can it make our life hard? Yes, for sure. Can it change who we are in Christ or take away eternal life? No, never. We belong to Christ, sealed eternally in Him by the Holy Spirit. Our body is His. Sin has no rightful claim.

So Paul says: refuse sin’s rule the same way we’d refuse an evil ruler. We resist. We say no. We stand on the truth of who we are in Christ.

That’s why he says, “let not sin reign… that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”

Lust simply means desires — often sinful ones. Our body has natural desires, but sin twists them. So don’t let sin rule those desires but instead bring our body under the truth of who we are in Christ.

Sin will try to convince us that nothing’s changed. It’ll say, “Look at your habits. Look at your failures. Look at your desires. I still own you.” But we answer by faith: “No, you don’t. I’m dead to you. I’m alive to God.”

Romans 6 is dealing with identity. Who are we? Before Christ, sin ruled everything — Romans 5:14, 17, 21 says sin and death reigned. But now Christ is our Head. We’re dead with Him, risen with Him, and alive unto God.

Sin can rule our mortal body if we yield to it, but it can’t touch our soul or spirit and it can’t change who we are in Christ or change the eternal life that we now live in.

Romans 13:14 says: make no provision for sin. Don’t feed it. Don’t excuse it. Don’t give it room.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 says to avoid even the appearance of evil. Our attitude toward sin should be refusal, not acceptance. We don’t wait till we’re in heaven to start resisting sin. There’s no sin there. We resist it now because we’re already alive unto God and dead to sin.

Romans 6:12–14 is teaching us to think differently by knowing something. We’re told to change our the thoughts of our mind to a different way of thinking. We’re to think like someone who belongs to Christ.

We rebel against sin because it’s no longer our master. Christ is. As our mind is fed more and more with this knowledge, and our thinking is changed and aligned with what and who we are in Christ, our point of view on everything changes as a result and the source of that knowledge, the information and the truth that we need to cause our mind to be filled with this new way of thinking, is the Word of God.

Romans 12:2,

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 6:13 continues the same thought as the previous verse Romans 6:12,

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Notice how the focus has shifted. Earlier in the chapter Paul talked mostly about Christ—His death, His resurrection, His victory.

But now the language turns again and again to you, to us, because once we know what Christ did, we’ve got to choose what we’ll do with that truth.

Verse 12 dealt with our mind, not letting sin reign. Verse 13 deals with our members, our hands, feet, eyes, mouth, the tools we use to live in this world. God doesn’t force our members to obey Him. We choose who we yield them to. We can yield them to sin, or we can yield them to God.

To “Yield” means to surrender. Verses 12 and 13 use battle language.

Sin is at war with our new man. When we got saved, God didn’t remove sin’s presence from our mortal body. He removed it’s power and it’s penalty, but its presence remains, and it will till we shed this mortal flesh. So we must learn to refuse to surrender our members to it.

We say, “You, sin, can’t have my body. You can’t have my mind. I belong to Christ.”

This conflict is why Christians often feel more turmoil than unbelievers. The unbeliever has no battle with — it reigns without resistance.

But the believer has peace with God , as Romans 5:1 points out, and conflict with the old man.

We’re crucified with Christ, but sin still tries to act like our king. It has no rights, but it’ll still try to rule.

A new Christian may avoid sin more simply because they stay busy in their mind with their new experience. It consumes them for a while and they spend time in prayer, learning scripture, and in fellowship with other Christians.

But when they relax, they fall back into old habits because they haven’t yet learned that they must “let not sin reign” and yield, surrender themselves to God. Romans 6 teaches us how to fight that war inside us.

Our peace is with God, not with our flesh or with the world.

Galatians 6:14 says the world is crucified to you and you to the world.

That means we no longer belong to the world’s system of sin. But that also means the world’s system of sin—and our old man—will resist us.

The good news is that the war is already won.

1 Corinthians 15:57 says Christ has given us the victory. Sin is defeated. But sin doesn’t know it. Like a bad loser, it keeps trying to claim authority. Our old man still acts like he’s in charge. But we answer by faith: “No. I’m dead with Christ. I’m alive unto God. You’re not my king anymore.”

So Romans 6:13 tells us to yield ourselves unto God. We choose who rules our members. We choose who gets our obedience. We choose who gets our loyalty. Sin will always try to pull us back, but it has no power unless we hand it the reins.

We must choose what to do with our body, our mind, and our will.

Romans 6:13 says our members are “instruments.” They can be used for righteousness or unrighteousness. Before we were saved, they could only serve sin. But now we’re a new creature, even though we still live in the same mortal body, within the same sin dominated world. So we must choose to yield our members to God.

This is the heart of Romans 6: knowing who we are, refusing sin’s rule, and surrendering ourself to God because we belong to Him.

Paul reminds the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6:15 saying,

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 he says,

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Here’s Paul’s “Know ye not” again.

Paul had already taught this to the Corinthians before Romans was written. Paul’s first epistle was almost certainly 1 Thessalonians and it’s obvious from 1 Thessalonians that he’d already taught these things that Christ revealed to him before he actually wrote 1 Thessalonians.

So the “Know ye not” is Paul reminding his audience of what they already knew, or should have already known.

Here he’s reminding them, and us, that our body is the “temple of the Holy Ghost,” and in the next verse, 1 Corinthians 6:20, he says,

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We’re “bought with a price” and what a price that was, the death sacrifice of the Son of God Himself. That means our mortal body is not sin’s property. It’s not even our property. It’s Christ’s.

This is part of the mystery revealed by Jesus to Paul, that not only are we in Christ, but Christ is in us as confirmed by Colossians 1:27.

His body was given for me, and now my body is given to Him.

Paul calls this union a “great mystery” in Ephesians 5:30–32—like a husband and wife becoming one flesh.

His body is ours; our body is His.

So when we hear about yielding our members to God, it’s urging us to use our body for righteousness, not for the old life we had in Adam.

Ephesians 4:17–20 says this,

This I say (and that’s Paul saying), This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But ye have not so learned Christ;

Unbelievers walk in darkness because their understanding is darkened. Their actions flow from what’s inside them. But we’re not ignorant anymore. We have the life of God in us. So our members should now serve God, because what’s inside us has changed.

Romans 6:13 is telling us that our body belongs to Christ. Don’t hand it back to sin. Yield it to God instead.

Paul keeps showing again and again that what we believe—the truth we hold in our mind—is what changes us.

He labours on this, pushing at it, coming at it time and again. He knows that we become what we think about most, what’s uppermost in our mind, and he wants us to fill, to renew our mind with who and what we are now in Christ and how sin no longer controls our life and our eternal destiny.

First comes the truth of the gospel, the blessings of Romans 5, then the new identity of Romans 6:1–11. Only after we know who we are in Christ does Paul begin talking about what we do. Belief comes first, behaviour follows.

So the order in Romans 6 is simple:

Know who we are in Christ.

Reckon it true about ourself.

Let not sin reign in our mind.

Yield not our members to sin.

That’s the flow.

It’s all to answer the question of Romans 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin?” by saying, “Why would I? That’s not who I am anymore.”

The unsaved person sins because they’re ignorant of the truth that we’ve just seen in Ephesians 4:17–19.

But we know Christ. We have the life of God. So our life should look different.

Ephesians 4:20–24 goes on to confirm that,

But ye have not so learned Christ;

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

We “have not so learned Christ.”

Unlike the unsaved person, we learned that Christ died for us, rose from the dead, and made us a new man. So put off the old man by renewing our mind to the reality of the new man and by doing this, we put on the new man—created in righteousness and true holiness.

Only after that does Paul list the behaviours: put away lying, speak truth, stop stealing, stop corrupt communication, etc. Behaviour follows belief.

That’s why Romans 6:13 says, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God.” Our members—our hands, feet, eyes and mouth—are tools. Before salvation they could only serve sin. Now they belong to Christ. We choose who we yield them to.

Now, this yielding is not “trying harder.”

It’s not a sacrifice we offer to God. It’s ownership. Our body’s not sin’s body anymore. It’s not even ours. It is Christ’s. 1 Corinthians 6:15 says our bodies are “members of Christ.” Verse 19 says our body is the “temple of the Holy Ghost.” Verse 20 says we’re “bought with a price.” So yielding simply means giving Christ what already belongs to Him.

It’s said that yielding is the key to spiritual joy, strength, service, and fruit. Not because yielding is some sort of heroic act of sacrifice, but because it’s the moment we stop pretending our body belongs to our old man. It’s like a flower yielding to the sun—it’s what it was made to do. In Adam we were made for death. In Christ we’re made for glory. So yield, surrender, to that truth.

Paul uses pictures to help us understand. A crop yields to the farmer who planted it. A bride yields to her husband in willing union. In the same way, we yield to Christ because we’re joined to Him. Ephesians 5:30–32 calls this the “great mystery” and we read,

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

We’re members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. His body is ours; our body is His.

So Romans 6:13 is not saying, “Stop sinning and do better.” It’s saying:

Our body belongs to Christ now. Don’t hand it back to sin. Yield it to God.”

That’s the heart of the Christian life—knowing who we are, refusing sin’s claim, and willingly giving ourself to the One who saved us.

So, Paul’s showing that the Christian life starts with what we believe, not what we do. God changed us the moment we trusted the gospel—Romans 5 says we were justified, given peace with God, given access to grace, given hope, given the Holy Ghost. Romans 6 explains what that means for our identity. Only after we know who we are does Paul talk about how we live.

So again, the order is:

Know the truth about Christ.

Reckon it true about ourself.

Let not sin reign in our mind.

Yield not our members to sin.

Yield ourself to God.

Behaviour follows belief. Religion flips that around and says, “Change your behaviour first.” But Paul says we can’t change anything until we know the truth of who we are in Christ.

Our real life is in heaven now. Colossians 3:1-5 says,

IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence (which is strong desire; especially sexual desire and lust), and covetousness, which is idolatry:

To “mortify your members which are upon the earth,” means: to live here as someone who belongs up there. To mortify means to make dead, to put to death, to slay.

Our head is in heaven even while our feet stand on earth.

All of this leads to Romans 6:14, one of the greatest verses in the chapter and we read,

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Sin has no ownership, no rights, no rule, no authority. We don’t answer to it anymore. Grace reigns now as Romans 5:21 told us. We’re under grace, not under the law.

The law gives sin its strength says 1 Corinthians 15:56,

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

The law says, “You broke it—you’re condemned.” But if we’re not under the law, sin has no power to accuse us. We’re dead with Christ, and a dead man’s not under the law. Grace doesn’t give us permission to sin—it gives us freedom from sin’s dominion.

So Paul’s answer to “Shall we continue in sin?” is simple:

No—because the glorious truth is sin has no dominion over us. We’re under grace.

To really feel the impact of that, we have to understand what the law was.

God gave the law to Israel to govern people in their mortal bodies, on this earth. The law could never save anyone. Galatians 3 says the law was added to show sin. Romans 3:19 says, the law was given “that every mouth may be stopped” and “all the world may become guilty.”

God gave the law so people would know they needed grace. It showed how impossible it was for a person to ever meet God’s standard of righteousness in their own strength.

Think about the law of sin and death. Who could escape that? Nobody—except someone who died and rose again. Christ died and rose, and now He’s no longer subject to the law of sin and death. And because we’re in Christ, we’re alive unto God and no longer under that law either. We live in our mortal body under grace, not under sin. Living under grace is a much higher calling.

So why would a Christian try to go back to the law? That’s going back to Israel’s earthly program, back to a system meant to condemn, not save. We’re not under that system today as a saved person.

Galatians 3:13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law’s hardest parts weren’t the ceremonies—those were easy. The hard part was loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbour as yourself. Nobody could do that. But Christ fulfilled it, and now we’re free from the curse that came down on us for not fulfilling it ourselves.

So when Romans 6:14 says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace,” it means sin has no ownership, no rights, no rule, no authority over our life. We don’t answer to it anymore. Grace reigns now as Romans 5:21 said. We’re under grace the same way we used to be under sin—completely.

Grace doesn’t just give us a little help. Grace governs us. Grace defines us. Grace gives us our position, our blessings, our identity, our mission. We don’t run to God begging for more grace every time we fail. We already live under it. It surrounds us. It holds us. It keeps us.

We just saw in 1 Corinthians 15:56 that, “The strength of sin is the law.” The law gives sin its power to accuse. But if we’re not under the law, sin has no strength. It can’t condemn us. It can’t claim us. We’re dead with Christ, and a dead man isn’t under the law. We’re alive with Christ, and grace reigns over us.

So Paul’s answer to “Shall we continue in sin?” is simple:

Why would we? We’re not living under sin. We’re living under grace.

Under law, behaviour affected our standing with God. Under grace, our standing is settled with God. Under law, we obeyed first and only then were we blessed. Under grace, we’re blessed first, and spiritual fruit grows from that. Under law, we were condemned. Under grace, we’re justified. Under law, sin reigned. Under grace, righteousness reigns through Jesus Christ.

That’s why Romans 6:14 is such a glorious verse. It tells us who we are now, free from sin’s dominion, free from the law’s curse and living under the reign of God’s grace.

Romans 6:8-11 – How Do We Live With Christ

Romans chapter 6 is where Paul starts showing us how we live our life now that we’re in Christ.

If we want to know how to live now that we’re saved we go to Romans 6, 7, and 8 but to understand these chapters, we have to know Romans chapters 1–5.

Chapters 1–3 show why we need salvation then chapters 3–5 explain how we get that salvation. It’s by grace through Christ.

Then, in chapter 6, Paul talks about what Christ has made us, what we actually are now that we have salvation, and then how we live now that we’re saved.

“Speed Slider”

Romans 6:8-11 – Transcript

Romans is a complete message, about our complete salvation and we need to understand it if we’ve got any chance of living this life as God wants us to.

Now, in case you’re thinking that we’re going over these things to the point of repeating ourselves we need to see that this’s exactly what Paul’s doing.

He knows how critical it is for us to know how to think, how to train our mind or renew our mind so that we know that we’re this new man now. He knows that without us renewing our mind to these truths we’ll never walk in victory over sin because our thoughts, our mind are still dominated by the old man of sin.

It’s as if Paul’s desperate to get this message across of how important this renewing of the mind, the way we think, is.

In Romans 12:2 he says,

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Studying Romans brings us to the awareness of another reality that’s vital for us to understand.

Most of our lives are spent around physical stuff.

We shop for and cook our daily food. We buy, launder and wear clothes. We build houses and spend a large chunk of our lives maintaining them. We amass all sorts of toys, furniture, cars and a host of gadgets to provide luxury and entertainment. Shopping is a major part of life.

Then we work making stuff for other people so we can earn money to buy more of our own stuff.

An entire economy exists around physical, material things.

They control our desires and, as a result, they consume our mind, our thinking and our energy.

Many of those physical things are needed to keep us alive and many are not but they occupy nearly all of the fleeting time we have in this physical world.

Religious people create religions around physical objects, such as crucifix necklaces, paintings, stained glass windows or so called gods made of wood or stone or precious metals.

Most religious people, including most professing Christians, pray for physical blessings, either wealth or wellness.

It’s possible to go through life without ever considering spiritual things and that’s most people.

So when God explains, through His word, that a signature, the main characteristic, of this dispensation of grace we live in today is not physical blessings but spiritual blessings many think that means God’s not involved in their everyday life.

1 Corinthians 2:14 says

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

However what’s most needful for us today is not physical but spiritual.

The present dispensation from God is not physical blessings in the form of a kingdom, hundredfold riches, more land, perfect health or daily bread. The trademarks of our present dispensation are spiritual things: grace and faith.

These can be far more profitable to us for eternity than our temporary physical necessities as 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 tell us. Paul’s epistles to the church force us to look beyond the physical and the material while making it clear that we still need to provide for ourselves and our families.

1 Timothy 6:7 reminds us that we brought nothing, nothing physical, into this world, and it’s certain we can carry nothing out.

The blessings we receive of God today are spiritual in nature.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

It’s only when our eyes are opened to the reality of spiritual things that we can see God’s abundant spiritual blessings freely given to us today.

The world, and large parts of professing Christianity, are blind to how God intervenes in our lives, hoping that He’ll pour physical blessings down from heaven.

When that doesn’t happen they think that God’s absent from their life or they try to induce those physical blessings through some sort of human act.

This results in the most absurd, teaching, and preaching that in turn often causes the craziness that we see all over social media today with people throwing themselves around and acting like they’ve lost all ability to reason and question and to learn sound doctrine.

It’s like trying to bribe the sun with a dance to make it rise. People sometimes act out strange or exaggerated behaviours—thinking if they jump through enough hoops, God’ll be impressed and send blessings.

But God isn’t manipulated by theatrics. He responds to faith, not performance. Only what He’s spoken in His written word can be relied on.

After years or even a lifetime of failing to receive God’s blessings through human acts or human reasoning, they often end up rejecting God altogether or seeing spiritual blessings as being useless in their materially driven life.

The idea is that Jesus healed and fed people when He was on earth and so did the disciples and so that must be the program for us today because, after all, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, right?

But there’s a huge question to be answered here.

Why did Jesus and the apostles perform miracles back then?

Picture the time in history.

Jesus is on earth claiming to be the long prophesied Messiah, sent from God, God in the flesh.

There’s no books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There’s no Acts of the apostles, only a man claiming to be God.

What’s the only way that the claim can be proven?

There must be evidence of the claim.

What’s the evidence?

Signs and wonders that so plainly, so obviously cannot be performed by anyone except God Himself.

The four Gospels record that Jesus consistently used signs and wonders to reveal His divine identity—not to impress.

These weren’t random acts—they were intentional proofs of His divine nature and mission, to prove He was the Son of God and the promised Messiah.

Likewise the signs and wonders that were performed by the disciples to confirm that the Word that they spoke wasn’t just tradition or some sort of new philosophy, but the very Word of God. No written gospels, or epistles were available, just the word of those that had a firsthand encounter with God Himself.

Through those signs and wonders Acts 5:14 records,

And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.

Today the faith that we cannot please God without comes only the way Romans 10:17 says it comes,

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We have something today they never did back in those past times, the complete Word of God, the Bible.

Faith doesn’t come from supposed signs and wonders or from the doubtful testimonies of people, or from weird circus type acts, or emotionally charged preachers or concert grade music, it comes from an understanding of the Word of God. Only the Word of God can be completely relied on to give us unadulterated truth!

2 Timothy 4:3 explains it this way,

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

As we read through Romans we can’t help but see how the depth of wisdom that opens up Who God really is and His will for us today contrasts and makes foolishness out of many modern day church practices and teachings.

Through our study of Romans and all Paul’s epistles, we know better.

Last episode we ended with Romans 6:7 which told us, “he that is dead is freed from sin.”

That word freed matters. It doesn’t say “free from sin,” like we have no sin.

It means we’ve been set free from sin’s power. Sin can’t condemn us anymore. It can’t change who we are in Christ and it can’t bring God’s punishment on us. Why? Because we’re dead with Christ and in Christ’s death our punishment, the price, the wages of sin that we’re due, is fully paid for.

How are we dead with Christ?

We’re still walking around and breathing aren’t we?

Christ died on the cross and offers His death as our death when we trust in His death, burial and resurrection. That’s known as His substitutionary death, Him dying, taking the punishment for sin, which is death, in substitution for us.

The word of God which tells us about that act is called the gospel which we can see in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, and when we believe the gospel, His death counts for us, and that’s how we’re freed from sin.

But, it’s not physical! Something deeply mysterious and miraculous happens in our spirit and in the realm of the spiritual, that’s far more important to God than our daily physical lives.

When that happens the real life we live, the spiritual life, who we really are, is changed and we no longer have spiritual, eternal death as our destiny.

Eternal life, with Christ becomes our destiny, even though our physical, material world is unchanged.

Now, that spiritual change can very much affect our physical, natural life also but that comes as we study and learn and grow in knowledge, and prove what’s happened to us spiritually, that part of our existence that drives all the other parts of our being.

Romans 6:8 says,

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Everything Paul teaches here depends on being in Christ. Being “In Christ” is spiritual. It doesn’t change a thing about our physical body.

We can’t claim any of what Paul teaches is freely available to us unless we’re identified with Him.

Romans 6:3–5 already said we were baptised into Christ’s death, not by water but by identification, being placed into Christ. Communion also means our common union with Him.

It’s sad that church history turned baptism into water rituals and communion into arguments about wafers and cups, when Paul’s talking about our oneness with Christ, being planted together in His death and resurrection.

So Romans 6:8 is a kind of summary. The first part “dead with Christ” is what he taught in verses 5–7. That’s the crucified life. Our old man is dead. We’re freed from sin’s power. The second part, “we shall also live with him”, is the resurrected life, which is explained in the next verses. Christians live both: crucified with Christ and raised with Christ.

Being dead with Christ is not enough to answer the question, “How do I live now?” We live by the resurrected life.

Many Christians talk about Christ dying for them, but forget that He also lives for them. We can’t live the Christian life by only knowing the crucifixion. We must know the resurrection as well.

Romans 6:9, carrying on from what we just read in verse 8, says,

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Here’s where we notice that Paul keeps using the word “know“.

Under the law it was “do this and don’t do that,” but living under grace starts with what we know.

In verse 3 we see, “Know ye not…?” In verse 6 it’s “Knowing this…” In verse 9 it’s “Knowing that Christ…”

See, we can’t live for God until our mind is changed and we know something we didn’t know before.

That can only be changed by doctrine, God’s Word, God’s truth. God gave us His word so we can know first, then walk.

We wouldn’t know how to live for God unless we first know the things Paul teaches in Romans 6. Knowing comes before doing.

Later, in Romans 12:1–2, after Paul explains salvation, our identity, who we are in Christ, and God’s work with Israel, he finally talks about the practical side of how to live.

He says to present our body a living sacrifice and to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.

By Romans 12, that renewed mind has already been explained in chapters 5–8.

If we skip those chapters, we’ll think Paul’s teaching legalism, but he’s not. He’s teaching how to live by grace through the right understanding.

So Romans 6:9 says,

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead…

We know, we’re fully persuaded in our mind that Christ rose from the dead. Paul talks about being fully persuaded in Acts, Romans and Timothy as do Matthew, Luke and Hebrews.

Without Christ rising from the dead there’d be no books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John or Acts and there’d be no Paul. Paul met Christ only as the risen Lord, not in His earthly ministry.

In fact, if Christ never rose from the dead the entire Bible would be what many sceptics believe it to be, a worthless collection of fairy tales.

That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:16 that we no longer know Christ “after the flesh.”

His whole ministry, every word in every epistle, comes from meeting Christ raised and glorified, not Christ walking on earth. That truth shapes everything Paul teaches.

When we say “Christ is risen,” we don’t just mean it was a past event. We mean He’s alive right now.

He rose bodily, ascended to heaven, and sits at God’s right hand. Romans 8:34 says He makes intercession for us.

Ephesians 1:18–23 says the same power that raised Christ is working in us, and that Christ is seated far above all powers, with all things under His feet.

Because we’re in Christ, our hope and our position are tied to His resurrection.

The nation of Israel had an earthly hope. We have a heavenly one, because Christ is in heaven now.

So when Romans 6:9 says Christ dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him… that means eternal life. If He’ll never die again, He lives forever. And if we’re in Him, that’s our life as well. How do we live? We live with eternal life, the life Christ now has. If Christ were not risen, we’d have no hope at all — no salvation, no future, no hope, nothing to look forward to.

Colossians 3:1–3 says,

IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

That’s Romans 6 in a nutshell. Dead with Him. Alive with Him. Living the resurrected life.

That truth is the foundation of how we live. Christ is risen, alive forever, and because we’re in Him, we share that life. Death has no more dominion over Him — and in Him, it has no dominion over us either.

We’re dead with Christ, freed from sin’s power. But now he talks about death, which is different from sin. Sin brings death it’s what condemns us to death. Sin has no power over us anymore, but death still exists in this world. We still walk around in bodies that will die physically.

Many Christians think eternal life starts after they die, so they just wait for death. But Paul’s saying the opposite. If Christ is raised and we’re in Him, then our life right now is eternal life in Christ. We’re not living for death.

As God, Jesus Christ was never under death. But when God took on flesh in Christ, He stepped into a world full of sin and death but He wasn’t a sinner. He lived in a world cursed by sin, and He could die — and He did, for a glorious purpose, but now that He’s risen, death has no claim on Him.

Christ didn’t stop being a man after He rose.

He didn’t “put His deity back on” and drop His humanity. He’s still God and still Man right now in heaven.

That’s why we can be joined to Him. What He is as our Head is the pattern of what we shall be. And what He is right now is a Man who will never die again.

Hebrews 2:14–15 says Christ destroyed the one who had the power of death — the devil — and delivered those who lived in fear of death. Revelation says Christ holds the keys of death and hell.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says the last enemy to be destroyed is death itself.

Christ will throw death into the lake of fire. So Christ not only defeated the devil, He defeated death. And since we’re in Him, death has no dominion over us either.

Romans 6:10 says,

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Christ died to sin once — not because He sinned, but because He lived in a world of sin and died under its curse.

Romans 8 says He came in the likeness of sinful flesh and condemned sin in the flesh. But now that He lives, He lives unto God, in the power of eternal life.

This is basic Christian living. His resurrected life, not His earthly life before the cross, is the life we now live.

People often preach that we should follow the life Jesus lived in the flesh. But Paul teaches that our life is patterned after His resurrected life, the life He lives now in heaven, free from sin and death. That’s the life we share.

No one before Paul ever taught that sin and death has no dominion over us, but now, because we’re in Christ, we have no reason to fear death. We live with the same eternal life Christ has.

Paul’s not talking here about the life He lived in the manger, or walking on water, or feeding the five thousand, or healing the multitudes and getting tired and hungry. Paul’s talking about Christ’s life in heaven, His glorified life. That’s Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, not Christ in His earthly ministry to Israel.

Christ lives right now, and the life He lives now is not the life He lived 2000 years ago and the life He wants us to live is not the earthly one He lived before the cross, but the resurrected life He lives now in glory. That’s Paul’s point.

Ephesians 4:24 says to “put on the new man,” created after God in righteousness and true holiness. That new man is Christ resurrected — not subject to sin, not subject to death, glorified with the Father. That’s the life we put on.

Romans 6:11 says,

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We “reckon ourselves” because everything true of Christ in resurrection is now true of us in Him.

To reckon means to take an inventory, to estimate, to conclude, to count as, to impute, to suppose or think.

That’s an amazing truth. Christ is in heaven and we’re on earth, yes, but spiritually we’re in Him, and what He has, we have. His liberty from sin and death is now yours. His glorified life is the life we share and that’s the way we’re told to reckon or count ourselves as.

So, if we “likewise reckon ourselves” the question of Romans 6:1 — “shall we continue in sin?” — starts to fade.

If we’re dead to sin, why would we live in it? If we’re alive with Christ, why would we live like the old man?

Romans 6:11’s not telling us to stop sinning by willpower. It’s telling us to change our mind, to rethink, about who we are. Christian living starts in the inner man, not the outer actions. We renew our mind first as Ephesians 4:23 says,

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

Then we put on the new man as Ephesians 4:24 says.

Reckoning ourselves dead indeed unto sin means sin’s not our life anymore.

Christ died unto sin once — in the flesh — and He’s done with that life. He said on the cross, “It is finished.”

Now He lives unto God in glory. And Paul says: that’s us now as well. We’re done with the old life in the flesh.

We’re alive with Christ in His resurrected life. That’s our identity. That’s who we are, and once we know who we are, we can learn how to live.

Sin’s not the life we live anymore. We’re not called a “sinner” now.

Yes, we still sin, but that’s not our identity.

The Bible calls us a saint.

There’s a difference between a sinner who sins and a saint who sins.

The flesh hates that word, “saint” and the world hates it too. They think “saint” means someone super holy in their deeds and actions. And they’re right when they believe no one could ever earn that title. But Christ could. And we’re in Him.

We’re only a saint because of His righteousness, His holiness and His glorified life.

So when someone questions our sainthood, we don’t defend ourselves — we point to Christ. He died, He rose, He lives in glory, and we’re in Him.

So what does it mean to be dead to sin?

People often run back to the law here because they think Paul’s saying, “Live right, behave better.” But Paul’s talking about our identity, not our behaviour.

“Dead” means lifeless, powerless, useless, detached. A dead person can’t move, can’t be motivated, can’t claim rights or hold a position. Death separates. That’s the picture.

So when Paul says, “reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin,” he means: sin has no claim on us. We’re detached from it. It can’t move us. It has no rights over us. We’re dead to it.

Galatians 6:14 says the same thing, the world is crucified to us, and us to the world.

The world’s dead to us, and we’re dead to the world. That means the world has no claim on us, and we’ve got no place in it. It’s not because we try hard to act holy, but because of our position in Christ.

We’ve been translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son as Colossians 1:13 tells us.

This is positional truth. It’s about who we are.

Are we still thinking of ourself as the same old person, struggling along until heaven? Or do we reckon ourself as someone who is already freed from sin’s power, already living a new life in Christ?

The most important part is what comes next, which Paul is about to explain. But before that, he warns: this does not mean sin’s removed from our flesh. It means sin’s control is broken.

We simply must know that before we can do anything about walking differently.

If we think sin is no longer present, we’re not dealing with reality. and Romans 7’s going to deal with that. Even saved people still commit sins.

Romans 6 is not teaching that sin’s gone from our flesh. Some holiness groups teach that once you’re saved and walking in the Spirit, you can go long stretches without sinning and that’s just blindness and fantasy. There’re many sins we commit every day that we don’t even know we commit. Pretending sin’s gone doesn’t remove it. It only hides it.

This is why verses like 1 John 3:9 confuse people. It says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin… and he cannot sin.”

That verse is talking about Israel’s future under the New Covenant, as prophesied in Ezekiel 36, when God will cause Israel them to keep His statutes and remove sin from them.

That’s not what God is doing today in the dispensation of grace. Today, sin’s still present, but its power, its ability to condemn is broken.

This brings us back to Romans 6:11. where the most important part of the verse is not “dead to sin,” even though that’s true. The key is: “but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” If Paul only said “dead to sin,” we’d still be asking, “How do we live?” But he answers it saying we live unto God the same way Christ lives unto God.

Christ died once. We died once in Him when we believed the gospel. We’re not being crucified again and again. That old life’s over. Christ lives eternal life now, and that’s the life we have. Christ lives in the present — not waiting for glory — and so do we. Yes, our body will die, but that death’s just a change of location.

So we should live now with the same mindset we’ll have in glory. Christ lives unto God in holiness and righteousness — that’s the new man, and when we identify ourself that way, sin loses its grip.

It won’t disappear, but it loses its strength. Even when our flesh feels weak, our strength is in Christ because we’re living in Him.

Believers have two natures in the inner man: the old man from Adam and the new man from Christ. Only one of them has any rights over us and it’s not the old one. So Romans 6:11 tells me to change my mind about who I think I am. Christ has made me someone new.

When we come to Romans 6:12–14, in the next episode, we’re finally reaching Paul’s full answer to the big question he asked back in verse 1:

“Shall we continue in sin?”

Everything Paul says from verses 3 to 11’s been building up to that.

He’s already told us we’re identified with Christ in His death and resurrection and we’re freed from sin, not free of sin’s presence, but freed from its power. And he told us we have eternal life right now, not just after we die.

One other thing we should know is that our body is not the old man. The old man is crucified, dead in Christ even though our body’s still wandering around here on earth. Our body is not sin.

What does it mean to be dead to sin? The word dead is often used, but not often defined and hearing a definition might seem strange to us.

To be dead means to be without life, without a life force.

It means to have no power to function. To be dead is to be lifeless. All usefulness is gone.

When someone dies, their body and soul are separated. It’s not a cessation of existence. It’s a detachment of the soul, the spirit, from the body. The dead can’t move, can’t be motivated or motivate other people. They can’t inspire.

The spirit has left the dead. There’s no more relationship. We may have had a relationship with that dead person but that person’s not there now. The body lies lifeless.

There’s no possibility of a relationship to the dead. We can only relate to others with life and in life the dead can’t claim rights. The dead have no rights. They’re dead.

The dead has no privilege, has no power, has no control, has no position. You lose all position when you’re dead. In marriage, it’s till death do you part.

The dead can’t even speak. A corpse defines the dead. It’s a dead body. So when Paul says, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin. he means lifeless, useless, detached from and having no movement or motivation to do anything regarding sin.

Our body is a tool, an instrument, a vessel, and Paul says don’t hand our body over to sin. Don’t let sin use our hands, our eyes, our mouth, our mind, our time or our energy.

We used to yield to sin because we didn’t know any other way when we were in Adam. We were dead in sins.

If we say that person is dead to me what are we saying?

We’re separated, detached from them. They can’t move us or affect us. They’ve got nothing to do with our life. They may have once but not anymore. They’re dead to me.

When Galatians 3:14 says,

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

It means the world’s dead to me, detached from me. It has no rights, no claim to me. It cannot move me or motivate me.

It doesn’t matter what the world says about me its dead to me. Then Paul flips it and says, and also I’m dead to the world, which is as if the world stands up and says, Paul’s dead to us. Why would the world say that? Because apparently the way that Paul’s living or thinking about who he is in Christ is useless to the course of this world, and so he’s detached from the world, living and thinking and regarding himself different to the world, just by virtue of his position in Christ.

We once walked according to the flesh. But now we know better. Now we have a new identity. Now we have a new life and now we have a new master.

Romans 6:5-7 – We Are Freed From Sin

Romans 6:5–7 is where Paul starts slowing down to show us how we should live now that Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead, and saved us by faith, not by our works.

In Romans 5 we learned the difference between being in Adam and being in Christ. Now in Romans 6 the big question is, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

Since we’re saved by grace, do we just keep living in sin? Paul emphatically says no.

“Speed Slider”

Romans 6:5-7 – Transcript

Romans 5:21 ended by saying that grace reigns unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. Most people think eternal life starts after we die, but Paul begins to show us that in this dispensation, the dispensation of grace that we live in today, our eternal life starts now, when we first believed the gospel, that Christ died for our sins according to scripture, that He was buried and rose again according to scripture 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

So the question becomes: how do we live in this sinful, corrupt body before the resurrection?

Paul answers that in Romans 6.

Last episode we looked at Romans 6:1–4 where Paul said we don’t continue in sin because we’re dead to sin.

But we’re still puzzled and we still ask, “Paul, what does that mean? I still struggle with sin.”

That’s why he spends chapters 6, 7, and 8 explaining how to live this new life.

In Romans 6:3–4 Paul brings up baptism, even though he hasn’t talked about it in the previous five chapters of Romans.

Many people think this is water baptism, but Paul explains it right here in Romans 6:3 saying,

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

This baptism is into Christ’s death, not water. Christ Himself had two baptisms—one in water by John, and one at the cross, His death. Paul’s talking about that death baptism. When we believe the gospel, we’re placed into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. That’s the Ephesians 4:5 ,

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Romans 6:4 says

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Should walk in newness of life. That word should matters.

Paul doesn’t say we automatically walk this way. We need to know something, reckon something, and yield something. The Christian walk doesn’t happen by accident.

Colossians 2:6 says the same thing:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

We received Him by faith in His death and resurrection, and now we walk in that same truth. Romans 6 is explaining how.

So in Romans 6:5 Paul says,

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

This is the answer to the question, “How do we live now?” We live the resurrected life. We live out what Christ already did for us.

Paul keeps using words like “like as” and “likeness” to show a comparison. He’s saying: the way Christ died and rose again is now the pattern for how we walk.

This helps us understand what baptism means in Romans 6.

It’s important we look hard at what the Bible actually says relating to baptism because it’s a key factor in the answer to the question, “How do we live now?” How do we live the resurrected life?

Baptism always identifies us with something. Here Paul says we’re baptised into Christ’s death and Christ’s resurrection. That means we’re identified with what He did on the cross, not with water. There’s no likeness between water and Christ’s death. Our sins are washed by His blood, not by water.

This also shows that the baptism in Romans 6 cannot be the same as the baptisms in Matthew 3:11, where John preached water, Holy Ghost, and fire. John couldn’t preach “like as Christ died and rose again,” because Christ hadn’t died yet.

In John 4:1–2 Jesus’ disciples baptised with water, but they also didn’t know yet that Christ had to die and rise again. John 20:9 says,

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

So they couldn’t preach what Paul does in Romans 6. In Acts 2 Peter preached repentance and water baptism, but he didn’t preach walking in newness of life by being baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection because that truth wasn’t yet revealed to them.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus said the apostles would receive power after the Holy Ghost came. In Acts 2:33 the Holy Ghost was poured out, and people could see and hear that baptism with tongues, miracles and signs.

But Paul in Romans 6 is not talking about visible power. He’s talking about walking in newness of life, which starts in our mind, not in outward miracles.

It’s a renewed and different way of how we think.

So the Romans 6 baptism isn’t the Holy Ghost baptism either.

Our baptism is us being likened or identified with Christ in His death and resurrection. Not like Christ doing miracles, but like Christ dying to sin and rising to new life. How do we know this happened?

By trusting Christ’s work on the cross. And how do we walk it out? By thinking the way Paul teaches in Romans 6–8: like as Christ died, we live as dead to sin; like as Christ rose, we live as risen with Him.

Paul uses another phrase in Romans 6:5, “planted together.”

That means joined, united, put together with Christ. That’s baptism: being immersed into something so we take on its likeness.

Baptised into His death in Romans 6:4, planted together in His death Romans 6:5 it’s the same truth in two pictures.

Paul’s showing that because we’re identified with Christ, we now walk like Him in His death and resurrection.

That’s the point Paul’s making in Romans 6.

Some Bible versions change “planted together” to “united,” and yes, we are united with Christ. But “planted” is the better word, because when you plant something, something grows out of it. Paul’s saying that because we were planted together with Christ in His death, something should come out of that which is new life, the resurrected life.

Water can’t make us like Christ. Our sins are washed by His blood, not by water. So the likeness Paul talks about can’t be water baptism.

It also cannot be the baptisms of Matthew 3:11 where Jesus says,

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

John preached water, Holy Ghost, and fire, but he could not preach “like as Christ died and rose again,” because Christ hadn’t died yet.

In John 4:1–2 Jesus’ disciples baptised with water, John 20:9 says,

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

They also didn’t know yet that Christ must die and rise again.

In Acts 2 Peter preached repentance and water baptism, but he did not preach walking in newness of life by being baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection. That truth was not revealed to them at that point.

So let’s look briefly at this whole issue of water baptism. Does water baptism actually wash away sin and bring forgiveness and why do most churches teach that it does? This’s where history and tradition shaped doctrine not Scripture.

We should remember that for over 1,000 years, the Bible wasn’t the final authority for the church, so whatever the organised church taught about baptism became “the truth,” even though it didn’t come from Paul’s gospel.

When the Reformation happened, they corrected justification by faith — but they didn’t correct baptism theology. They kept the sacramental view.

The early church inherited Jewish, covenant, and kingdom practices.

John the Baptist preached water baptism for the remission of sins — but that was for Israel, under the kingdom gospel, before the cross, before the revelation of the Body of Christ.

Peter preached the same in Acts 2:38 — still Israel, still kingdom, still within the prophetic program before the mystery of the Body of Christ was revealed.

Most churches never separate Israel’s program and the kingdom gospel from the Body of Christ and Paul’s gospel of grace. They blend them together.

By the 300s–400s, the institutional church taught that water baptism regenerates and washes away sin and that its necessary for salvation.

This became official doctrine in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Anglicanism and many other Protestant movements.

Even churches that claimed “salvation by faith alone” often kept the old baptismal tradition without re‑examining the Scriptures.

Most churches assume “baptism” always means water but the Bible speaks of multiple baptisms, and only one is for the Body of Christ today.

Below this recording we have a list the baptisms that the bible speaks of. Mathew 3:11 speaks of three different baptisms in the one verse when John says he baptizes with water but The One coming after him (Jesus) will baptize with the Holy Spirit, and He’ll baptize with fire.

No — water baptism does not wash away sin or bring forgiveness, and the reason most churches teach that it is a carrying on of these historical and traditional teachings, a mixing of Israel’s program with the church’s doctrine.

If water could wash away sin, then Christ’s blood wouldn’t be enough, faith wouldn’t be enough and Paul’s gospel wouldn’t be enough.

But Paul says the opposite: faith in Christ’s death and resurrection is the only means of forgiveness.

Our baptism is to be like Christ in His death and resurrection. That means we’re a new man, a new creation in Christ with a new life and a new identity.

In Adam we’re fallen, condemned, and headed for death. In Christ we’re forgiven, righteous by faith, and alive unto God.

So the question becomes: where do we think your life comes from now? From our old flesh, our dreams, and our desires—or from Christ Himself? Our life is now His life, and that’s a spiritual reality even if we don’t always feel like it or walk in it. Paul says we should walk in it because it’s true.

Romans 6:5 uses the word resurrection for the first time in Romans. The 4 Gospels talk about being “raised up,” but “resurrection” is a standing, a position.

In John 11:24 Martha, talking to Jesus, said Lazarus would rise again “in the resurrection at the last day.” That was the Jewish hope—resurrection after death, after corruption is gone.

But Jesus told her something greater in John 11:25: resurrection life can touch you now because I AM the resurrection and the life.

That’s exactly what Paul teaches.

Christ is risen today, glorified with the Father as John 17:4–5 says. He revealed the mystery to Paul from that glory that He’s now in.

And Romans 6 tells us that we can live now in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection.

Ephesians 1:17–20 says the same thing.

The same power that raised Christ and set Him in heavenly places is toward us who believe. That’s the life we have now: a glorious, eternal, resurrected life in Christ.

Paul talks about the “unfathomable power of God” in Ephesians, and often we hear that and think, “What power is he talking about?”

Some days I’m so short on power that even picking up my coffee mug feels like weight‑training.”

The power he means is the same power Romans 6–8 explains: the power that raised Christ from the dead and now keeps us in Him so strongly that nothing can separate you from the love of God as Romans 8:35–39 states. Just like nothing can separate Christ from the Father now that He’s glorified, nothing can separate us from Christ because we’re in Him.

Colossians 3:1–3 teaches the same thing Paul teaches in Romans.

IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

How do we know we’re risen with Him? Because we were baptised into His death and resurrection as we’ve now seen in Romans 6:3–5.

Colossians says to seek things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. It says we’re dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God. That’s the same teaching as Romans 6–8. You won’t find this in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, or Acts 2.

They preach Christ’s resurrection, yes, but not us sharing in His death and resurrection life right now. That’s the fellowship of the mystery.

Colossians 1:27 says the riches of this mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Not just Christ dying for our sins, but Christ actually in us. How did He get in us?

The same way we got in Him—by His death and resurrection. We trusted the gospel, and God placed us in Christ, making us a new man with His life.

Ephesians 3:4–6 defines the mystery:

Whereby, when ye read (and that’s the words of the revelation Christ gave to Paul), Whereby, when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

How can we inherit with Christ? Because we’re identified with Him. How are we in His body? Because we’re baptised into Him. How do we partake of His promise? By the gospel—His death and resurrection. There’s no covenant here, no Israel here. This is mystery truth, and Paul’s teaching that same truth in Romans 6.

Romans 8:16-17 says

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

If we’re children, then we’re heirs of God and joint‑heirs with Christ.

That matches Ephesians 3:6.

Romans 8:18 says

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The glory that will be revealed in us is far greater than our sufferings. Why do we get glory? Not because we earned it, but because we share in the likeness of His resurrection as we’ve been at pains to see in Romans 6:5. God identified us with Christ by grace, not by any work of our hands.

Romans 6:6 says this and because it’s a continuation of Romans 6:5 we’ll read them together.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Do you get the “Knowing this…”?

This means that the fact that we’ve been planted together in the likeness of his death, and that we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection relies on us knowing something.

We’ve got to know some doctrine to live this new life.

The Christian life starts with knowing what God’s done. Our old man is crucified with Christ and that old man is the Adam identity Paul described in Romans 5. We were born in Adam—that was the old man. Now we’re in Christ—the new man.

Romans 6:4-5 already said we should walk in newness of life and that new life comes from being planted together with Christ in His death and resurrection.

Before Paul, most people thought resurrection life only came after death. But Paul says we can live in that standing now. That’s the new man, the resurrected man in Christ and we live it by knowing it!

The Bible always calls something “old” only after God brings in something “new.”

Moses’ law wasn’t called the Old Testament until Paul said it in 2 Corinthians 3.

Hebrews 8:13 says the old is old only because something new has come. It’s the same idea here: Paul calls our old man “old” because he’s already told us about our new man—our new life in Christ.

So when Paul says in Romans 6:6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,” he means we should already understand what the new man is. Our old man is who we were before we were baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection. Our old man was in Adam—sin‑cursed, condemned and dead. Romans 5 clearly showed that.

In Adam came death and judgment; in Christ comes life and righteousness. That old man is destroyed because of Christ’s death and resurrection. But even though he’s destroyed, he still tries to wake up in the morning. You know that old man by his lusts, his corruption, and his desire to walk in death.

Ephesians 2:1–3 describes that old man,

AND you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

We were dead in sins, walking according to the world, following the prince of the power of the air, living in the lusts of the flesh and mind, and by nature a child of wrath. That was all of us. That’s the old man. But Ephesians 2:4–5 says,

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

That’s the new man.

Ephesians 4:22 says the old man is “corrupt according to deceitful lusts.” We only know corruption because we know what truth looks like. The old man is everything opposite of the new life in Christ.

Now, we mustn’t confuse the old man with our mortal body.

Our body is not the old man.

God bought your body as 1 Corinthians 6:13–20 says.

Our body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for our body. God raised up Christ and will raise us up too. Our body will be resurrected because we’re already in the likeness of His resurrection as Romans 6:5 states.

So Romans 6 is teaching that we have a new life because we were planted together with Christ in His death and resurrection. We’re a new man. Our old man is crucified. And now we should live out what God’s already made true. The Christian life starts with knowing these truths. Paul keeps saying, “Know ye not… knowing this…” because maturity begins with knowing what God has done. Only then can we walk in it.

So, Romans 6:6 says our old man is crucified with Christ, and to understand that we need to see the difference between the old man and the body. As we said our body is not the old man.

Yes, we had our body when we were in Adam, but the “old man” is the sin‑cursed identity we had in Adam, We had condemnation, judgment, death, and the desires of the flesh. Paul uses the word flesh to describe that old Adam nature, not the physical body we live in.

However, our body still matters to God. He wants us to use it for Him. That’s why 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 says our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and we’re bought with a price.

God bought our body, but He killed the old man. It’s like He bought the car and killed the driver. The old driver was Adam. The new driver is Christ’s life in us. We now live by the knowledge of who we are in Christ.

So when Romans 6:6 says the old man is crucified with Christ, it means the death we inherited from Adam is gone. Adam’s death only kills. But Christ’s death kills the old man and gives us new life. That’s why Paul calls this the crucified life.

Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ…”—that’s the old man. “…nevertheless I live…”—that’s the new man. “…yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” That’s our identity now.

This’s why early believers were called Christians—because Paul taught them they were identified with Christ in His death and resurrection, not in His earthly flesh.

Romans 6:6 shows the purpose of Christ’s death according to the mystery. Yes, He died for our sins as Romans chapters 3–5 teaches, but He also died so our old man could be put to death and we could walk in newness of life.

Colossians 2:12–13 says you were buried with Him in baptism and risen with Him by faith. We were dead in sins, but God quickened us together with Christ, meaning God gave us life out of that death.

Colossians 3:3 says, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” In Adam we were dead, and in Christ we’re also crucified—but now our life is found in Him, not in ourself.

Grace doesn’t tell the old man to run free.

Grace kills the old man and moves our life source from Adam to Christ in heavenly glory.

Romans 6:6 continues: “…that the body of sin might be destroyed.”

The “body of sin” is the condemned Adam identity we once had. Romans 7:24 calls it “the body of this death.” By Romans 7 Paul understands he’s a new man in Christ, but he still lives in a mortal body that struggles. That’s why he cries out, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Romans 7:25 answers that question,

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:6 already gave the answer: the body of sin was destroyed by Christ’s death. Through Him this body of death was delivered, the old man crucified and resurrection life given to us.

Paul deals with the struggle in his body by knowing his old man is dead. The old man can’t condemn us or control us. It has no authority over us anymore. Yes it’s still hanging around, but it’s got no legal power over us as it did before.

Romans 8:13 says if we live after the flesh (that’s the old man), we will die. But if we, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, we will live. That’s our situation, our identity now, after we believe the gospel, and it doesn’t matter what we feel.

Walking after the Spirit means there’s now no condemnation. Grace doesn’t give us permission to sin. Grace doesn’t let the old man run free. Grace kills the old man. Grace nails him to the cross. The law could only condemn sin; grace destroys the source of sin.

Romans 6:6 says the old man is crucified so “the body of sin might be destroyed.” We’re not currently “in Adam” until we die. We’re in Christ now. Our old man is dead now. That’s why Paul says “henceforth”—from this moment forward—we shouldn’t serve sin. Not later. Not after death. Now.

If we read Romans 6 and feel condemned, we’re reading it wrong. Paul’s not saying, “Try harder.” He’s saying, “We don’t serve sin anymore.” The old man may scream, and tempt, and pull at us constantly, at every turn but we can say, “I don’t work for you anymore.”

We’re in a world full of sin, but we’re not under its authority. We’re free to say no.

This is why Paul calls it deliverance. We’re still in the prison of this world, but the chains are broken. We’re free from sin’s power, even though sin is still everywhere around us.

Romans 6:7 says,

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

How are we dead? We’re dead with Christ. Crucified with Him. That means we’re freed from sin’s rule. We’re not free of sin’s presence, but free from its power to condemn us to eternal death.

This is victory, liberty and redemption.

Galatians 5:1 says,

STAND fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

We don’t go back under bondage—whether that’s the bondage of the law or the bondage of sin. We’re freed from both.

Grace gives you a new identity. God Himself declares us a new man. No other religion or philosophy can give us a new identity that’s real. Only God, the giver of life, can do that. He gives us eternal life, resurrection life, Christ’s life. That’s why we can say no to the old man. That’s why we can walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:6 ends by saying the old man is crucified “that henceforth we should not serve sin.” This is not a law command. It is a statement of freedom. We don’t serve sin anymore. We serve Christ. We’re dead with Him, risen with Him, and freed from sin’s power. That is the Christian life that Paul’s teaching.

Romans 3:24 first introduced the word redemption. Paul said we’re “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Redemption is more than paying for our sins. It means Christ delivered us and set us free and broke the power of sin, the law, and condemnation. That’s the same redemption Romans 6 is talking about—freedom from the old man and freedom from sin’s rule.

Colossians 1:13–14 says God delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His Son, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

Redemption and forgiveness go together.

Titus 2:14 says,

Who (Christ) gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

The Peculiar people doesn’t mean an odd or strange people, but a people who belong to Him in a special way—not to the world or even to ourselves.

He didn’t just give us eternal life after death—He redeemed us now, freeing us from condemnation, judgment, and the sin of our old man, all of which Paul labours over telling us because of how critical it is to the way we think and the way we see ourselves while we’re still here in this body and still struggling in this world of sin.

Redemption means to release someone from the possession or the power of someone else. We’re no longer owned by sin. Yes, sin is still present in this world and in our flesh, but we’re not under its power. We’re redeemed today because the Spirit baptised us into Christ. That’s why baptism matters—not water, but the Spirit placing us into Christ’s death and resurrection.

Romans shows what you’re freed from.

Romans 3 shows we’re freed from the penalty of sin.

Romans 4 shows we’re freed from the imputation of sin. Imputation means God counts something to our account that didn’t originally come from us.

Romans 5 shows we’re freed from the curse of sin.

Romans 6 shows we’re freed from the dominion and the power of sin.

Romans 7 shows we’re freed from the law, which gave sin its strength.

Romans 8 shows we’re freed from the condemnation of sin.

This’s why Romans 6 is so important. Being in Christ, baptised into His death and resurrection, means we’re free from, we have liberty from, and we have victory over sin. It no longer rules over us. We’re not waiting for freedom in heaven after this present body dies, we have it now. Christ destroyed the old man, broke sin’s power, and gave us new life in Him. That’s redemption.

Romans 6:1-4 – Baptised Into Christ’s Death

In this episode we’re plunging in to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8 all deal with how a saved person actually lives now.

Romans 8 will later show how the Spirit helps us walk without condemnation, but Romans 6 starts with the big question: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Paul answers, “God forbid.” Then he says, “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?”

“Speed Slider”

Romans 6:1-4 – Transcript

We finished Romans 5 last episode, which is a glorious chapter showing what we have freely in Christ. Romans 5:1 says we’re justified by faith. That whole chapter is about what God gives us — not what we earn.

It’s all grace. We’re not doing the work in Romans 5, we’re just receiving what Christ did.

That’s the difference between being in Adam and being in Christ. In Adam, death reigns. In Christ, grace reigns.

That’s a positional truth in this dispensation of grace, revealed through Paul.

A positional truth is something that’s true about where we stand with God. It’s not our feelings or our behaviour. It’s our place in Christ, even if we don’t always feel it. It’s our position, not our performance. It’s a truth because it’s what God says is true about us and He says we’re in Christ when we believed.

Now Romans 6:1 asks,

WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

The questions about our life here now, on earth, before glory.

Romans 5 told us what we have and Romans 6 asks what we do now that we already have those blessings.

The last chapter ended with Romans 5:20-21 saying,

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

The law came in and showed up sin. But grace overflowed all of it.

Christ appeared, and the kindness and love of God brought salvation through grace as Titus 3:4–7 says.

Romans 5:21 is the first time Paul mentions eternal life. And it’s not just life after death — it’s life now, in Christ.

Most people think eternal life starts after we die and Paul knows that, so Romans 6 starts with the question: If we’re justified by faith and have eternal life in Christ, what about now? Do we just keep living in sin because we’re still in this flesh? Is grace just for later? Or is it OK to just keep on living the most ragged life we can knowing we’re saved anyway?

Paul answers: “God forbid.” It’s the same strong answer he gave back in Romans 3. Back there, people said, “If our sin shows God’s righteousness, isn’t God unfair to judge us?” Paul said, “God forbid.”

Just because our sin makes God look good doesn’t mean He needs us to sin.

He’s righteous no matter what.

People slandered Paul, saying he taught, “Let’s do evil, that good may come.” But Paul said, “Their damnation is just” . That’s Romans 3:8. That’s not the gospel and it’s certainly not what Paul taught.

Romans 5 made it clear — what we do plays zero part when it comes to being in Adam or in Christ. Our works don’t put us in Christ. Christ’s work does.

So someone might think, “If I’m saved by grace, maybe I’m supposed to sin so grace can abound.” But that’s wrong. God didn’t need us to sin to show grace. He gave grace out of His love and righteousness.

So why do people ask, “Can we continue in sin?”

Because when grace is taught, people think it’s about doing whatever we want because we’re saved anyway.

Romans 6:15 asks it again:

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

But that doesn’t register with the religious mind that thinks if we’re not under law, we’re allowed to sin. Paul says no — grace teaches us how to live.

Romans 4 and 5 taught that grace doesn’t depend on our actions. So now Romans 6 asks: Do we just keep living in sin? If grace reigns unto eternal life, why does death still reign in the world? People still die. People still sin. So they ask, “Don’t we still live in Adam?”

That’s the real question behind “Shall we continue in sin?” It’s not just rebellion — it’s confusion. Paul’s going to answer that in Romans 6.

In the last episode we drew the picture how that Adam sinned, and death reigned. Christ died and rose again, and now grace reigns through His righteousness.

That’s Romans 5. One man brought death, the other brought life. But people still think this’s just about eternity which is all after we die in the body and we’re still here in Adam in this life.

Paul says no. Grace doesn’t need sin to exist.

When Romans 6:1 asks, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” And Paul answers: “God forbid,” that phrase shuts the door. It’s a very strong no. Sin is not allowed or encouraged.

“God forbid” shows up 24 times in the Bible, 14 of those times are in Paul’s letters and 10 of those are in Romans.

The Apostle of Grace is the one saying “God forbid” the most. He’s not saying, “Well, if you have to…” He’s saying, “No way.”

Just because we’re saved and in Christ doesn’t mean sin’s okay now.

That idea gets nailed shut here.

There’re some who say “God forbid” is a mistake in the King James Bible because the word “God” isn’t in the Greek and that’s true — but it’s not a mistake.

Translation isn’t always word-for-word and we’ve discussed this before. Sometimes we need idioms to get the meaning across.

An idiom is a saying that doesn’t mean exactly what the words say. It’s a phrase people understand because of how it’s used, not because of the words themselves.

For example, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Nobody thinks animals are falling from the sky. It just means it’s raining hard.

Or “Break a leg.” We know it doesn’t mean go and hurt yourself. It means “good luck.”

Or “Spill the beans.” Everybody knows it’s not about beans. It means “tell the secret.”

“God forbid” says it better than “Certainly not” or “May it never be.” It’s not wrong — it’s just strong.

So don’t let anyone tell you the King James messed up there. It’s not a mistake — it’s a choice. And it’s the right one.

Paul’s saying sin is never okay.

Romans 8:8 says,

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

So if we’re thinking we’re still in Adam, Paul says, “No — we’re in Christ.” Not just in eternity — now.

That’s a big deal. Being in Christ now wasn’t taught before.

Jesus said “abide in me” in John 15, but people didn’t understand it. Paul says you’re in Christ by the mystery — not by fruit, not by law, but by grace.

Ephesians 3:6 says the we’re fellow heirs, part of the same body, in Christ Jesus now!

So if we’re justified by faith, we’re not in Adam anymore.

We still live in the flesh, but we’ve been quickened with Christ, given life out of our inherited death, inherited from Adam.

The Holy Spirit sealed us and baptized us into His body. That’s something we have now.

But sin never glorifies God.

Romans 5:21 says grace reigns through righteousness — not through sin. Grace doesn’t need sin to exist. Grace was in Eden before sin ever showed up. God gave Adam and Eve everything by grace. Grace is what God does that we didn’t earn.

Grace reigns because of what Christ did — not because sin abounds.

He died, He rose, He conquered death. That’s why grace reigns.

Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8 will show us what life in Christ looks like.

Romans 6 says grace separates us from sin. Romans 7 says grace separates us from the law. And when our mind gets changed — when we realise we’re not under sin or law anymore — we start to live by grace. The law tried to separate people from sin, but Romans 7 says we’re dead to that too.

So, Romans 6, 7, and 8 all deal with how a saved person actually lives now. Romans 8 will later show how the Spirit helps us walk without condemnation, but Romans 6 starts with this big question: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” to which Paul answers in Romans 6:2,

God forbid. (Then he says), How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Up until we believed the gospel, we lived in Adam. Now we’re in Christ. So why keep living like we’re still in Adam? We don’t owe that old man anything. Paul calls “the old man,” our old life in Adam. That old man is dead. Grace doesn’t just save us — it gives us a new way to live now.

So the progression through Romans continues seamlessly through Romans 5 telling us of all the blessings we have in Christ to Romans 6 showing that grace also teaches us how to live in that new life. It’s not the law, it’s not our works, but Christ in us. This is the grace life.

Paul talks about this again in 2 Corinthians 5:15–17.

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Since Christ died for all, those who live should not live unto themselves anymore. We don’t know any man “after the flesh” now. Even Christ we don’t know after the flesh anymore. That destroys a lot of Christianity that only focuses on Jesus’ earthly ministry. Paul says if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away, all things are become new.

That’s exactly what Romans 6 is dealing with. The “old things” are Adam, sin, the flesh, the law. The “new things” are life in Christ. So when someone asks, “Shall we continue in sin?” Paul says no — that’s the old thing. You’re in newness of life now.

Paul also says we’re dead to sin in this passage of Romans 6:2.

Notice he doesn’t says we’re dead in sin. Dead in sin is Adam — that’s the whole world. Dead to sin is the believer. And notice he says “we are dead to sin,” meaning right now.

It’s not “will be dead to sin someday.” Not “after we die.” Not “after we get to glory.” Right now.

That’s why the question comes up: “If I’m dead to sin, why do I still walk in it?” Paul’ll answer that in this chapter.

But the truth is that our eternal life begins now. Our position in Christ begins now. Death is no longer the end for us. It’s just the last step before glorification.

Romans 5:11 said, “We have now the atonement.” Not later — now. Atonement means that the separation between us and God has been fixed and we’re reconciled back to Him.

Christ died, and we get the benefit of His death. His death is counted as ours. His death has paid our wages, the wages we’re due for sin which is death. That’s why we’re dead to sin. That’s why we have eternal life now and that’s why grace reigns.

Grace doesn’t reign because sin’s around. Grace doesn’t need sin. Grace was in the Garden before sin ever showed up. Grace reigns because of what Christ did — His death, His resurrection, His victory. Romans 6 will show how grace separates us from sin.

Romans 7 will show how grace separates us from the law. And Romans 8 will show how the Spirit helps us walk in that new life.

Paul’s been showing how in Adam we got everything Adam brought — sin and death — and in Christ we get everything Christ brought — righteousness and life.

That’s why he keeps saying we’re in Christ now. So when we ask, “How should we live?” Paul basically says, “Don’t you remember what we just learned? You’re dead to sin now. Why live in it any longer?”

In Adam, death was the end. Romans 5:12 says death came by one man. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Death used to be the final stop. But Christ died and rose again, and that changed everything. His death doesn’t just pay for our sins — it becomes the starting point of our new life. Death is no longer the thing that crushes us. It’s the doorway into walking in newness of life.

Paul will teach that the first step of the Christian life is to quote “reckon yourself dead”.

That sounds strange because death is what we’re trying to avoid. But Paul says Christ died, and we died with Him, so let’s start there. His gospel begins with death and resurrection. Under Israel’s covenants, Christ’s death was the final act of atonement. But for the body of Christ, His death is the beginning of our life.

Galatians 2:20 says,

That means sin and the law have no more power over us. Yes, we’re still living in this flesh, but our real life is Christ in us. And the life we now live, we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. If righteousness came by the law, then Christ died in vain — but He didn’t. His death’s the only way we live.

Many Christians don’t fully understand that Christ’s death was needed. That’s ignorance of Romans 5 and the mystery. The apostle Peter blamed Israel for killing their Messiah because he didn’t yet understand what Christ’s death would accomplish. It looked like a sad, necessary sacrifice, like killing a lamb. But Paul shows the glory of it.

Christ didn’t just die — He gave His death to me and you.

He performed the act so we could be crucified with Him and reap the benefits of now being freed from the judgment of sin and the penalty, eternal death.

Romans 6:7 says,

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

The good news is we’re freed from the consequences and the penalty of sin. Romans 6:8 says,

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Romans 6:11 says

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 7:4 says we’re dead to the law.

Romans 8:10 says,

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The body’s dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life.

Colossians 3:3 says,

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

This sounds strange because in this world death is bad. But in Christ, death becomes something else.

That’s why believers don’t sorrow like those with no hope. Being “dead” in Christ means we don’t work to earn anything — dead people don’t work. Romans 5 already said we contribute nothing. We’re in Christ, and all the blessings as a result of that are ours by grace.

So Romans 6:2 asks, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” And the next verses explain what that means.

Paul says, “Know ye not…?” because he’s reminding believers of things they should already know: they’re in Christ, dead to sin, alive to God, and called to walk in that new life.

A lot of true ministry in the church today is reminding believers of what we have and what we are and that’s exactly what Paul’s doing when he says, “Know ye not…?” He’s reminding people of what they’ve already been taught.

Then he brings up baptism for the first time in Romans 6:4.

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Then right away people go directly to their church traditions of water, sacraments, ordinances, confession, tubs, pastors. But none of that came from Romans.

Paul never mentioned water once. What has he talked about?

Christ’s death, our faith, and us being in Christ. So when he says we were “baptised into Jesus Christ,” he means we were baptised into His death. That’s the whole point. Baptism is identification and we’re identified with Christ’s death.

He says “so many of us” because not everybody in Rome was saved. If you’re still in Adam, you’re not baptised into Christ’s death — you’re just dead in Adam’s sin. But if we believed the gospel (Romans 4–5), we’re in Christ, and that’s how we got baptised into Him. Not by water. Not by a priest. Not by a pastor. By faith.

Water isn’t mentioned in Romans at all. Paul barely mentions it anywhere. But he does talk about baptism in 1 Corinthians 12:13:

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

That “One body” is Christ.

That’s the same thing he’s saying in Romans 6. How were you baptised into Christ? “By one Spirit.” Not by water. Not by man. But by the Spirit of God.

Why do so many miss this? Through a failure to divide the Word of God correctly as per 2 Timothy 2:15. The result is one more case of seeing what Jesus and the 12 apostles instructed Israel and missing what Jesus, through Paul, instructed us, the Body of Christ, today.

Tradition and history replace the whole counsel of the Word of God.

But tradition and history isn’t the Bible.

For most of church history, the Bible wasn’t even the final authority. Remember that it wasn’t till the 1600’s that the Bible began to be available to every person, commoner and elite alike.

Even the Nicene Creed — which most churches claim — says “we believe in baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”

That’s water baptism saving you. Catholics believe that. The Orthodox church believes that. Lutherans believe that and a lot of ordinary Christians believe that. But, Paul never teaches that.

Romans 4–5 says salvation is by faith, not works, not rituals, and not water.

Yes, Jesus taught water baptism in Matthew 28. Peter preached it in Acts 2. John baptized with water. Israel had water ceremonies. But Paul is the apostle of grace, the apostle of the Gentiles, the one who received the revelation of the church. And Paul never commands water baptism for salvation or blessing.

The real question isn’t “When did the church begin?” was it with the disciples? If so wouldn’t the teaching they received from Jesus be the same for us today?

Well the real question is “When was the message of the church revealed?” How could anyone be the church when there was no message relating to it, no message that defined it?

The doctrine of the church is found only in Paul’s epistles. We can’t pattern the church after something that wasn’t revealed yet. Before Paul, nobody knew Romans 5 truth. Nobody knew about being in Christ, justified by faith alone and walking in newness of life.

So even if the church existed, they couldn’t live like it because the message wasn’t revealed yet.

That message was given to Paul directly by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself which we see in Acts chapter 9.

So when Paul says in Romans 6:3 that we were baptised into Christ’s death, he’s not talking about water. He’s talking about what he’d already taught, that Christ died for our sins, we’re justified by faith, we’re in Christ, and His death is counted as ours.

That’s how we get the all-important atonement which enables reconciliation back to God. That’s how we get eternal life. We’re baptised into His death by the Spirit the moment we believe.

Paul’s reminding them — and us — of what we should already know. We’re in Christ. We’re dead to sin. We’re dead to the law. We’re alive to God. And none of that came by water. It came by the gospel of Christ and the Spirit who put us into His body.

All this about baptism matters because people tend to turn back from the teachings to the church in Romans to the time before Paul and before this mystery dispensation of grace was revealed to him by Christ.

They grab water‑baptism instructions, given before the mystery was revealed, before Acts chapter 9, and try to squeeze them into them into the Body of Christ.

For everything else — salvation, Christian living, walking in the Spirit — they’ll go to Pauls epistles yet turn back to the time before the dispensation of grace, to the time of the law to pull water baptism out and try to force into the body of Christ.

Why?

Traditions of men, traditions of the organised church and it’s denominations, traditions that very often discount or outright reject the change in dispensation that happened as a result of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah.

How critical it is for us in the Body of Christ to recognise this change in God’s dealings with mankind.

Paul does teach baptism in Romans 6. But the Bible has more than one baptism, and not all of them are water and there’s a list below this recording of the different baptisms mentioned in the Bible.

Galatians 3:27 says,

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

That’s the same thing as Romans 6 — being identified with Christ. But how did we get baptised into Christ?

Galatians 3:26 tells us:

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” No water mentioned.

Ephesians 1:13 says,

In whom (Christ) ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

When we hear the gospel and believe it, we’ re sealed with the Holy Spirit.

That Spirit baptism puts us into the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13 says it this way,

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

That happens the moment we believe — not later, not after a class or after a ceremony.

Acts 8 shows something totally different.

The Samaritans believed, but didn’t receive the Holy Ghost until Peter came and laid hands on them.

That fits Israel’s kingdom program, not the body of Christ.

In the church today, we receive the Spirit when we believe — not by so called apostles laying hands on us, not by water, nor any other rituals.

Some churches say water baptism is needed for salvation, forgiveness, or membership. But that can’t be the body of Christ, because we’re placed into the body by the Spirit when we believe.

If a local church group wants a ceremony, fine, no one’s going to be damned for partaking in the ceremony but we should realise, through rightly divided study, that it’s not God’s baptism, it’s a ritual that man wants to hang on to from the time of the law, before this dispensation of grace that we live in today.

The Romans 6:3 baptism is simple.

It only becomes confusing when people bring church traditions into the text. Paul never mentions water in Romans. He hadn’t baptised anyone in Rome.

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 Paul’s writing to the Corinthians who had many problems with their spiritual walk. He’s trying to sort out the confusion and the wrong doctrine that had entered and corrupted what he’d first taught them. Remember, the letter to the Corinthians was written before the letter to the Romans.

Baptism was one of the doctrines the Corinthians were messed up about and Paul’s sorting them out. He says to them,

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

He even says, in 1 Corinthians 1:14, “I thank God I baptized none of you… He says, “Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.”

If water baptism were required for salvation or forgiveness under Paul’s ministry, He could never have thanked God he didn’t do it.

That’d be like saying, “I thank God I didn’t get any of you saved”, and that’s nonsense, of course.

Paul’s commission was different from the commission given to Israel through Peter and the other 11. In Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, and Acts 2:41 we do see water baptism Paul wasn’t even saved then.

His gospel doesn’t include water baptism. His gospel was preached after the blinding of Israel, shown in Romans 11:25, and the introduction of this new dispensation of grace that was the result of Israel’s rejection of all that happened in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and early Acts.

His message is the preaching of the cross — the gospel of grace — and by that gospel the Spirit baptises us into Christ the moment we believe.

Jesus appeared to Paul (Acts chapter 9) and sent him personally with the dispensation of the grace of God — a message nobody knew before then. Paul was saved by grace without works, and he was sent to preach that same message to the Gentiles. That’s why he doesn’t bring up water in Romans.

The list included below shows different baptisms in the Bible. There’s more than one.

Many of them are dry, no water. That alone shows baptism doesn’t automatically mean water.

So when Romans 6 mentions baptism, and Paul hasn’t said a word about water, sprinkling, pouring, or dunking, it’s clear he’s talking about being identified with Christ, not a water ritual.

The only baptism he talks about is the one that puts us in Christ, not in Adam, identified with Christ and no longer identified with Adam — and that happens by faith, not by works or rituals.

We don’t get newness of life or the atonement by water. Some say you “touch the blood through the water,” but that’s just not in Scripture. Baptism means being immersed into something for identification. Israel used water to identify with ritual cleansing. They dunked themselves in mikvahs to show they were clean. But that was symbolic cleansing, not spiritual salvation.

If we’re baptised into Christ’s by the Holy Spirit, we’re identified with His atonement, redemption, and forgiveness — all the things churches wrongly try to attach to a water ritual.

John’s baptism was for forgiveness of sins, but he wasn’t preaching the cross. So baptism never meant to be a water only thing. It meant identification.

Romans 5 already taught that we’re either in Adam or in Christ. If we’re in Christ, we’re identified with Him. That’s baptism.

So when Paul says, “Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” he’s saying: “Don’t you know you’re identified with His death?” That’s the whole point. If you’re in Him, you’re in what He did — and what He did was die.

Church tradition later tried to explain Romans 6:3 by saying water baptism symbolises Christ’s death. But Paul never said that.

The water‑symbol idea came centuries after Romans 6:3. Jesus isn’t water. Being baptized into Christ doesn’t mean being baptised into water. Paul says you’re baptised into His death in Romans 5 — the one act that brought life.

Jesus Himself had two baptisms.

Luke 3 shows His water baptism, where the Father said, “Thou art my beloved Son.” That identified Him with Israel. But in Luke 12:50 Jesus says,

But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

He’s talking about His death.

“How am I straitened” means to hold everything together till it was accomplished.

That’s the baptism Paul’s talking about. If Jesus had a water baptism and a death baptism, and Paul says you’re baptised into His death, it’s obvious which one he means.

Water never put anyone into Christ. The Spirit does. Water never gave atonement. Christ’s blood does. Water never made us dead to sin. Christ’s cross does. The only baptism we need is the one Christ accomplished — His death — and the Spirit places us into that the moment we believe.

So let’s read Romans 6:3-4 together,

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We’re identified with Christ, His death, His burial, and His resurrection. We’re buried with him by baptism into death.

Why?

Because if we’re in Christ, then what He did counts for us. He died — so we died. He was buried so we were buried. He rose so we rose to have newness of life.

Paul’s taking everything he taught in Romans 5 about being “in Christ” and now applying it to how we live. If we’re in Him, then you walk in the life He gives.

Some say the burial here is water. But if the burial is water, then the resurrection must be you coming up out of the water — but that doesn’t give new life. Romans 6:4 says our new life comes from Christ being raised by the glory of the Father. That’s God’s work, not yours.

Colossians 2 teaches the same thing. The whole chapter says we’re complete in Christ.

Colossians 2:10,

And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

We don’t need ordinances or rituals.

Colossians 2:12 says we’re,

Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

That’s not the operation of a minister or a ceremony. God does it. The same God who raised Christ from the dead is the one who gives us life. That’s why Paul says in Romans 8 that the Spirit who raised Christ will quicken our mortal body.

This’s the whole point: in the body of Christ there are no priests, no spiritual superiors. Christ is the Head. We’re the body. God does the saving, the sealing, the baptizing, the raising. We preach the gospel — He does the work.

So the question was in Romans 6:1, “Shall we continue in sin?”

Paul says, “How can we? We’re dead to it.” Why dead? Because we died with Christ. And if we died with Him, we also live with Him. That’s the life we walk in now — His life in us.

Paul isn’t really trying to teach a whole doctrine of baptism. He’s reminding us who we are. We have new life, eternal life now. So, the life we live in the flesh is the life of Christ. That’s how we live by grace. And Romans 6 is going to keep building on that and showing the mechanics of how we walk in that new life while we’re still here in a corrupted world in corrupted flesh.

Romans 5:15-21 – One Man Death – One Man Life

Romans 5 begins to explain our identity, who we are in Christ.

Later epistles like Ephesians and Colossians expand this, but Romans 5–8 lays the foundation. If we misunderstand Romans 5, we’ll misunderstand Romans 6–8, and that leads to all kinds of doctrinal errors and that’s precisely what’s happening in the body of Christ.

This chapter explains how we receive blessings in Christ, just as we received the curse in Adam. Adam gave us death; Christ gives us life. Adam gave us condemnation; Christ gives us justification.

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Romans 5:15-21 – Transcript

Romans 5 also begins to explain our identity, who we are in Christ.

This chapter explains how we receive blessings in Christ, just as we received the curse in Adam. Adam gave us death; Christ gives us life. Adam gave us condemnation; Christ gives us justification.

Religion says we’ve got to work to earn God’s favour. Romans 5 says the opposite. We receive blessings when we’re in Him, not because we performed well. God places us into Christ by faith, and all the riches of Christ become ours.

This is why universalists misuse Romans 5.

Universalism is the belief that in the end God ‘ll save everyone, because Christ’s work guarantees salvation for all people, but Scripture ties salvation to faith in Christ, not automatic inclusion, so universalism skips the part God Himself requires.

They read that Christ’s work affects “all,” but they ignore Romans 5:1—“being justified by faith.” Only those who believe are in Christ.

Covenant theologians also get tangled up here.

A covenant theologian is someone who believes God deals with all people through a few big covenants, and they read almost the whole Bible—including the church—through those covenant promises made to Israel.

They try to force Adam and Christ into covenant systems that Paul never teaches.

Paul’s not talking about covenants; he’s talking about two men, Adam and Christ, and two positions—death or life.

Romans 5:12 begins the argument:

Wherefore, (and that connects to Romans 5:11), Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Then Romans 5:13 opens this giant parenthesis or detour that runs through to verse 17 by stating,

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

In this detour Paul pauses the initial theme to explain that sin existed before the law.

From Adam to Moses there was no written law, yet sin and death were everywhere.

The flood proves that. Romans 2 says Gentiles without the law still had a conscience. So the problem was never just breaking commandments. The problem was being in Adam, spiritually dead and that’s what Paul’s clarifying here.

Then we moved to Romans 5:14 which shows us,

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Death still existed as a result of sin during the age when there was no law. With the single exception of Enoch, death came on all mankind.

These people didn’t die because they’d transgressed the clear command of God, as Adam did. Adam had a direct command from God. No one else had that command, yet they all still died.

Why? Because they inherited death from Adam. They were born spiritually dead. Their works—good or bad—couldn’t change that. They didn’t die because they broke Moses’ law; they died because they were born in Adam.

Then we see Adam “is the figure of him that was to come.” Adam is a type of Christ. He’s the head of the old creation; Christ is the head of the new creation. Adam’s one act affected all who’re in him; Christ’s one act affects all in Him.

And now, Romans 5:15 begins the comparison:

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Adam’s one act brought death to many; Christ’s one act brings grace to many.

This is the contrast between the offense of Adam and the free gift of Christ. By the trespass or the offence of the first man, the many died. The many here refers, of course, to Adam’s descendants. Death here includes spiritual as well as physical death.

In contrast, the free gift abounds much more to the many than the offence.

The free gift is the incredible manifestation of the grace of God abounding to a race of sinners. It’s made possible by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ.

It was amazing grace on His part to die for His rebellious creatures. Through His sacrificial death, the gift of eternal life is offered to the many.

The two manys in this verse do not refer to the same people.

The first many includes all who became subject to death as a result of Adam’s trespass. The second many means all who become members of the new creation, the Body of Christ of which Christ is the Head. It includes only those to whom God’s grace has abounded—that is, true believers, those that Romans 5:1 describes, those being justified by faith.

While God’s mercy is showered on all, His grace is appropriated only by those who trust the Saviour.

Romans 6:23 summarizes the whole idea,

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That’s exactly what Romans 5’s explaining—death through Adam, life through Christ.

Paul’s language gets heavy because he keeps saying “not as this… but as that…” and the suchlike. He’s showing similarities and differences between Adam and Christ.

Adam’s act affected all who were in him just as Christ’s act affects all who are in Him. Adam brought condemnation; Christ brings justification. Adam brought death; Christ brings life.

As a side note here, Romans 5 is the doorway into Romans 6 where Paul introduces baptism and he’s not talking about water. He’s talking about identity, being baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection. If we misunderstand Romans 5, we’ll think Romans 6 is about water rituals. But Paul’s explaining our spiritual position, not ceremonies.

Romans 5 is Paul taking the simple truth of Romans 6:23,

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord…

And he’s stretching it out to show why it’s true. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says it plainly,

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

That’s the short version.

But Paul gives the details, in fact he hammers home the details, coming at this main point from many angles, so we can understand the foundation of our salvation and our union with Christ.

How sad it is that so much modern preaching rejects the critical book of Romans. Oh, they pick the famous verses but the context of the whole book and its importance to the church today is so often missed.

On to Romans 5:16-17,

And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

This’s another important contrast between Adam’s sin and Christ’s gift. The one offense of Adam brought God’s inevitable judgment, and the verdict of that judgement was “Condemned.”

On the other hand, the free gift of Christ dealt effectively with many offenses, not just one, and resulted in the verdict “Acquitted.”

Paul highlights the differences between Adam’s sin and Christ’s gift, between the terrible havoc wrought by one sin and the tremendous deliverance wrought from many sins, and finally between the verdict of condemnation and the verdict of justification.

Romans 5:15–17 explains the comparison.

Adam committed an offense—one act that brought sin and death. Christ performed an act of grace—His death on the cross—which brings justification and life.

Both are “one man” acting for many, but the results are opposite. Adam had everything to lose and lost it. Christ had everything and gave it for others.

We have a chart below this recording which shows these comparisons.

Paul’s point is simple:

– Everyone born in the flesh is in Adam.

– Everyone who believes the gospel is placed in Christ.

Just as we received death, condemnation, and corruption from Adam without doing anything, we receive righteousness, life, and blessing from Christ without earning anything.

Notice Paul says “they which receive abundance of grace.” The gift must be received by faith. Everyone born in the flesh is in Adam automatically. No faith required. But to be in Christ, you must believe the gospel. When you believe, God places you in Christ, and you receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

That’s the mystery of our union with Him.

Romans 5:15–17 breaks it down to this:

– One act (Adam’s sin vs. Christ’s cross)

– One imputation (condemnation vs. justification)

– One result (death reigning vs. grace reigning through righteousness)

This’s why Paul can say in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Romans 5 shows the whole structure behind that truth.

So what is the free gift Paul keeps mentioning?

Romans 3 already explained it: being justified freely by His grace (Romans 3:24). Justification is a gift, not a wage. It’s God counting us righteous because of Christ’s work, not our own. The work was still required! The wages for sin, which is death, still had to be paid, but we couldn’t pay it and still live. If we were going to escape eternal death it would take someone totally without sin to pay that death wage for us, on our behalf. And, since we’re incapable of contributing anything at all to that process, the result of that payment on our behalf which is our justification, no longer guilty, had to be a free gift to us.

Now we can either receive that free gift or reject it.

If we want to receive it the mechanism, the tool we must use is faith. Simply believing, trusting that the words God spoke were true. The words we trust in is the Gospel that’s clearly outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4,

For I (Paul) delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Romans 4 showed this with Abraham—God counted his faith for righteousness. Romans 5 now shows how this gift comes to us through Christ, the “last Adam.” by grace through faith.

Grace is something done for us that we could never do for ourselves. Christ died, was buried, and rose again so that righteousness could be imputed to sinners. That’s why you don’t find the gospel of the grace of God before the cross—it couldn’t be preached until the work of the cross was finished.

Romans 5:18,

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

The offense of Adam brought condemnation to all men, but the righteous act of Christ brought justification and, as a result of that justification, life to all.

The righteous act was not the Savior’s life, His Words, His miracles or His keeping of the law. It was His death on Calvary, His life given willingly as a substitution for our death penalty.

That’s what brought the justification that results in life—and He brought it to all men and all men must choose either to receive that free gift of justification for life or to reject it and pay the price himself.

Paul’s gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 begins with Christ dying for our sins.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John begin with Christ’s birth and His ministry to Israel.

Paul begins with Christ’s death because that’s where the free gift was purchased. And Romans 5 explains how that gift is applied: by placing us in Christ, just as we were once in Adam.

Romans 5 also shows us that the gift comes “by grace,” and it’s received “through faith.” It’s from God, not from us.

Ephesians 2:8–9 gives the short version,

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans 5 is the long explanation of how God can give this gift and why it’s righteous for Him to do so.

Paul then argues in Romans 5:19,

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

He’s showing us that if one man’s sin can bring death to many, much more can one Man’s gracious act bring life to many.

Christ is not only man—He’s God manifest in the flesh—so His one act has far greater power than Adam’s fall.

That’s why Romans 5:20-21 continues,

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Adam lost everything; Christ gives far more than Adam ever lost.

This gift is not John 3:16’s “God gave His Son” in the sense of sending Him into the world. That’s true, but Romans 5’s talking about the gift that comes from Christ’s finished work—His death, burial, and resurrection. The gift is tied to the cross, not the manger. Without Christ’s death for sins, there is no grace, no gift, no justification.

We cannot pay for a free gift. If we try to earn what God gives by grace, we deny Christ’s work and make His cross vain or futile.

Galatians 2:21 says,

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Trying to earn salvation frustrates the grace of God. The same is true on the Adam side. We can’t undo the condemnation we inherited from Adam. We can’t say, “I’ll take care of my own sins.” We’ve already inherited death from Adam. We were born into it and that’s why every person dies. We only live once, then we die, and then comes judgment says Hebrews 9:27.

Our death is because of Adam’s sin; our judgment is for our own sins.

Under the law, sin abounded. Under Christ, grace abounds far more. Christ was born under the law and died under the law, but His death brought grace that the law could never give.

To this day people think Jews or Christians have standing with God because of flesh, heritage, or law‑keeping. But Romans 5 destroys that idea. All are children of Adam, Jew and Gentile, and all are condemned in Adam.

Only in Christ is there life.

Grace abounded because Christ died and rose again. God dispensed grace through that one act. Paul was given the revelation of what that death accomplished. And now, in this dispensation of grace, God saves sinners—Jew or Gentile—by faith alone, not by the law, not by covenants, not by works.

So, let’s summarise Romans 5.

Paul reminds us that sin existed before the law.

From Adam to Moses there was no written law, yet sin and death filled the world. The flood proves that. Romans 2 says Gentiles without the law still had a conscience. So the problem wasn’t law-breaking—it was being in Adam, spiritually dead and cut off from God.

Death reigned even over those who didn’t sin like Adam did. Adam had a direct command from God. His children didn’t. Yet they still died because they inherited death from him. The point is that we receive from Adam simply by being born. We didn’t choose it and we didn’t earn it. We got it just because we were “in Adam.”

That’s the foundation for understanding how salvation works. If one man’s sin can bring death to all who come from him, then one Man’s righteousness can bring life to all who are placed in Him. That’s why Paul keeps stressing “one man.” He’s showing how something done by another can be accounted to us.

One man’s offense brought death to all; one Man’s gift brings life to all who believe.

That’s the foundation for Romans 6, where Paul will say, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”

This free gift required the cross, not our works or our behaviour.

Romans 5 is explaining how humanity receives death (in Adam) and how humanity receives life (in Christ).

We were in Adam before we ever did anything. And if we believe the gospel of the grace of God, we’re in Christ before we do anything.

It’s by faith, not by our works. It’s His work, not ours that makes us reconciled to God and who we are now. That’s our union with Christ, our fellowship with him.

Romans 5:11 showed us that we now have the atonement—we are made one with God through Jesus.

Then in verse 12 Paul goes back to Adam: by one man sin entered, and death by sin, so death passed upon all.

Verses 13–17 are a big bracket where Paul explains how one man’s act can affect many. Then in verse 18 he picks the thought back up: as by the offence of one, judgment came on all to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came on all to justification of life.

So by Adam’s one act, all of us were made sinners and condemned. By Christ’s one act, all who are in him are justified and given life. God set it up with one man at the start so he could also save through one man.

God, in His wisdom, let one man’s disobedience make many sinners, so that one man’s obedience could make many righteous (Romans 5:19).

This takes us out of the picture when it comes to earning righteousness. We didn’t work to get Adam’s condemnation—you were just born. In the same way, we don’t work to get Christ’s righteousness—we receive it by faith. That means righteousness and life can reign over people who still fail, because it’s not based on their obedience, but on His.

Second Corinthians 5:21 sums it up,

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

He was made sin at the cross. We’re made righteous—that’s the gift. Romans 5 is Paul unpacking that and showing us the bits: by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners; by one man’s obedience many shall be made righteous. It’s not by following Jesus’ life as a pattern to earn something, but by trusting what He already did.

Romans 5 teaches that the law doesn’t make people sinners—it only shows them they already are.

Romans 3 says the law gives the knowledge of sin.

Removing laws doesn’t remove sin; it only hides it. The truth is we’re sinners because of Adam, not because we first broke a command. Adam’s one sin made us a fallen people, and Christ’s one obedience—His death on the cross—brings justification. Salvation is not our obedience; it’s His.

Philippians 2:6–8 shows why Christ’s obedience has power.

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

God can’t die, but man can. So God became man in Jesus so He could die and then give God’s eternal life to all who believe. Adam broke God’s command and brought death; Christ obeyed unto death and brought life.

Romans 5:19 says by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many shall be made righteous. That righteousness is not our own—it’s imputed, or accounted to us by faith. Romans 5:20 says the law entered later, not to give life, but so the offence might abound. God didn’t give the law to fix man; He gave it to expose man.

Israel was told, “Do this and live,” but none of them could keep it. If a law could give life, righteousness would have been by the law as we see in Galatians 3:21-22,

Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Paul shows that death reigned from Adam to Moses even when there was no law. That proves sin is deeper than breaking commandments—it’s a spiritual death inherited from Adam. The law only made sin more obvious. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Romans 5 ends by showing that the law could not stop sin or death, but grace through Jesus Christ overcomes both.

In Adam we were condemned, but in Christ we receive righteousness and eternal life as a free gift. That is why Paul says in Romans 5:21 that grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul says the Scripture was given so people would know the truth about sin. God already knew, but man didn’t.

Once the law and the Scriptures came, it was clear that all are under sin and we saw that in Romans 3:10, 23.

Why? So that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ could be given to them that believe (Romans 3:22). Before faith came, Israel was kept under the law, shut up unto the faith that would come later.

The wonderful passage of Galatians 3:21–25 shows how the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ so we might be justified by faith. But after faith comes, we’re no longer under that schoolmaster.

That’s why Paul keeps saying we’re not under the law now. The law shows sin, but it can’t give life. It never fixed anybody. It only made sin abound by showing it up.

After being given the law directly by God, Moses didn’t even get down the mountain before Israel broke the commandments.

The law entered so the offense might abound, not so life would abound. Life comes only through Christ.

So Romans 5 ends by saying that as sin reigned unto death, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s the whole point. Adam brought death. Christ brings life. The law only made sin recognisable. But grace overflows all of the law. And now, being in Christ, we stand in that grace, justified, reconciled, and alive forever.

Paul says this in 1 Timothy 1:16,

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

God dispensed His grace through the revelation given to Paul, so all men can be justified by faith in Christ.

In Ephesians 3:1–2 we see,

FOR this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

This grace was given to Paul for us.

This isn’t just theology—God actually poured out grace in history. That’s why Paul’s gospel is all about Christ, not about Paul himself.

Romans 5:21 says that just like sin reigned unto death, now grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. That’s why God isn’t judging the world right now, at this time, in this dispensation. Christ’s one act on the cross opened the door for grace to be offered to all.

Judgement will come when this dispensation of the grace of God is over but right now we’re living in the period that 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 speaks of,

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Romans 5 ties it all together like this (and as we’ve already said we have a comparison chart showing this below this recording):

– Adam’s one act brought sin, death, and condemnation.

– Christ’s one act brings righteousness, life, and justification.

– What you received in Adam came by birth.

– What you receive in Christ comes by faith.

This is the heart of the gospel of the grace of God.

Before we close out this episode, I urge you to have a listen to the article we’ve just broadcast called “Was Jesus God”.

For us to properly understand the gift that Romans 5 speaks of, along with every other writing in scripture, we must know who Jesus Christ really is. The Bible says He’s God, God manifest in man’s flesh.

If that’s not true the Bible is useless and there’s no Christianity, no salvation from sin and no hope other than this world and this life.

However, many people, even many claiming to be Christians, don’t believe that Jesus was God.

This article will hopefully help to answer the question, “Was Jesus God”?

In the next episode we’ll be in Romans 6 which starts with the natural question: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

If we’re saved apart from our own works can’t we just go on living in as much sin as we want as long as we believe? Paul explains that and shows what a saved and justified person’s life would look like.

Also, when we learn we’re justified by faith without the law, our flesh wants to run back to rules. But Paul says no—we’re not under the schoolmaster anymore. We’re in Christ and we live by the new life He gave us, not by the old law.

May God bless you till the next episode.

Romans 5:12-14 – How Adam Bought Death

Romans 5:12–14 sits right in the middle of Paul showing us all the riches God gives us by His grace when we’re justified by faith.

Romans 5:1 starts with, “Being justified by faith, we have…” and then Paul lists all these blessings. We’re justified by faith when we believe Christ died for our sins and rose again, then God declares us righteous based on that faith alone which sets us apart from the world, separated or sanctified unto Him, and that gives us great spiritual blessings.

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Romans 5:12-14 – Transcript

Romans holds a unique place in Scripture because it gathers the major themes of the entire Bible into one clear, Spirit‑guided explanation, while also shedding light on truths that were only partially understood before.

In its sixteen chapters, Paul walks through humanity’s fall in Adam, God’s answer in Christ, the purpose of the law, the meaning of faith, the nature of salvation, the place of Israel, the identity of the Church, and the hope of future glory.

Doctrines that appear in pieces throughout Genesis, the prophets, the Gospels, and the Jewish epistles are brought together and explained with precision.

Romans doesn’t replace the rest of the Bible—it reveals how all of it fits together and the integration of the ages, the dispensations of God’s plan.

That’s why believers through history have treated it as the clearest summary of God’s redemptive plan and the key that unlocks many truths that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible, to grasp. Countless millions have found freedom and understanding through the book of Romans.

It’s the key book, the most important book of the bible for the church, The Body of Christ today.

Romans 5:12–14 sits right in the middle of Paul showing us all the riches God gives us by His grace when we’re justified by faith.

Romans 5:12 reads,

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

We see that, again, as we enter this passage, we’re entering into another series of integrated arguments where Paul explains a concept more fully by using the words “wherefore”, “nevertheless”, “for if”, “therefore” and moreover”, tying in these deeper explanations of the main theme.

We also notice in this passage that Romans 5:13 through to Romans 5:17

is one big parenthesis, or a detour if you like, from the main point in order to explain more deeply the subject being talked about.

We could read from Romans 5:12 then go directly to Romans 5:18 to see the point, the whole subject, but then if we did that we’d be confronted with more therefores and moreovers that expand on the thought even more, and we’d also lose the treasures of those detours that help us understand the subject more completely.

Romans 5:12 starts with a “wherefore” which means it’s a continuation of the previous verse, Romans 5:11, which, in turn, starts with “and not only so, which means it’s a continuation of verse 10, which begins with “for if” connecting it to verse 9. The book is a whole series of these connections that tie together not only the verses but entire chapters together.

The chapter and verse divisions of the bible are a great help to bible study but we must be aware that they don’t separate a theme which often exists through many verses and chapters and Romans is a perfect example of this.

We’ve got to recognise the integration of the whole book and, in fact, the whole bible. If we don’t we end up with a massive collection of individual verses which, although they can be useful, and may be a statement of truth within themselves, they won’t let us understand the whole integrated message and this’s where a heap of confusion comes into the church.

As we’ve often discussed before, this method of explaining a deeper meaning within a subject is Paul’s style, which, when we know how to handle it, clarifies many issues within a main point.

Up until now Paul’s been talking only about Jesus Christ and how He died for us while we were sinners in verse 9, how we’re saved from wrath through Him, and reconciled by His death in verse 10 and how we’ve received the atonement in verse 11.

Then suddenly in verse 12 he brings up Adam.

Why?

Paul’s explaining to us why this one Man, Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of God, and is fully God and fully man, could bring righteousness, atonement, and life to the whole world without the law, without Israel and without covenants as we’ve seen in Romans 4, and this is where Adam is vital to our understanding.

As Adam brought sin and death into the world, Christ brings life and righteousness.

This way of explaining salvation is something we don’t find before Paul’s epistles. Today it seems normal to say “Adam brought sin, Christ brings salvation,” but that understanding comes from Paul’s revelation from Jesus Christ Himself. Without Romans 5 and Paul’s letters, we wouldn’t know this connection.

Before Paul, the Bible showed Adam brought sin, and God chose Israel to deal with sin through the law, sacrifices, and their Messiah.

But Paul’s already shown that we don’t need Israel or the law to be justified.

We’re justified by God’s grace through faith. And just like one man (Adam) brought sin, one Man (Christ) brings all these blessings.

Paul also shows our problem is bigger than breaking God’s law.

Yes, sin is breaking the law, not obeying God’s commands and not blessing what God blesses. But sin goes much deeper. Sin affects our nature, not just our actions. That’s why 2 Timothy 1:9-10, says God saved us “not according to our works” but by His purpose and grace given in Christ before the world began, now revealed through Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

It’s not “How do we get people to do right?” It’s “How can people live forever?” which’s a much bigger issue.

Christ doesn’t just fix Israel’s covenant problems. He fixes the problem that goes all the way back to Adam, the first man and without Paul’s revelation of the mystery, we wouldn’t understand Adam’s connection to Christ.

Romans 5:12 says “by one man”, meaning Adam was a real man. This, of course, teaches against ideas of evolution with no single first man. It also shows the creation of male and female (as Jesus said in Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6). And it shows man is not like angels.

Sin entered the world by man, not angels. The devil sinned first, but sin didn’t enter the world until Adam sinned, because God gave dominion of the earth to man though Adam. Angels don’t reproduce, but man does, so Adam’s sin, the nature of sin, passed to all descendants of Adam right down to you and I today, along with our descendants.

God made one man and one woman, and they had children, and that’s how we all got here. We weren’t there in the beginning, but Adam and Eve were.

So when Romans 5:12 says “by one man sin entered the world,” that tells us something important. Sin came in through a man, and the solution also had to come through a Man.

Paul talks more about Adam and creation than anybody else in the New Testament. For example, in Colossians 1:16-17, he says this,

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

All things—visible and invisible, principalities and powers—were created by Christ.

Genesis 1 tells of the material creation, but Paul shows there were spiritual things created too, things not listed in the Genesis six days account.

In Ephesians 3:9, Paul says,

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Genesis says God created, and Jesus is God, but Paul makes it clear that Christ Himself is the Creator.

This matters because the same Christ who created everything is the One who brings life and immortality (2 Timothy 1:10). Before the world began, God already purposed salvation through this Man.

God didn’t create humanity and then later figure out how to become human. He made man in His image because He already planned that the image of God—Jesus—would one day become a Man. That’s why humans can bear God’s image, but rocks, trees, and animals cannot.

Paul also talks about creation in a way that shows why evolution doesn’t work. Evolution can’t explain angels, souls, or spiritual reality. God is Spirit, and the spiritual world came before the material. Evolution denies spiritual reality. If we believe everything came by natural selection, then we can’t believe in a soul or a spiritual judgment before God.

Paul reveals these spiritual truths so we can think about them correctly.

In Genesis 3, Eve ate the fruit first. So why does Paul say sin came by Adam?

This’s where people get confused. Some even twist the story to say Eve was wiser, or that the story is “pro‑female,” or that women brought humanity forward, and that isn’t new. It was common amongst pagan religions. Ephesus had a huge temple to Artemis built on that idea.

Timothy lived in Ephesus, and Paul warned him in 1 Timothy 2 about false teaching influenced by that culture. When Paul says he doesn’t allow a woman to teach or usurp authority, he’s talking about wrong doctrine in the assembly based on these pagan ideas.

Paul tells men to be quiet too when they teach wrongly. His point isn’t that man was created first so woman must be silent. His point is in verse 14 (1 Timothy 2:14) where we see that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived…”

The Bible teaches we all came from one man, Adam, not one woman. That doesn’t glorify man, because it’s the man who brought sin and death into the world.

In 1 Timothy 2:14, where Paul says that Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, he’s pointing out that she was tricked, deceived, by the serpent as Genesis 3 shows us, but that Adam sinned knowingly.

That’s why sin is counted to Adam, not Eve.

Maybe Eve didn’t hear God’s command directly, because in Genesis 2 God spoke to Adam, not Eve.

Eve was deceived but that’s not the same as breaking a known command, and since the command was given to Adam, his sin is the one that counted. Eve could eat, but Adam had the rule.

Maybe Eve shouldn’t have acted on her own and gone to Adam and put the matter before him. Instead of that, she allowed herself to be deceived by Satan and she also fell into transgression.

The Bible simply teaches that Adam sinned.

That’s why Romans 5:12 says, “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin.” Not by Eve. Not by deception. By Adam. God told Adam directly not to eat. Scripture never shows God giving that command to Eve.

Job even mentions Adam.

In Job 31:33, Job says he didn’t hide his sin “as Adam.”

Adam sinned, then hid, making fig leaves and hiding from God. That’s human nature— to sin and then deny it. Paul already proved in Romans chapters 2–3 that all the world is guilty. In Romans 5 he explains why, because we all come from Adam, and we all inherited the sin nature that was in him.

Because all humanity comes from one man, there’s no Jew or Gentile in Adam. Adam wasn’t an Israelite and there were no covenants, no temple, no law. When Paul goes back to Adam, he sets aside the whole Jewish system to show the root problem which was that sin entered humanity through one man, and the Savior had to be one Man too—Christ—who brings righteousness to all – like Adam brought sin to all.

Paul also makes clear that sin did not enter before Adam. All theories about pre‑Adam worlds, pre‑Adam people, or sin before Adam have no Scripture behind them. Sin entered by Adam, and death came with it.

Romans 5:12 teaches that sin affects all of us, completely—mind, body, heart, thoughts, everything we do. The life we inherited from our fathers is corrupted. Sin destroys what God made for life and blessing. Some people say our bodies die but our souls stay pure, or that we can reach righteousness by our own mind. But Scripture says sin touches every part of us. That’s why we need a quickening Spirit to save us, which is the Spirit which brings life out of death.

Sin is the reason for death, and it’s also the reason for pain, suffering, judgment, injustice, poverty, and all the evil in the world. People ask, “Why did God make the world this way?” He didn’t. Sin corrupted it.

Paul says death came by sin, and death has “passed upon all men.” Death is universal. Everybody dies.

People today try to deny sin and try to chase life through science or some sort of enhanced spirituality without even knowing what life or death really is. But Hebrews 9:27 says it plainly,

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

If death is universal, then sin is universal, and that means the problem is bigger than Israel and bigger than the law or our sorry attempts to “be good”.

The law can’t fix death. Sin came before the law.

Telling a broken thing to “do right” doesn’t fix it. If the inside is corrupted, commands won’t help. So the solution must be beyond Israel and beyond the law.

That solution is Jesus Christ. Adam’s sin caused death; Christ brings life. Christ came to save all mankind, to bring heaven and earth together in Him.

Romans 5:12 says sin entered by one man, and death by sin, and death passed upon all because all sinned. We’re genealogical descendants of that one man.

In Genesis 1:27, God made Adam in His own image. But in Genesis 5:3, Adam’s son was born in Adam’s image—a fallen image.

So we all inherit corrupted life from Adam and that’s why we all die.

People argue about Genesis, saying chapter 1 and 2 contradict each other, but they don’t. Genesis 1 gives the creation days; Genesis 2 gives the story of the garden. The same writer wrote both. The real question is: how did Adam die?

God said in Genesis 2:17,

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Adam and Eve ate in Genesis 3, but they didn’t drop dead that moment. They lived long enough to be cast out, have children, and grow old. So what was the death that happened that day?

In Genesis 3:3 Eve told the serpent God had said not to touch the tree, even though God never said that.

The serpent denied death and promised “your eyes shall be opened… ye shall be as gods.”

She ate and didn’t fall over dead, so she may have thought nothing happened. But Scripture explains there’s physical death and spiritual death.

In Ezekiel 18:4 God says,

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their fellowship with God. They were no longer justified. Their communion with God was broken.

Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

That spiritual understanding was cut off in Genesis 3. That’s why they were driven out of the garden—so they wouldn’t eat the Tree of Life while spiritually dead. Angels who sinned had no hope, but God let Adam and Eve live in the flesh so they could be redeemed. God even replaced their fig leaves with animal skins, showing the first sacrifice.

So when Adam brought sin into the world, the death that came was both physical and spiritual. Physical death came later, but spiritual death came that exact same day. They lost access to the Tree of Life and to God Himself. That’s the death Romans 5 is talking about, and that’s why we need Christ, the One who brings life where Adam brought death.

In Romans 5:9–11, Paul says that in Christ we now have atonement, we’re reconciled, we have forgiveness, we’re saved from wrath and we have eternal life because our spirit’s made alive.

But in Adam, we only have death.

So, when Paul says in Romans 5:12,

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

He’s laying the foundation for the next chapters which have to do with the difference between the old man, the one in Adam and the new man, the one in Christ. The old man is fallen and dead in sin while the new man is justified by faith.

Paul says death passed upon all men.

Do we die because we personally sinned? The wages of sin is death, yes, but even babies die and they haven’t committed sins, yet they die because they inherited death from Adam.

We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners by nature and we’re born that way.

Some old teachings said people are born innocent until they sin. But Scripture shows we were broken the day we were born, because we were born in Adam. The life we inherited is not eternal life. Every person born eventually dies, showing that our life’s corrupted.

Does the fact that “all have sinned” mean we were somehow inside Adam, choosing sin with him? No. That would be unjust. God says He does not hold children guilty for their father’s sins as we see in a number of places especially Ezekiel 18:20 and Deuteronomy 24:16.

Adam is our father, but we weren’t there in the garden. We’re guilty for our own sins, not Adam’s. Paul already covered that in Romans 1–3.

So why bring up Adam?

Because Paul’s showing that we’re not sinners only because of our actions. We’re sinners because we were born spiritually dead. We sin because we’re sinners.

Our first sin came from a broken nature. We were born disconnected from God, and sin naturally follows.

This is what people call original sin. Adam, the first man, made sinners by his sin.

Romans 5:19 says, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Adam didn’t force us to sin, but when he fell and had children, those children were born in his fallen image which we see in Genesis 5:3.

A newborn baby hasn’t done anything right or wrong yet, but they will die because they’re descended from the man who brought death into the world through sin, Adam.

We do not inherit Adam’s guilt.

We inherit Adam’s corrupt, broken, mortal nature. A fallen creature cannot produce an unfallen, eternal one. That’s why every child, no matter how sweet, will one day die.

Ever since Adam, sinners are born, sinners sin, and sinners die. That’s our nature. And when a person finally faces that, they often blame God. They ask “If there is a God, why did He make us this way?”

But God didn’t make the world this way. Sin did. And God showed His love by sending Christ to die for us, while we were yet sinners, as Romans 5:8 says, all to save us from the power and the consequences of that sin.

Christ came to fix what Adam broke. Adam brought death; Christ brings life. In Christ we can be spiritually quickened, or made alive, forgiven, reconciled, and given wisdom Adam never had after he fell.

Salvation isn’t just a religious idea—it’s God rescuing us from the ruined condition we’re born into.

Like giving a broken child education, food, and help, Christ lifts us out of Adam’s curse and gives us blessings from heaven.

In Christ we inherit what He has—eternal life, glory, resurrection.

In Adam we inherit death. Humanity’s under Adam’s curse, and then we add our own sins on top of it.

Scripture teaches this everywhere.

Psalm 14 says none are righteous. Psalm 39:5 says that even at a man’s best state he is vanity or empty. Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

This starts at birth. Parenting and nurturing tries to help, but children are still born sinners. Even with every advantage, they still choose wrong.

1 Corinthians 2:14 says that the natural man cannot know the things of God while Romans 3:10 says none are righteous.

Romans 7:24 shows Paul crying out, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And the answer in Romans 7:25 is Jesus Christ our Lord.

So when Romans 5:12 says “death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” it means God doesn’t hold us guilty for Adam’s sin, but we still suffer the death and corruption that came from him.

We’re responsible for our own sins, but we’re born spiritually dead because of Adam.

Then Paul continues in Romans 5:13 and here’s where the parenthesis, or the detour starts,

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

He’s showing the timeline. Sin entered in Genesis 3 through Adam. The law came much later at Mt Sinai through Moses.

Sin and death were already here long before Moses. That’s why the law cannot fix the problem. The root is Adam, and the solution is Christ.

Romans chapter 2 told us that if there’s no law to break, then there’s no transgression of that law. In Romans 3:20 he tells us the law brings the knowledge of sin.

Religious thinking says, “You’re a sinner because you broke the commandments.” But Paul’s showing that the law only reveals that we’re a sinner. It’s not what made us a sinner. We’re a sinner because of Adam.

From Adam to Moses there was no written law. Genesis moves fast through this time—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and then in Exodus the law’s given and Israel becomes a nation. But Paul goes all the way back before Israel and before the law to show where the real problem started. Sin didn’t begin with Moses. Sin began with Adam, the first man. And from Adam to Moses, sin was still in the world even though there was no law.

Paul destroys the thinking that sin only exists when there’s a command to break by saying sin was present without the law.

Just read Genesis—Cain killing Abel, the wickedness before the flood, the whole world judged in Noah’s day. God judged sin long before the law of Moses. So the problem’s not Israel’s law. The problem is humanity itself, going back to Adam.

When Paul says here in Romans 5:13 that “Sin is not imputed where there is no law.” That doesn’t mean God ignored sin. The flood proves He didn’t. It means man didn’t fully recognize his sin. The law shows sin clearly, but it isn’t the only way to know sin.

In Romans 2, Paul says Gentiles without the law still perish without the law because they have a conscience. God wrote the work of the law in their hearts. Adam hid from God because he knew he sinned. People know right and wrong inside.

So the issue isn’t the law. It’s a spiritual problem.

In Romans 5:14, still in this parenthesis. Paul says,

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Adam sinned by breaking a direct command: “Don’t eat from the tree.” No one else had that command. Yet they still died. Why? Because they were sinners by nature, spiritually dead children, descendants of Adam.

Adam’s sin was unique. He was sinless when he sinned. You and I are sinners who sin—that’s expected of fallen people, but Adam didn’t have a sinful nature to start with. He chose to disobey God. We never sinned the way Adam sinned, yet we still die because we inherited his corrupted life.

The life we receive from Adam is a life that ends in death, both physical and spiritual.

God gave man the ability to produce life, but after Adam sinned, the life he passed on was broken meaning every person born eventually dies.

But the life that comes from Christ is eternal.

1 Corinthians 15:45 says this,

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Christ) was made a quickening spirit.

Christ is a quickening or life giving spirit.

He makes dead spirits alive. In Adam we’re all spiritually dead, and only Christ can give resurrection life, eternal life.

Adam was made alive, but he brought sin and death into the world.

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” according to Ezekiel 18:4 and 18:20 Christ, the last Adam, is a quickening Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:1-2 says,

FOR we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

This speaks of our present mortal body as our earthly house, this tabernacle or tent. A tent’s not a permanent dwelling. It’s a portable one for pilgrims and travellers.

Christians look forward to death—not because we hate life, but because we know that when this earthly body dies, we have “a house, a body, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

We groan in these weak bodies. Life in the flesh is burdensome, corrupted, falling apart.

But Paul says we’re not wishing to be “unclothed” or not wishing for no life at all. Instead we’re longing to be clothed with better life, eternal life, like trading tattered clothes for a perfect new suit. That shows the difference between Adam and Christ.

In Adam something’s missing. Communion with God, access to eternal life. Adam lost that, and every child born after him’s missing it too. In Christ we regain what Adam lost and immortality is brought to light through the gospel.

So, in Romans 5:14, Paul says death reigned even over those who “had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.”

Adam sinned by breaking a direct command. No one else had that command. Yet all still died because all inherited Adam’s fallen condition. Then Paul says Adam “is the figure of him that was to come.” Adam is a type—a picture—of Christ.

The Bible uses figures and shadows, but it also defines them so we don’t invent our own.

Jeremiah 18:6 for example says this,

O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD . Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

God says Israel is the clay and He is the potter. That figure is about Israel, not the church.

In Isaiah 5:7 we read,

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: …

The vineyard is “the house of Israel.”

In Hebrews 9:24, the earthly temple is a “figure of the true” in heaven.

In Hebrews 10:1, the law is a “shadow of good things to come,” and the sacrifices are shadows of Christ.

Jesus Himself used this pattern in Matthew 12:40: “As Jonah was… so shall the Son of Man be”.

Stephen used it too in Acts 7, showing how Israel rejected Joseph just like they rejected Christ.

So when Paul says Adam is a figure of Christ, he means Adam’s one act affected all humanity, and Christ’s one act also affects all humanity.

Adam came before Israel, before the law, before sin entered. Yet he’s still a picture of Christ—the One who would undo what Adam did and bring life where Adam brought death.

Adam being a figure of Christ goes far beyond the shadows in the law. Colossians 2:17 says that meats, drinks, holy days, and Sabbaths are only shadows, but the body is Christ.

Adam’s figure is older and greater than all those patterns. Hebrews talks about shadows in the law, but Adam’s picture reaches back before Israel, before Moses and before the law itself.

In Romans 5:18, Paul sums up his point,

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

By one man, Adam, all became sinners. By one Man, Jesus Christ, all who believe become righteous and live. Paul shows the parallel: by Adam came sin and death; by Christ comes righteousness and life.

Adam and Christ share many similarities as figures.

Both were men.

Both had God as their Father.

Both were made without sin.

Both had bodies of flesh and blood.

Both were named by God and bore God’s image.

Both could have lived forever.

Both were offered dominion over the world.

Both were given a command. Both spoke with God in a garden. Both were under a law.

Both faced a choice that affected all humanity.

Both were cursed.

Both bore thorns.

Both died because of sin.

Both died by a tree.

Both brought imputation on all.

Both brought something that would reign over the world.

And both obtained something no one else could.

Paul uses Adam, not Israel or Moses, to explain our position in Christ.

If we understand the Adam problem, we understand why Christ had to come—and how His one act fixes everything Adam broke.

That’s what Paul is revealing in Romans 5.

Before we finish, I urge you to have a listen to the article we’ve just broadcast called “Was Jesus God”.

If that’s not true the Bible is useless and there’s no Christianity, no salvation from sin and no hope other than this world and this life.

However, many people, even many claiming to be Christians, don’t believe that Jesus was God.

This article will hopefully help to answer the question, “Was Jesus God”?

Romans 5:9-11 – We Have “Much More”

In this episode we’re in Romans 5:9-11.

This passage sits in the middle of this chapter in Romans where Paul’s pouring out all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ after being justified by faith which we saw in Romans 5:1.

He’s talking to saved people, people who believed the gospel explained in Romans chapters 3–4, where we learn that justification comes by faith, not by works. We see in this passage our salvation from God’s wrath which will come upon this unbelieving world.

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Romans 5:5-8 – Transcript

In Romans 5 Paul shows that justification is only the beginning. He keeps saying “much more”, as in verses 9 and 10, and “not only so” in verse 11 and he repeats it again and again such as in verses 15, 17 and 20.

He’s letting us know that in Christ we don’t just get a little, we get much more than we ever thought.

All this comes from our position in Christ, not from any covenant, not from our obedience, and not from anything we earned. These blessings belong to us because of the grace given through Christ according to the mystery revealed to Paul.

In the first verses of Romans 5 Paul lists what we already have. In Romans 5:1–2 we have peace with God. We may not feel peaceful in life, but with God we have peace, not because of what we feel, but because we’re justified by faith.

Then he says we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. Not just access to God, we stand in grace. God didn’t just open the door; He put us right inside.

Then he says we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not because we did well, but because we’re justified by faith.

In verses 3–8 he adds more: we glory in tribulations, which sounds strange because tribulations and troubles don’t feel very glorious, but none the less it’s a blessing we already have from walking by faith.

Then he talks about the love of God shed abroad in our hearts in verse 5. Paul explains that love in verses 6–8: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.

If we want to know God’s love, we look at the cross. Rejecting the cross is rejecting God’s love; receiving Christ is receiving God’s love.

We also have the Holy Ghost in verse 5.

The Spirit shows us God’s love, seals us as Ephesians 1:13 states, and applies Christ’s work to us. He will not leave us.

Then in verse 9 (Romans 5:9) Paul starts the “much more” section. He writes,

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

This is the first time since Romans chapter 1 that Paul mentions salvation, and he shows that one of our greatest blessings is that we’re saved from God’s wrath, wrath that’s the worst thing man can image.

He continues on in Romans 5:10-11 saying,

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

We’re saved by His life. Christ’s life is eternal life, so we not only have life and peace now, but eternal life and peace.

Then in verse 11 he says we can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom now we’ve received the atonement, and that “now” matters.

We have it already.

All these blessings—peace, access, standing in grace, hope of glory, glorying in tribulation, the love of God, the Holy Ghost, salvation from wrath, eternal life, joy in the Lord, and the atonement—all come in the package called sanctification.

Sanctification doesn’t mean us trying to please God to stay saved, like many people preach and teach, It means God set us apart in Christ. Our new standing in Christ is why we have all these things. Without being in Christ, we’d have none of them.

So when Paul says in Romans 5:9, “much more then, being now justified,” he’s talking to believers. Everything that follows belongs to those who’re justified by faith.

Paul’s not talking about the whole human race here, including unbelievers when he says “being now justified”.

He means it’s something we have right now, a present possession from our position in Christ, those who have believed and trust the gospel.

Even having those blessings from God now is a blessing in itself.

Before this dispensation of grace that we live in today, God mostly gave promises of blessings, future blessings such as to Abraham and to Israel. Even Jesus promised the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in Paradise. Future, even if it was very near future.

Those were promises, not present possessions.

We also have future promises in Christ, but when Paul says now, he means blessings that we already have this moment even while we’re still in sinful flesh.

In Romans 5:9–11 Paul keeps using this timing. In verse 9 he says, “being now justified”. In verse 10 it’s “being reconciled”. In verse 11 it’s “we have now received the atonement”.

Each one is something we already have.

We’re “now justified by His blood”.

Earlier in Romans 5:1 he said we’re justified by faith. Now he explains what that faith is, faith in the blood of Christ as we already saw in Romans 3:25.

Christ shed His blood long before we believed, but our faith rests in that blood. Romans 4:25 says He was delivered for our offences. Colossians 1:14 says we have redemption through His blood. The blood of Christ is essential for justification.

This also shows that justification always requires a work.

James 2:24 says faith without works is dead but the difference is James was talking about a man’s own works and in a different dispensation, but Paul’s talking about Christ’s work now, right now. His shed blood is the work that justifies us.

Then Paul says, “much more… we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

As we said, this’s the first time since Romans 1:16 that Paul uses the word “saved.” Before this, Paul proved we were sinners who needed salvation. Then he showed justification by faith in Christ’s blood. Now he shows the result: which is “being justified, we shall be saved from wrath”.

Abraham was justified by faith, but Scripture never says he was saved from God’s wrath the way Paul teaches here.

Salvation from wrath is something God did not reveal until Paul. In past ages, salvation was future and only if they obeyed, endured, and stayed faithful. But now, because of Christ finished the work, we have salvation, and we shall be saved from wrath.

Why does Paul say “shall be saved”?

Because wrath is something future. Our sins are forgiven now. We’re justified now, but wrath is something God’ll pour out later.

Wrath is always the consequence of sin, but God often waits before pouring it out. Romans 1:18 says the wrath of God is revealed, not poured out. It’s known. It’s proven to be deserved, but it’s not happening yet.

No matter how bad we might think this world is today, or at any point in its history for that matter, it doesn’t hold a candle to the terror of God’s coming wrath.

By the time we reach Romans 5, Paul’s already shown our guilt, then our justification, then our joy in Christ. Now he explains that when God finally pours out wrath, it will not fall on you and me, those who are now justified by faith in Chris’s blood. That is part of our salvation and shows something simple but important: in this dispensation of grace, God is not pouring out wrath. He’s offering grace.

Romans 5:1 says we have peace with God. Verse 9 says we shall be saved from wrath. By this we know God’s not pouring out judgment today.

The Bible shows times past when God was pouring out wrath, but He’s not right now.

That’s why Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1:10,

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Jesus hasn’t come yet, so that wrath is still future. We’re not saved out of this present evil world yet—we’re still living in it—but we are saved, in Christ, from that wrath still to come.

So when Paul talks about salvation from wrath, he’s teaching two things:

God is dispensing grace, not judgment, right now.
Wrath is still coming in the future.

Some think that because Paul teaches grace, God’s dropped the whole wrath idea, as if He’s finished being angry forever. But that’s not true. Romans 1:18 says the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

Romans 2:5 says people with hard hearts are “treasuring up wrath” for the day of wrath. Future! Wrath hasn’t been poured out yet, but it’s building up.

People ask, “If God’s loving, why doesn’t He stop evil? They either forget or don’t consider that God’s got a purpose for this earth and for mankind. He isn’t a robot. There’s a time for His love to be shown, and a time for His wrath to be shown. Right now He’s showing His love and the cross is the proof of that. He’s still saving people not pouring out wrath yet.

This is the heart of studying the bible rightly dividing the dispensations or the ages.

God does different things at different times. Right now its grace. But wrath is still coming against all ungodliness (Romans 2:5).

Paul warns the Colossians and the Ephesians the same way.

Colossians 3:6 says,

For which things’ sake (that’s the things he explained in the previous verse) the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Ephesians 5:6 says the same.

That doesn’t mean saved people will face wrath.

Romans 5:9 says we “shall be saved from wrath.” Paul’s simply saying: if you weren’t saved by grace, these sins would bring wrath on you. So don’t act like sin’s OK.

Wrath is also taught in prophecy.

In Matthew 3:7, John the Baptist warns about “the wrath to come.” Has that wrath come yet? No!

John 3:36 says the unbeliever has the wrath of God abiding on him. Revelation 14:10 shows the full, terrifying wrath of God poured out without mixture. God’s wrath is real, and it is fearsome.

God’s first goal isn’t to get man to love Him.

He wants all men saved.

1 Timothy 2:4 says,

Who (that’s God) will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

When we come into the knowledge of the truth then we love Him because we see His love in Him dying for us while we were His enemy and holding back wrath, offering salvation to those who don’t deserve it. And we see, through Romans here, just what He’s given us when we trust in that completed work on the cross.

Wrath also appears under Israel’s covenants.

Hebrews 3 reminds Israel how God swore in His wrath that the unbelieving generation would not enter His rest. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness. Hebrews warns them the same could happen again—unbelief brings wrath.

Hebrews explains a lot about the atonement and the reconciling work Christ did. But Hebrews also warns New Covenant Israel that if they sin wilfully, there’s no more sacrifice for sins. That’s Hebrews 10:26.

All this shows one thing:

The dispensation of grace does not cancel the wrath of God.

It only means wrath is delayed while God offers salvation through Christ’s atonement.

Paul says we have the atonement now, but Hebrews says Israel, if they turn away, faces a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. That’s Hebrews 10:27. That’s wrath.

Under Moses’ law they died without mercy, and Hebrews says the punishment is sorer, or worse, for those who tread underfoot the Son of God after receiving the truth.

Hebrews 12:18-22 shows Israel not coming to Mount Sinai with thunder and fire, but coming to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. That’s wonderful but it’s only if they endure to the end.

If they don’t, they lose it. There’s no more atonement.

They’re receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, but that kingdom’s not here yet.

Hebrews 12:28-29 says this,

Wherefore we (Israel) receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

But Romans 5 says something far better for us. Much more, being justified by faith, we are saved from wrath.

That’s a blessing national Israel does not have under the New Covenant.

James 4:6 says God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. But today God gives grace through faith, not because we’re humble. Believers can still be proud, but we’re not under wrath.

Peter’s epistles also show judgment falling on Israel’s remnant.

1 Peter 4:17 says judgment must begin at the house of God.

That’s not the Body of Christ despite the modern mis association that has the local church building called the “house of God”.

Peter says judgment “is come,” but Paul says we’re saved from wrath. Different programs.

2 Peter 3:5–7 reminds Israel of the flood—God’s judgment—and says the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire in the day of judgment. Wrath will come.

Scripture is clear: even after Jesus came and went back to heaven, wrath is still future.

Paul preaches us, the Body of Christ today, that salvation from wrath is by grace through faith, not by works.

So, Romans 5:9 says,

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Everything we have is through Christ. Without Him we have nothing.

How do we get into Christ? By trusting His finished work. Then God places us in Him.

Romans 5:1 said justification gives us peace with God. Peace means no wrath.

Romans 5:10-11 explains it.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. If we weren’t reconciled we’d still be enemies just as all today who’re not reconciled are God’s enemies.

If God reconciled us when we were sinners and ungodly enemies as Romans 5:8; and Romans 4:5 says He did, then, as verse 10 says, much more, now that we’re reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Wrath is what God pours out on His enemies. Sin makes a person God’s enemy. But Christ died for us while we were enemies, and now we’re reconciled.

So the same reason we have peace and the hope of glory, is the same reason we’re saved from wrath and saved by His life.

Romans 5:11 says we have now received the atonement.

The cross is the picture of God’s love. Romans 5:8 showed that love; Romans 5:11 says we possess it now. Paul’s showing the riches of God’s grace toward us—peace, reconciliation, atonement, salvation from wrath, and life in Christ.

God is righteous and holy, full of peace, love, and joy. When we live contrary to that, we stand as enemies of all that’s good. Yet, incredibly, God still wants to save His enemies.

That’s why He holds back judgment. Humans don’t love their enemies like that—we want to destroy them. But God never acts rashly. When His wrath finally comes, it’ll be righteous.

Many people think and say, “I’m a good person.” But Romans 2–3 shows we’re all sinners. We all deserve wrath.

Titus 3:3–5 says we were foolish and disobedient, but the kindness and love of God appeared. We didn’t fix ourselves. We didn’t turn over a new leaf. That’s impossible.

God showed His love at the cross, so we could be justified by faith.

Now, in Romans 5:11, Paul then brings in a new word: reconciled. Reconciliation means restoring a broken relationship. Sin caused a break between us and God.

God didn’t sin, but because of our sin there was separation. Yet God Himself dealt with the problem at the cross. Christ did everything needed. Our part is simply to trust what He did.

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 says if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things become new and God has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. How? Paul explains: God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses. That’s the cross.

Nobody standing there on that day understood it. The soldiers didn’t know. The disciples ran away. But God was working His purpose—making atonement.

When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them,” He wasn’t saying their actions were right. He was saying He would not count their sins against them because He went to the cross willingly.

That’s why the idea that God rejected Israel for killing the Messiah is wrong. He purposed to die. He died to reconcile the world. Look at Matthew 26:53-54 at Jesus’s arrest.

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Jesus could so easily have walked away from the whole terrible experience.

Many preachers today load people with guilt over the cross—talking about the nails, the thorns, the blood, as if we personally killed Him. But the Bible says He died for our sins, not because you and I physically nailed Him there against His will but because it was His will.

The greatest sin is not the crucifixion itself—it’s the sin in every human heart. Christ died for all of it.

We preach the glory of the cross, the success of God’s incredible plan, not guilt. If we’re not preaching the cross as the place where we’re crucified with Him and receive the results of His death by grace, we’re not preaching it right.

2 Corinthians 5:19–21 says God has given us the word of reconciliation. We’re ambassadors for Christ, begging people, “Be ye reconciled to God.” Christ was made sin for us, though He knew no sin, so we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He died an innocent death—the Son of God, sinless, perfect, God manifest in the flesh.

The atonement is finished. The breach is healed on God’s side. But it’s not applied to us until we personally are reconciled to God by faith in the gospel. The Holy Spirit applies that salvation the moment we believe.

Romans 5:10 says we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Paul’s not trying to make us feel guilty as if we personally killed God’s Sonas we’ve said. He’s showing that the very thing we’d think would cause the biggest fight between God and man—the death of His Son—is actually what heals the break between us and God.

If God reconciled us when we were His enemies, then much more, now that we’re at peace with Him, we shall be saved by His life.

Christ didn’t stay dead.

If He had, there’d be no proof He was the Son of God. His death paid for sins. That’s the atonement, but His resurrection gives us all the blessings of new life.

If we’re in Christ, we get everything that belongs to Him: His death, His resurrection, His life, His blessings.

Paul later explains that we’re either in Adam or in Christ. If we’re in Christ, we get it all and we’ll see that explained in the next episode.

The death of Christ was the hard work. He humbled Himself, took on flesh, suffered, obeyed, and died as we see in Philippians 2.

Rising from the dead is impossible for us, but not for God.

In John 17 Jesus prayed, “Glorify me,” looking toward the resurrection. His death was suffering; His resurrection is glory. That’s why we preach the glory of the cross, because Jesus is not still dead.

Paul says, “Being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Reconciliation means peace with God. Salvation from wrath is a great blessing, but having Christ’s life, eternal life, is grace upon grace. Not only does God spare us from what we deserve, He gives us what we never deserved—Christ’s own life.

Paul talks about this in Philippians 3:10–11. Facing death, he says he wants to know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.

The hard part for us is this life and death we face now. The glory comes later. Paul wanted to “attain unto the resurrection,” meaning he wanted to experience the glory Christ now has.

How do we know we’ll get that glory?

Because we’re justified by faith, at peace with God, reconciled by Christ’s death.

If God reconciled us when we were His enemy, why wouldn’t He give us His life now that we belong to Him?

2 Timothy 2:8 says,

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my (Paul’s) gospel:

The resurrection was prophesied, but Paul explains why Christ rose—to give you and me eternal riches in glory. Christ is in glory now.

Colossians 3:2–4 says this,

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Because He lives, you and I can have guaranteed glory.

The wonderful Ephesians 2:5–7 says when we were dead in sins, God quickened us or gave us life from the dead, with Christ, raised us up, and seated us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We’re still on earth, but our position is already with Him. In the ages to come, God will show the exceeding riches of His grace toward us through Christ.

Romans 5:10 says we’re saved by His life and since His life is eternal, our life is eternal.

Romans 5:21 says grace now reigns “unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” while Romans 6:23 says the gift of God is eternal life through Christ. That’s the life we have because we’re justified and reconciled.

In Romans 8 Paul asks, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

If God gave His Son to die for us when we were His enemy, then much more, now that we’re reconciled, He will “freely give us all things”. That’s Romans 8:32.

Nobody can lay a charge against us, because God‘s the one who justifies. Nobody can condemn us, because Christ died and rose again and now intercedes for us. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. The gospel gives us everything.

Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” Earthly joys—food, rest, comfort—are all temporary. But joy in the Lord never runs out. The more we set our mind on what Christ has done, the less miserable we are in this life, even in tribulation.

Just a few chapters earlier, Romans 3 showed us nothing but guilt—every mouth stopped, all the world guilty. But now Paul speaks of joy, not guilt. Romans 8:15 says God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the Spirit of adoption. We’re not under the bondage of the law anymore. We’re a son, freely given all things. That’s why we can joy in God.

Paul says in Romans 5:11 we’ve now received the atonement, Christ’s work on the cross, the full payment for sins. Christ died once, long before Paul wrote Romans. But we receive the atonement the moment we believe the gospel.

The Holy Spirit seals us, applies the cross to us, and gives us forgiveness, justification, reconciliation, and every blessing in Christ. It’s not something we wait for in the future. It’s a present possession.

So Romans 5 teaches that:

We’re reconciled by Christ’s death.
We’re saved by His life.
We have eternal life now.
We joy in God now.
We have the atonement now.
And our future glory is guaranteed because He lives.

Israel’s Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23:26-32 was a holy day with deep meaning. God told Moses that on the tenth day of the seventh month Israel must “afflict your souls” and bring an offering. All year long the priests made daily sacrifices, but on this one day the high priest entered the Holy of Holies with the blood of the goat and made atonement for the whole nation.

Only Israel’s priests could do this. Gentiles could receive blessing through Israel, but they could not make atonement. All of this pointed to Christ, the true High Priest and final atonement.

The Day of Atonement pictured Christ’s cross. The blood was shed, but the full national forgiveness for the nation of Israel won’t be applied until the kingdom comes. The blood’s ready, but the kingdom’s not here yet.

That’s why Jews on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, still “afflict their souls.”

They mourn their sins, because according to the law, if they don’t humble themselves, they’re “cut off” in Leviticus 23:29. It’s not a day of joy until after the sacrifice is made.

Some churches treat the Lord’s Supper like this, sombre, guilty and heavy, like we must feel pain before God forgives us. But that’s not what Paul teaches.

Under the law, affliction came before atonement, but in Romans 5:11 Paul says we now have the atonement, so we joy in God. The affliction is over. The sacrifice is finished. There is no more “I must confess and feel guilty so God will forgive me.” That denies the power of Christ’s blood.

Paul says nothing in Romans 5 about water, rituals, or ceremonies. All these blessings—peace, justification, reconciliation, salvation from wrath—come by faith, not by touching water or repeating confessions.

Israel still waits for their national atonement. Peter preached in Acts 3:19 that Israel’s sins “shall be blotted out” when Christ returns and brings the “times of refreshing.” When He comes back, He’ll bring the atonement to the whole nation. But only those who “afflict their souls” in repentance will enter that kingdom.

If Israel refuses to humble themselves, they’ll not receive that promised atonement.

But that’s not our hope, those in the Body of Christ. We’re not looking for an earthly kingdom. Christ already bore our affliction. Our atonement is now, not future.

Peter speaks of salvation “ready to be revealed in the last time” in 1 Peter 1:5, but Paul says in Romans 5 that we’re already saved from wrath, already saved by His life, and already have received the atonement.

Our forgiveness is not waiting on a holy day. It’s not waiting on a kingdom. It is not waiting on our sorrow. It’s finished at the cross and applied the moment we believe.

Peter talks about salvation as future, not present.

In 1 Peter 1:5 he says it will be “revealed in the last time.”

In verse 7 he says their faith is tried with fire so it might be found to praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

In verse 9 he says they receive quote, “the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

In verse 13 he tells them to quote “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

So Peter keeps pointing to Christ’s return, His second coming, for them to get salvation and grace in full.

Paul’s different.

He says we have salvation now. We glory in the cross (Galatians 6:14).

In 1 Corinthians 1:18 the King James says the preaching of the cross is to “us which are saved” the power of God.

Some newer Bibles say “being saved,” like it’s a process. That fits Peter, Hebrews, and James, but not Paul’s message of a present possession. Paul alone talks about us already being saved, already having peace with God, and already having the atonement.

So when trouble comes, we don’t have to ask, “Is God punishing me? Do I need to beg forgiveness again?” No, we already have the atonement. Romans 6 will deal with sin and our daily walk here on this earth, but Romans 5 first settles our standing with God and our grace, peace, joy, hope.

Now, there’s a translation issue in Romans 5:11 where it says “we have now received the atonement.”

Some say “atonement” is wrong and should be “reconciliation,” because the Greek word is usually translated that way.

However “Atonement” is not an error. It fits the context perfectly.

In English, “atonement” includes the idea of reconciliation, and the Bible itself uses words in more than one sense depending on context. We don’t need to know Greek to see that.

Using different words actually helps us learn. When Paul says justified by faith and then justified by His blood, we learn something.

When Romans 5:10 says reconciliation and then verse 11 says atonement, we learn that the two are connected. Atonement is the sacrificial payment for sins that results in reconciliation. If atonement is made, reconciliation is provided.

The King James translators stated in their preface that they purposely used different English words for the same Greek word to help the reader understand more.

That’s one reason we can trust the King James because it ties the Old Testament and New Testament together.

We’ve included a screenshot of one of these statements from the 1611 KJV Bible below.

Romans 5:11 says we have now received the atonement but Israel in the Old Testament received atonement through sacrifices. Paul’s showing the cross is the finished sacrifice, and we receive its benefits now by faith.

Atonement also fits the context of joy.

In the Old Testament, Israel afflicted their souls before the atonement, then rejoiced afterward. Paul says we “joy in God… now receiving the atonement.” The affliction’s over, the sacrifice is done and we stand in joy.

Atonement also helps to understand God’s different dispensations.

National Israel has the promise of atonement under the New Covenant, but it’s not applied to them yet. Romans 11:25–27 says Israel will be saved in the future when the Deliverer comes and “takes away their sins.” That’s atonement applied at Christ’s return, His second coming. Christ already made the atonement, but He hasn’t returned yet to apply it to Israel nationally.

But for us, under the revelation of the mystery in the dispensation of Grace, in the Body of Christ today which includes individual Jews and Gentiles, the atonement is finished and applied now.

We already have forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, and joy through Christ.

Romans 5:5-8 – God’s Love Revealed

In this episode we’re in Romans 5:5-8 which shows us the love of God and what many people believe is the greatest book and the greatest chapter in the bible and that’s true especially for us today who’re in the Body of Christ living in this dispensation of grace.

“Speed Slider”

Romans 5:5-8 – Transcript

Well we’re still in what many people believe is the greatest book and the greatest chapter in the bible and that’s true especially for us today who’re in the Body of Christ living in this dispensation of grace.

And true to the apostle Paul’s style we have a long letter that covers many arguments that are completely integrated with all the other arguments he makes both before and after to current one we’re reading. So to really get the gist of what God’s teaching us through the Holy Spirit, through Paul we really need to take the whole chapter as one subject with many differing, but integrated points.

We saw last episode from Romans 5:3-5 that when a believer walks by faith, knowing the gifts, the riches of grace, that we have in Christ, that tribulation affects us differently.

Tribulation produces patience and patience produces experience and experience produces hope.

But if we don’t understand what Christ has done for us, tribulation only brings frustration, pain and suffering either mentally or physically, or both.

We can trust in the gospel and be saved yet still live a life of frustration and pain if we don’t know what we have in Christ and that knowledge comes from one source only, God’s Word, the Bible.

When we fully understand these verses in Romans, and many of Paul’s other writings concerning tribulation, we come to realise that for a person to be able to not only have peace and hope in tribulations but to glory in them is probably the single most wonderful and amazing gift we have in Christ.

Imagine the heartbreak of losing a loved one, imagine the anxiety of a terminal illness diagnosis or the pain of broken body parts. Imagine being able to suffer in them while at the same time having a hope and a peace that surpasses understanding; and only Jesus Christ can bring that to a human spirit.

Worldly wealth and riches, fun and amusement or fame cannot produce that state. The world’s full of heartbroken, fearful and hurting people who have material wealth.

Romans 5 lists the blessings God gives the believer by grace once we’re justified by faith.

In Romans 5:5 where we finished last time we read,

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

This is the first time Paul mentions the love of God in Romans, and by the time we reach Romans 8 we’ll learn that nothing can separate us from that love.

Many Christians think certain things can cut them off from God’s love, but Paul says nothing can.

God’s love, according to Romans 5:5, is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

One of those great blessings we receive when we’re justified is the Holy Ghost.

Romans 5:5 is also the first mention of the Holy Ghost in Romans. Ephesians 1:13 explains when we received Him,

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

We heard the gospel, we believed, and then we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

He’s the “earnest” of our inheritance as 2 Corinthians 1:22 and Ephesians 1:14 says.

The earnest is a pledge or a guarantee that the entire inheritance will follow.

The Holy Spirit puts us into the body of Christ says 1 Corinthians 12:13. He makes us God’s temple says 1 Corinthians 3:16. All of this happened the moment we believed.

So how does the Holy Ghost shed abroad the love of God in our hearts? Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2:10–13.

The Spirit reveals the things God has prepared for us. He knows the deep things of God. He teaches us “the things that are freely given to us of God” which are the very things Romans 5 is describing. The Spirit revealed these truths to Paul, Paul wrote them down, and now we learn them from that writing that we know as Scripture, which the Holy Ghost inspired.

The Holy Ghost does not teach us through mystical feelings or through traditions of man, or rituals. He teaches through the written Word that He gave. That’s how we know the love of God, the hope of glory, and the certainty of our salvation.

Romans 8:9 says if we’re saved, the Spirit of God dwells in us.

Romans 15:16 says the Holy Ghost is the one who sets us apart. That’s our sanctification, setting apart.

Christ died for our sins, and the Spirit applies that work on the cross to us. The Godhead, The Father, the Son, and the Spirit work together so we can stand in God’s love and know it’s sure.

Romans 15:16 says Paul was made a minister to the Gentiles so their offering “might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.” So who puts Gentiles in a position acceptable to God? The Holy Ghost and He is God.

Ephesians 2:18 says both Jew and Gentile now have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Christ died and made the atonement, but the Spirit applies it, putting us into the one body. This’s why the fuller knowledge of Christ dying for all is not applied to anyone until the Holy Ghost puts it on us and we receive the Him when we believe the gospel. That’s Ephesians 1:13.

People often think that the Spirit comes before belief, but Scripture says belief comes first, then the Spirit regenerates us and places us in Christ.

Ephesians 3:3–5 shows the mystery that was revealed to Paul was revealed by the Spirit. Jesus appeared to Paul, yes, but the revelation itself came by the Holy Ghost.

In Acts, the Spirit is the one moving everything—sending Paul, directing Peter, giving miracles, and shifting God’s work from Israel to the body of Christ. The early church doctrine didn’t come from men thinking hard; it came from the Holy Ghost revealing truth.

We often forget the Holy Spirit, but He’s not a force, He’s a person of the Godhead.

Jesus said the Spirit would speak of Him.

So, again Romans 5:5 says,

…the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Paul’s been showing how a believer, walking by faith, can go from tribulation → patience → experience → hope. But this only happens if we understand what Christ has done for us.

If we don’t know the gospel truth, tribulation doesn’t produce patience—it produces frustration.

But when we walk by faith, tribulation works patience, patience works experience, and experience strengthens your hope. Why? Because it’s that faith which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) and that comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God (Romans 10:17). That’s why it’s impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:15).

So how does the Holy Ghost “shed the love of God abroad in our hearts” and what does that actually mean?

Strongs concordance shows to shed abroad means to pour out or to gush out while Thayer’s adds “to bestow or distribute largely”.

So how this happens is by God, through the Holy Spirit, revealing to us the things God’s prepared for us. He knows the deep things of God, and He teaches us the things freely given to us which is exactly what Romans 5 is describes. When we see and understand the riches of God’s grace freely given to us, hope comes and that hope doesn’t disappoint and through all this, through all that we are now in Christ and at the very bottom of it all is that the whole picture displays God’s love to us.

If we were to hope for something but then later find that we were never going to get it, our hope would be put to shame or destroyed. But the hope of our salvation will never be put to shame.

How can we be so sure?

Because the love of God, His love, has been poured out in our hearts.

The Holy Spirit, which was given to us the moment we believed, as we’ve said, floods our hearts with these expressions of God’s eternal love that He clearly shows us in these verses we’re in now, and by these we’re assured that He will see us safely home to heaven and glory.

After we receive the Spirit and we begin to understand just what we have in Christ, we begin to see and know that God loves us and we begin to understand the magnitude of that love.

This isn’t a vague, mystical sort of emotional feeling like “Somebody up there” loves me. Feelings mean absolutely nothing.

Faith’s not built on feelings, culture, or personal opinions. It’s built on the unchanging, authoritative Word of God. When Scripture speaks, we don’t edit it, soften it, or explain it away, we believe it.

Only what God said has any meaning and when we believe His word and learn about these gifts we’ve been given we can’t help but get a deep conviction that the real and ever present God really loves me as an individual.

Paul explains this in 1 Corinthians 2:10–13. The Spirit revealed these truths to Paul, Paul wrote them down, and now we learn them from Scripture, which of course, the Holy Ghost inspired. That’s how the Spirit teaches us today by the written Word that He gave and that we believe and accept by Faith, knowing what God said and trusting it. People don’t lack faith because they can’t understand, but because they won’t accept what God said.

So, the love of God, then, is something the Holy Ghost reveals through Scripture. Romans 5 says this love is the reason our hope quote “maketh not ashamed.” Our hope is sure because God’s love is sure.

We saw last episode that 2 Timothy 1:12 says,

For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

The love of God is His grace. His love shown in Christ dying for sinners. Romans 3 showed God’s love in Christ’s blood. Romans 4 showed it’s received by faith, not works. Romans 5 shows the riches that love gives us now. Romans 8 will show that nothing can separate us from it.

So when Romans 5:5 says the Holy Ghost sheds the love of God in our hearts, it means the Spirit teaches us, through Scripture, the truth of God’s love and the certainty of our hope through the riches freely given to us in Christ.

Romans 15:16 says it’s the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us or sets us apart for God’s purpose. Christ died for our sins, and the Holy Ghost applies that work to us. The Godhead is one, but the Spirit has a real job in our salvation. He makes us acceptable to God.

Ephesians 2:18 says,

For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

The “we” here in the context is both saved Jew and Gentile who, are one new man, in one body, The Body of Christ, and now having access to the Father by one Spirit.

That access, according to Thayer’s concordance, means relationship with God whereby we’re acceptable to him and have assurance that He’s favourably disposed towards us.

Christ made the atonement, that was critical for this to happen, but the Spirit places us into that one body.

That’s why Christ’s death for all men is not applied to anyone until they believe the gospel. When we believe, then the Holy Ghost seals us, permanently, and regenerates us, and puts us into Christ.

Scripture clearly shows belief comes first, then the Spirit’s work.

Ephesians 3:3–6 says the mystery was revealed to Paul “by the Spirit.”

The Holy Ghost revealed the new dispensation, the body of Christ, and the gospel of grace.

We often forget the Holy Ghost or sort of push Him into the background, but He is God.

So, Romans 5:6 begins to explain the love of God. Verse 5 said the Holy Ghost sheds God’s love abroad in our hearts. Verses 6–8 define that love. Let’s read,

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

That’s the love of God—the cross.

Paul reminds us who we were. Romans 3 showed we were sinners with no strength to save ourselves, with no righteousness, no ability, no strength to remove our own sins and to fix ourselves.

But Christ died for us when we were ungodly, sinners.

That’s the love of God. Our hope of glory doesn’t depend on our strength. Our salvation doesn’t depend on how many good works we undertake or how many candles we light or the quantity or quality of the prayers we offer. God’s love was shown at the cross, not in anything our ability is capable of.

This is the beginning of Paul’s argument in Romans chapters 5–8, which, as we’ve said, are in the context of the entire book of Romans so far. That sort of argument within the argument, if you like, is that nothing can separate us from the love of God, because it never depended on us in the first place. It depended on Christ’s finished work and the Holy Ghost applying it to us when we believed.

When we had nothing to offer, Christ died for us.

Paul says Christ died “in due time.”

That means He died at the exact time God appointed. God didn’t send Christ right after Adam fell because humanity needed to learn the knowledge of sin. God had to set up Israel, give the law, show righteousness, and prove that even with God’s help, man cannot make himself righteous. The Old Testament shows this over and over and Romans 3:10 reinforces it by saying, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

This “in due time” phrase shows us the awesome and magnificent wisdom of God and his progressive revelation, the unfolding of His plan absolutely and perfectly executed to the minutest detail over thousands of years.

It was prophesied by the Holy Spirit, speaking through the prophets for centuries.

Christ’s birth, His life, His death were all written about down to the tiniest detail long before He came. No other life in history was foretold like that. His birth, death, burial and resurrection was not some random act. It was at the exact time God said it would be as Galatians 4:4 records,

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

This also very obviously means that in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus had not died yet. We can’t read those books as if the cross had already happened.

There was no preaching of forgiveness through the cross yet, because the cross hadn’t happened.

Jesus preached the law to Israel which we can plainly see throughout the 4 Gospels.

When the rich young ruler asked about eternal life in Matthew 19:16-30, Jesus pointed him to the law, not the cross, because the gospel of grace was still hidden at this stage.

Titus 1:3 says God “manifested His word through preaching” in due times. 1 Timothy 2:5–6 says,

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Christ died at the right time, and the revelation of what that death accomplished was also given at the right time.

Christ died before Paul ever received the revelation of the mystery. At Pentecost, the Holy Ghost revealed prophecy about Israel’s kingdom, not the meaning of the cross.

It was later, through Paul, that the Holy Ghost first revealed what Christ accomplished by His death. That means there was a short period after the cross when even the apostles didn’t yet know the gospel of grace.

1 Corinthians 2:7–8 reads,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Christ couldn’t reveal the mystery before the cross, or the cross wouldn’t have happened which would have been the greatest tragedy for mankind, automatically condemning every person who ever lived to eternal death with no hope of redemption.

Only after His death did the Holy Ghost reveal to Paul what God was doing in Christ.

This is the same truth Paul teaches in in the wonderful passage of 2 Corinthians 5:18–21.

Romans and Corinthians are not different messages—they preach the same gospel of Christ’s finished work.

So Romans 5:6 reminds us: Christ died for us when we had no strength, when we were yet sinners.

His death was planned, prophesied, and revealed in due time. And the love of God shown at the cross doesn’t depend on our strength, our works, or our performance. It depends entirely on Christ.

Paul’s explaining what was really happening at the cross. When people were nailing Jesus to that instrument of torture and when the disciples ran away confused, God was in Christ, not imputing the world’s sins to them. Nobody standing there at the time knew this.

Jesus didn’t preach it during His earthly ministry. John didn’t know it. Peter didn’t know it. Only after the resurrection did the Holy Ghost reveal it to Paul. That’s why Paul calls it the mystery.

So, because we now know what God did by the cross, we’re ambassadors for Christ. We preach reconciliation between man and God because we understand what happened there. And how do we know it? Someone taught us and we believed it. The Holy Ghost sealed us. And, as we’ve read, the love of God was shed abroad in our hearts by that same Holy Ghost. That’s how faith comes.

Without this knowledge, nobody could ever look at a cross, which was an instrument of death, and call it love. Without the revelation of what it achieved it represents shame, defeat, and failure.

It wasn’t even built for Jesus; it was Barabbas’ cross. Jesus hung there between criminals, naked and beaten. Nothing about that scene looks glorious. But once the Holy Ghost reveals the mystery, we see what God was doing all through it, reconciling the world to Himself.

This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That happened at the cross. And this’s why Romans is such an important book. It explains the meaning of Christ’s death.

We say “Christ died for us” all the time, but that language comes from Paul’s epistles, not from Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Romans 5:6 says,

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

That word for there is everything.

He didn’t just die because Pilate allowed it or because Israel rejected Him. He died for us, on purpose and with intent, as a substitute.

This is the heart of Christianity. Many people who claim to be Christians reject this, but Scripture is clear: Christ died for sinners.

The phrase “died for” appears seven times in the New Testament—all in Paul’s writings. “Gave Himself” appears five times—all in Paul’s writings. Without Paul’s epistles, we just wouldn’t know that Christ died for anyone. We’d only know He died.

Why did He die? Not just as an example, not just as a victim, not just as a martyr. He died for the ungodly, for people who mocked Him, rejected Him, and had no strength to save themselves.

That’s the love of God.

And that’s why this dispensation is so strange to religion. Religion says man must work to please God. The gospel says God died for the ungodly, for sinners.

That’s grace. That’s the love of God. And that’s the message we now preach.

And who are the ungodly who Christ died for? All of us.

Romans has already proven that there’s none righteous. So the only people who can be saved are the ungodly, the sinners, the ones “without strength.” If someone says, “I’m not a holy person,” that means they qualify for salvation. Salvation is only for the ungodly, the unholy, the imperfect.

And if the church, the Body of Christ, is made up of saved people, then what do we expect to find in church? Sinners! Weak people. Ungodly people.

The world mocks this and says, “Religion is a crutch.” Well, yes—because without Christ we’d fall flat on our faces. The world boasts in its own strength, but the truth is they can’t save themselves from sin and judgement but they just don’t see it. We didn’t either until we heard the gospel, the good news about salvation and simply believed it.

Real wisdom is admitting our weakness and trusting God’s mercy.

That’s grace.

So Paul goes back to the gospel in Romans 5:6,

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

That is how we know the love of God makes our hope certain. If we had no strength to save ourself, why would we think we need strength to keep the hope of glory? Our hope rests on Christ, not us.

Then Paul compares man’s love with God’s love.

Romans 5:7 says,

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

People call dying for someone “the ultimate sacrifice.” Jesus said in John 15:13,

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

That’s the highest love man can show.

But even then, it’s rare.

People might say they’d die for a friend, but when the moment comes, the flesh says, “I want to live.”

Scarcely will someone die for an innocent man. Maybe—just maybe—someone would for a “good man,” someone worthy, someone noble, someone who’s done a heap of good.

People die in wars, for family, for country, for leaders they think are worthy. But even that’s rare.

And then comes the absolutely magnificent Romans 5:8,

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God didn’t die for the best people or the most noble or for the innocent. He died for the ungodly, the ones who mocked Him, rejected Him, and betrayed Him.

That’s the love of God. That’s grace. That’s the cross. Realising that through learning about it sheds that love of God abroad in our hearts.

People ask, “How do I know God loves me when tragedies happen?” Romans 5:8 is the answer. This is the commendation, the showing of, the proving, the establishing, the exhibiting of God’s love.

This verse is more than likely the greatest verse in the Bible within the greatest chapter in the Bible, within the greatest book of the Bible.

It tells us why Christ died. It was for us.

Now we should notice something very important in Romans 5:8 that many people miss.

The verse is not saying “God loves us because we’re special.” The verses are not praising us. They’re praising God’s love, not the sinner. The only place we appear in Romans 5:8 is the word sinner.

Salvation’s not about praising the sinner. It is about praising the Savior.

Thinking “God died for me because I’m so valuable” is self-deception. If another person takes a bullet that was meant for me, I don’t say, “Give me the medal.” The medal goes to him!

When someone gives us a gift, we don’t say, “They gave me this because I’m amazing.” We say, “Thank you—what a generous thing you did.” The giver gets the praise, not the receiver.

Christ died for me, not because I’m so worthy, but because His love is worthy.

Romans 5:8 teaches that God’s love is immeasurably great and it’s commended or shown to us through the act of Him offering Himself to die for sinners who did not deserve it and who’s sin removed them permanently from Him. In fact we were God’s enemies as we’ll soon see in Romans 5:10.

The verse says God commended His love toward us. That “us” is not our personal individual self. It means all sinners, the whole condemned world. Us are all sinners. Christ made an atonement for everyone by His death on the cross. The point of the verse is not how wonderful you and I are, but how wonderful God’s love is. His death commends His love, not our value.

This shows a love far beyond frail human love. It’s a love that proves itself by a sacrifice so great as to be beyond our full understanding.

It wasn’t because we’re worthy, but because He’s gracious.

That’s the love of God. That’s the gospel. And the only right response is to praise God for His grace.

If we’re not in Christ, that love is not applied to us.

We must believe the gospel, the good news of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as in 1 Corinthians 15:4, receiving the Holy Ghost when we do, before the benefits of the cross become ours.

God’s love was commended toward all, but only believers receive its blessings.

God’s love toward us is seen in the fact that Christ, Who was God, became a man. God Himself put on flesh so His love could reach sinners. The Father said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son,” and that Son died for the world. God loves you for Christ’s sake as explained in Ephesians 4:32.

When God commended His love by Christ dying for sinners, it’s the greatest love ever shown. But notice: the verse does not say “God loves sinners.”

Here’s where deeply embedded church traditions and misread bible verses can get in the road of what God actually said.

The bible says He commended His love toward sinners. God’s trying to save sinners, not approve of them. To say “God loves the sinner” as if God’s pleased with sinners is to twist His righteousness.

Scripture is clear that God hates sin and hates sinners in their sin. Romans 1:18 says His wrath is revealed against all ungodliness.

Psalm 5:5 says God “hates all workers of iniquity.” Psalm 11:5 says He hates “the wicked and him that loves violence.” This is very clear. God’s holiness demands justice.

So how can God commend love toward sinners that He hates?

Because of the cross! Christ’s death allows God to offer grace instead of wrath. God wants to save sinners, not destroy them. But if they reject His provision, wrath remains. The wrath of God, His judgement against sin and sinners, is a terrible thing as the book of revelation shows us and He gives mankind every opportunity to avoid it by having the focus of that judgement, sin, fully paid for so that we are the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Christ Jesus.

Malachi 1:3 is a disturbing verse to many. It says,

And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

God is love, but His love’s not sentimental like human love. It’s holy. His love is commended at the cross because He died for the ungodly, not the worthy. That’s why this love is greater than any human love. Men might, in very rare occurrences, die for a good man, but God died for sinners.

This doesn’t mean Christians should go out and hate sinners. God calls us to be ministers of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5:18.

We love righteousness, so we hate what destroys that righteousness. But God’s not pouring out wrath now, today. He’s offering grace through Christ.

Only the ungodly can be saved.

Only sinners can receive grace. We accept words like “wretch,” “ungodly,” and “sinner”, but we struggle with the truth that, outside Christ, we were the objects of God’s hate.

Yet that’s exactly why the cross is the greatest display of love. God loved enough to save those who deserved His wrath.

That’s the love commended at Calvary.

I was a sinner, but not anymore. I’m saved by grace. I used to be the object of God’s hate, but now, because of Christ, I’m the receiver of His love and grace, and anyone, if fact everyone, can be, because God’s love was commended at the cross when Christ died for His enemies, for sinners.

The idea of “love the sinner, hate the sin” often ends up excusing the sinner without Christ.

God’s love is toward all, but only those who believe receive it. Those outside Christ are not sinners who God loves.

God doesn’t love sinners in their sin. When we believe the gospel, He makes us a saint, something we could never make ourself. A Saint means sanctified or set apart to God from the world, and describes the position of all who belong to Christ. He no longer imputes our trespasses. He reconciles us to Himself.

Paul himself is the pattern of this as 1 Timothy 1:16 shows.

God opposed him. He was a vicious persecutor of the early church yet God showed him grace.

Titus 3:3-4 says,

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. That was Paul too, persecuting believers.

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Jesus appeared to Paul. Paul could’ve rejected Him, but he believed, and God saved him. Paul became the pattern of how God gives grace to His enemies.

Jesus could’ve judged Paul on the spot. Instead He came to save.

Titus 3:5 says salvation is,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

That’s the love of God—His mercy poured out through Christ, not because we’re so great, but because He’s so great.

This truth should kill any pride in us.

We’re not saved because we’re special. We were the sinners God hated. We’re only saved because His love is so great.

So when we minister to others, we don’t act like we’re better. We say, “I was as bad if not much worse than you but I’m saved by grace through faith and you can be too.”

This also destroys the false teaching that we must “turn from our sins” before we can be saved.

Salvation is only by grace through faith, not by us trying to do the impossible and clean ourselves up. If we could remove our own sins Christ wouldn’t have needed to die. If we have to turn from our sins ourselves to either receive or keep salvation, sorry, but we’re all done for because it’s impossible.

And we always need to remember that salvation is the saving from God’s wrath which comes with His judgement. Only the full payment of the wages for sin, which is death, eternal death, can save us from us needing to receive those awful wages. Christ paid those wages for us and when we believe we have those wages accounted to us as paid in full!

So, Romans 5:8 says, “Christ died for us.” Only Christ could.

He was a man so He could die, but He was also God so His death had eternal power, power that could not hold him in death.

He’s the one Mediator between God and man.

The cross, that instrument of death, is the greatest picture of God’s love. If we only see it as a religious symbol, we totally miss the point. It was terrible, but now, through Romans and Paul, we know why Christ died. The message of the cross commends God’s love: He died for us while we were sinners.

So when we see the cross, we think of God’s love toward a world that rejects Him.

People ask, “Where is God’s love in tragedy?” The answer is the cross of Christ. How do I know God loves me? The cross of Christ. And outside that we were a sinner. So we trust what He did.

Romans 5:3-5 – Glorying in Tribulations

Romans 5 is one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible because it doesn’t just tell how Christ saves us, like Romans 3–4 already did, by grace through faith.

Romans 5 shows what comes after we’re saved.

Romans 5:1 says we’re now “justified by faith,” and then Paul starts listing the blessings, the riches, the treasures God gives us in Christ.

The chapter tells us who we are in Christ and what we have right now because of Him. This is part of the mystery of Christ, not Israel’s covenants or earthly kingdom. These things belong to us now.

“Speed Slider”

Romans 5:3-5 – Transcript

As we said last episode, Romans 5 is one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible because it doesn’t just tell how Christ saves us, like Romans 3–4 already did, by grace through faith.

Romans 5 shows what comes after we’re saved.

Romans 5:1 says we’re now “justified by faith,” and then Paul starts listing the blessings, the riches, the treasures God gives us in Christ.

Last episode we talked about the peace we have with God in Romans 5:1-2, and the access we have to God, and the grace in which we stand. Romans chapters 5–8 shows how these riches set us apart from the world. That setting apart is called sanctification. It doesn’t mean we’re better than anyone else. We’re all sinners, saved only by grace through faith. But God gives us a new position, new access, new hope, so we start thinking and living differently.

In Romans 5:3 Paul adds another treasure with the words “and not only so.”

It’s like he keeps saying, “and there’s more.” We already have justification, peace with God, access by faith, standing in grace, and rejoicing in hope. Now he adds something surprising and we read,

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

We glory in tribulations also. That sounds strange because tribulations don’t feel like treasures. So what does that mean?

Tribulation in the Bible means pressure, trouble, distress, opposition, even persecution. Sometimes life feels smooth, but other times everything seems to be against us. We feel stress, fear, anxiety. We often even have enemies fighting against what we believe. All of that is tribulation. It’s like taking a beating—sometimes physical, sometimes mental, sometimes spiritual.

But Romans 5–8 shows how Christ delivers us. He delivers us fully in the resurrection to come—the hope of glory.

But even now, while we’re in this earthly body today, He gives us the peace of God inside, so even when everything outside is beating us up, we can still be at peace in our soul because we’re in Christ.

Paul explains this in other verses as well.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 he says,

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

God is “the God of all comfort,” who comforts us in all our tribulation so we can comfort others.

2 Corinthians 4:8–9 says this,

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

That’s Romans 5 in action. Tribulation doesn’t destroy the believer because we have hope. Despair has no hope, but faith in Christ gives hope that tribulation cannot touch.

In 2 Corinthians 7:4–6 Paul says,

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

He’s joyful in all tribulation yet he still has comfort and joy because of the hope he has in Christ.

So, Romans 5 teaches that because we’re justified by faith, and because God’s given us peace, access, grace, and hope, we can even glory in tribulations. Troubles don’t take away the hope of glory we have in Christ Jesus.

In 1 Thessalonians 3 where the Thessalonians were facing persecution and physical affliction from their own people, Paul says he sent Timothy to comfort them so they would not be moved by these afflictions. He says “for we are appointed thereunto ”reminding them that he already told them they’d “suffer tribulation,” and it happened just like he said. So tribulation, affliction and trouble all go together. This is real life.

Paul lists “glorying in tribulations” as a treasure we have in Christ. He never says tribulation goes away. He never says, “Now that we’re saved, we’ll never have fears within or fightings without.” In fact he says the very opposite. We will face trouble, but we can glory in it.

That’s very different from Israel’s promises in the Old Testament.

Israel was promised earthly peace, victory over enemies, and safety in their land. Paul doesn’t promise that to the church, the Body of Christ. He says we will face trouble, but Christ gives us something inside that lets us glory in it.

So as Christians we don’t pretend tribulation doesn’t exist. Some try to act like being saved means smiling all the time and pretending nothing bad happens. But Paul never teaches that. Trouble comes to all of us just as it also comes to the unsaved. And also, we should never think that tribulation won’t come again just because we had a good season. That’s not the promise. Tribulation will come.

And here we’re not talking about the prophetic “great tribulation” Jesus spoke of for Israel before the kingdom comes. That’s Jacob’s trouble. Here we’re talking about the everyday tribulation believers face—persecution, opposition to truth, fears, pressures, enemies of the cross. In this life we’re living today we can glory in tribulations.

Romans 8:18 says this,

For I (that’s Paul) reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Paul told the Thessalonians, tribulation would happen and he told the Philippians the same thing while he sat in prison.

Our flesh wants to avoid trouble. We think, “I won’t do that again; it caused problems.” But sometimes the very thing causing trouble is the will of God—standing for truth, preaching Christ, forgiving someone, living out who we are in Christ. Then we’ve got to choose: our comfort or God’s truth. Paul says in Philippians 1:29 says,

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Suffering looks different in different places. We may not suffer like some believers do, but we all face frustrations and pressures. And there’s no promise that because we live in a certain place we’ll escape persecution. If the whole world turns against us, it doesn’t mean God’s truth’s failed.

It’s simply the course of this present evil world which we see in Galatians 1:4.

Christ hasn’t brought His kingdom to earth yet. The Head of the Body is in heaven, and we’re His ambassadors on earth, preaching reconciliation to a world that rejects Him.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says,

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The god of this world is the devil.

Many if not most people don’t believe in him, yet they follow his thinking, his deceptions, rejecting God and doing whatever seems right in their own eyes.

Jesus said the same about Israel when they rejected Him. So we live in an evil world, ruled by the god of this world, and suffering’s part of it. There is no promise in this dispensation that we’ll avoid it.

Now, at this point you might be saying, “I thought Romans 5 was going to be a glorious chapter.” It is. But first we have to clear up the wrong ideas people have about tribulations. God never promised Christians that we’d be saved from trouble. The treasure in Romans 5 is not that trouble goes away, but that we can glory in tribulations. That’s an unnatural response. What sets a Christian apart is not a life with less trouble, but a different way of responding to it because of what we know in Christ.

Some people think a Christian with no problems must be spiritual but that’s just not true. The treasure is that the believer, justified by faith, can glory in tribulations because of the hope God gives. Paul’s not saying, “Just endure it.” Many people can endure suffering. He’s saying something higher: glory in it.

That means rejoicing in the middle of trouble, not pretending the trouble’s good, we’re not calling bad things good, but having a real hope of something better that lets us rejoice even when everything around us is falling apart.

Romans 5:3 says, “We glory in tribulations knowing…”

So the ability to glory in tribulation comes from knowing something. That’s why some saved people don’t know how to glory in tribulations—they don’t know the truth that produces that hope. Glory means rejoicing. It’s not fake optimism. It’s not a wilful act to put on for the world to see. It’s a real expectation of good from God, even when the situation’s bad.

So the question is: what do we need to know that gives us this hope?

Men naturally glory in their own strength. When trouble comes, some people double down and say, “I’ll beat this thing.” That’s where wrong preaching comes in—people say, “You have a Goliath in your life; go knock it down.” But that was Israel’s promise, not ours.

David trusted God’s covenant promises to Israel but God never promised the church that we would defeat every earthly problem.

In this dispensation of grace, our strength works differently. Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians, which is a book full of suffering. In 2 Corinthians 11:30 after he lists the terrible challenges and persecutions he personally suffered, he says, “If I must glory, I will glory in my infirmities.”

People normally glory in their strengths—being smart, strong and tough or skilled. Paul glories in his weaknesses. That sounds crazy to the world, but this is the mind of a sanctified or set apart believer.

In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about his “thorn in the flesh.”

He prayed three times for God to remove it, no doubt thinking, “Lord, if this was gone, I could do more for You.” Many of us have prayed that prayer. But Christ answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

Jesus was not saying “No” in a harsh way. He was teaching Paul that he was looking for strength in the wrong place. Christ was saying, “My strength is in My grace, not in your flesh. You are insufficient but My grace is enough.”

So any Christian who thinks God promised to heal their flesh or make them physically strong is putting their hope in the wrong place. God gives a spiritual strength that’s greater than anything we can see with our eyes or touch with our hands. And that strength is what allows us to glory in tribulations.

Jesus told Paul,

My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

That means Christ’s strength shows its full power when we’re weak. When Paul learned this, he said he would quote “glory in my infirmities,” because now he understood where real strength comes from.

Christ was teaching Paul to stop looking to his own flesh for power and to trust the strength that comes from God’s grace.

Then he goes even further and says he takes pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake.

He’s not enjoying the pain and the persecution itself. He’s rejoicing because these weaknesses give him a chance to show the love of Christ and the power of God’s grace.

He explains that every kind of trouble he faces becomes a way to preach Christ. One of the greatest testimonies a Christian can have in this dispensation is not when life looks great, but when life looks weak, painful, and even when we’re close to death. In those moments, the believer can say, “The life I live in the flesh is not mine—it’s Christ’s life.” And when this flesh is done for, we have glory, resurrection, and eternal life. Our hope is not in this life. It’s in Christ.

Sometimes a Christian’s life that looks “too good” can sometimes hide Christ.

People look at the Christian instead of Christ and they falsely think trusting Christ means getting a better life now and when the good life doesn’t come to them they say, “What’s the use of the Christian life, what’s the use of Christ?”

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says that if our hope is only in this life, we are “of all men most miserable.”

Yet many Christians live as if this life is all there is and the only place Christ can help them and when that doesn’t happen doubt confusion and anxiety take over.

Paul says when he’s weak in the flesh, he’s strong in Christ. That’s the testimony of the Christian life and the way ministry works today.

So in Romans 5:3 we read and we read it in context with Romans 5:2,

By whom (that’s the Lord Jesus Christ) also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Verse 3,

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

“We glory in tribulations, knowing…”.

That’s so important because glorying in tribulations relies on us knowing something.

Paul had to be taught about Christ’s sufficient grace and we must be taught too. We don’t just automatically glory in tribulations just because we’re saved. We glory because we know something that those who can’t glory in their tribulations don’t know.

This whole dispensation of grace that we live in today is based on what we know from Scripture. That’s why God gave us the completed Bible—to walk by faith based on what we know.

We know faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. We know justification by faith without works. We know peace with God. We know grace and we know hope—eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Romans 15:4 says this about the scriptures,

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

See, hope comes from learning God’s truth, taking it in with patience, and finding comfort in what God’s promised us.

Without Christ, people are hopeless. But with Christ, even in weakness, we have strength, hope, and glory.

People say, “What’s the proof for God? If He doesn’t help me now, He’s worthless.” The big mistake here is thinking now is all there is.

If this life is all we have, then I’m sorry but we have no hope.

That’s why Paul says in Ephesians 2:12 that without Christ we’re without hope.

People can deceive themselves that they’re not getting older, and that their body isn’t breaking down and they can pretend life isn’t getting worse.

But that’s all it is, pretending. Without Christ we live in corruption, decay, and we’re heading toward the grave with nothing.

This is why it’s a treasure to glory in tribulation. We can be honest: “Yes, this hurts. Yes, I’m getting older. Yes, things are bad.” But our hope’s not in this life. Our hope is in glory.

Now, if we say we have hope, we need evidence.

Colossians 1:9–11 shows that our hope is based only on God’s word. It’s based on the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. It’s increasing in the knowledge of God that strengthens us with all might.

Then we know from Hebrews 11:1 that,

faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

And from Romans 10:17 that,

faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith doesn’t come from wishing. It comes from hearing the word of God. Our evidence is that God spoke and that’s absolutely sure and certain evidence.

Paul prays in the incredible passage of Colossians 1 that believers would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will.

Colossians 1:10,

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

As we learn, and walk in what we learn, we grow stronger—not in our flesh, but in God’s power—unto “all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”

Many Christians today act like knowledge is a bad thing, but Proverbs 16:16 tells us this,

How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!

We know from Ephesians 1:3 that we already have all spiritual blessings in Christ.

Knowing what these spiritual blessings are helps us glory in tribulations. We’re not glad for the trouble itself, we’re glad for the good thing God brings out of it—Christ’s life, Christ’s strength, Christ’s hope.

We also know our hope is in the Lord, not in ourselves, not in money, nor health, or safety. We begin to look at our day to day, ever changing circumstances differently. These are always in a state of change sometimes good sometimes bad and sometimes very bad, but as we increase in the knowledge of God we see hope beyond those circumstances and we begin to see them in the perspective of eternity and glory.

Philippians 1:20–21 Paul says,

According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Paul had confidence that Christ would be magnified in his body—whether by life or by death. That means no matter what happens, Christ can be glorified.

The opposite is trying to magnify ourself. People try to make their life better and better so they look great. But that only works while we’re healthy, strong, and alive. When those things fail, our hope dies with them.

But, if our hope is Christ, then whether we have little or a lot, whether we live or die, Christ is magnified.

We also know our hope is future, not now.

Romans 8:18 says,

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1 Corinthians 15:19 says,

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Many of us live like our only hope is here and now, but that’s not the gospel.

Yes, life has it misery and challenges. And yes, serving Christ often makes life harder. We could have more free time if we didn’t spend so much time studying to increase in the knowledge of God.

The world may think preaching and teaching’s a waste of time and if our hope is only in this life, then yes that’s true.

We could work more, make more money, and spend less time learning about God, but there’s something greater than those things – the eternal truth of Christ, the hope of glory, and the life that never ends.

When we say, we don’t have time, what we really mean is that we think something else is more important. Choosing the things of God often feels miserable to the flesh, because the world tells us there’re better ways to spend our time.

But everything changes with Christ’s resurrection.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:20,

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

If Christ rose from the dead, then the gospel’s true. Salvation by grace through faith is true. We’re a new creature in Christ. We’re justified. We have access to God. We have peace with God.

We’re not trying to make peace with Him—we already have it through Jesus Christ.

That makes life far less miserable, because now we have something more valuable than anything in this world.

Our hope is future.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 is the incredible passage on what we call the rapture, what Paul teaches about the resurrection.

He says believers should not sorrow “as others which have no hope.” The lost have no hope after death. But believers who “sleep in Jesus” will return with Him.

Verse 16 says the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And then Paul says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

This is real comfort in tribulation. At funerals, Christians can rejoice—not because death feels good or because there’s no hurt or sorrow, but because the believer’s in a better place.

Christian funerals have, or should have, this hope. If we truly believe Christ rose from the dead, then we can glory even in the death of a saint.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:5,

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Our consolation, our comfort abounds by Christ. Christ came from heaven, suffered on earth, and then rose again. Now we, who’re saved by grace, are ambassadors of heaven living in a suffering world.

We share in His sufferings so we can also share in His comfort. Christ rose by His own power and we’ll rise by His power. That’s our hope.

This is why 2 Corinthians 4:5 says,

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

We don’t preach ourselves—our success, our strength and achievements. God’s not in the business of giving credit to the strong. Christ’s power’s not shown in earthly victories. It’s shown in His death and resurrection, and in weak people trusting Him.

His power’s made perfect in weakness. That’s why Paul glories in infirmities. When we’re weak, Christ is strong.

We glory in tribulations because we know by faith through God’s Word, the power of Christ, the truth of His resurrection, and the hope of glory that’s coming.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says,

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

God put the treasure of the gospel in weak flesh so the power would clearly be of God, not of us. When people ask how we have strength, joy, and hope, even in times of great trouble, we can say, “It’s not me. It’s God’s grace.” That answer itself is preaching the gospel. It’s saying I’m justified by faith, He gave me these things freely, and I trust Him.

2 Corinthians 4:10-11 says,

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Just as Jesus’ body hung weak and lifeless on the cross and yet He rose again, our flesh can be weak and failing, yet we still have life in Christ. This’s because we have the hope of eternal glory.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 we read,

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Paul refers to our suffering as “light affliction,” not because it feels light, but because it’s small compared to the eternal weight of glory.

If we believe in that hope of glory, even heavy suffering becomes light in comparison.

It all comes back to faith and that’s as strong as our knowledge about the gospel.

Paul lived this out. In Philippians 3:8 he says everything he once counted as gain is now “dung” compared to knowing Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. He wanted Christ’s power to rest on him, not only in future glory, but in his thinking and his daily life.

In Philippians 4 Paul says he learned to be content in every situation. He knew how to abound and how to be abased, how to be full and how to be hungry, how to suffer need. He rejoiced in the hope of God’s glory in every circumstance. That’s why he could say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” The “all things” includes tribulation and peace. Christ is the strength.

All Paul’s later teachings—Philippians, Corinthians, Colossians, Ephesians—flow out of Romans 5: “we glory in tribulations also.”

So why don’t all Christians glory in tribulations?

First, weak faith.

If we don’t know the why or the how, we won’t glory.

We may believe the gospel, but if we don’t know these truths, we won’t know what to rejoice in.

Second, failure to acknowledge what we have.

Philemon 1:6 says,

That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

Many Christians believe but don’t live like what they believe is true. We get nearsighted, focused only on this life, and forget eternity.

Third, misplaced hope.

If our hope is in our flesh, in our success, or in anything of this life, we won’t glory in tribulation. We’ll panic when life shakes us up. But if our hope is in Christ and glory, tribulation can’t touch our joy even though it’s very real and it hurts.

Romans 5:2 says we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” If we can’t rejoice in hope during peaceful times, we won’t glory in tribulation.

But if our faith rests in the hope of glory, then when tribulation comes, we can glory in that too—because our joy is not a result of life’s circumstances.

When we receive God’s truth and actually believe it, it changes how we think and respond.

So tribulation works patience, not because we’re strong, but because the hope and love of God produces it in us.

Patience in the Bible means waiting through time with the right mind. It’s not just hanging on or gritting our teeth. It’s waiting while holding on to the good hope we already have in Christ.

When we acknowledge that something in our life hurts, or is hard, but we still have that good thing God promised, that’s patience.

The “good” doesn’t come from positive thinking. It comes from the hope we have in Christ Jesus.

Paul says this in 1 Timothy 1:16,

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first (that’s Paul) Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

God shows His longsuffering in this dispensation of grace.

If God is longsuffering toward sinners, and we stand in His grace, then we also have power to suffer long. We have promises, hope, and good things in Christ that carry us through.

The Thessalonians are an example.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul thanks them for their “work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope.” They were persecuted, but they kept the right mind because of what God promised them. That’s “tribulation working patience.”

If we don’t have the hope of glory, we just won’t have patience. We may endure, but not because of Christ. True patience comes from God’s hope working in us, not from our willpower.

So Romans 5:3-4 says,

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Patience worketh, or brings about, results in experience.

Paul’s not teaching that we prove ourself a strong Christian by fighting through trouble. He’s teaching that God proves Himself true as we trust Him in tribulation. We believed the truth before the suffering came, but when the suffering comes and we actually use what we know, we see God’s faithfulness. That becomes experience.

Maybe we lose a loved one. Do we sorrow like those with no hope? Or do we rest in what God said? When we trust the Scripture and it holds us up, and we say, “That worked.” That’s experience—not our strength, but God’s strength proven in our situation.

We don’t look down on Christians who haven’t had this experience yet. Life brings it in time. But Christians who know doctrine have more opportunity to gain experience, which is why we need to start with understanding truth.

Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 to commit truth to faithful men who can teach others. Faithfulness is not just head knowledge. It’s knowledge put into practice, so God can produce experience through it. Ministry itself is one of the ways we gain experience. We learn what works and what doesn’t and we see God’s Word prove itself true.

Experience is the assurance that grows as we see God’s faithfulness in real life. Our faith in the gospel is proven in tribulation.

In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul says ministers prove themselves “in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses.” That’s Romans 5 in action. How do we prove it? With pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the Holy Ghost, love unfeigned, the word of truth, the power of God, and the armour of righteousness. These are the tools. And where are they proven? In tribulation.

You don’t have to go looking for tribulation. It will show up. And if everything in life is always smooth and successful, we can’t really prove our ministry anyway. In fact, big success often tempts people to compromise but Paul says we’ve got to stick to the word of truth.

When we go through trouble with God’s hope in our heart, we learn to wait with the right mind. That’s patience. And when patience keeps working, we gain experience, not in proving our strength, but proving that God’s hope works. Then that experience strengthens our hope even more. This is the hope of Romans 5:2, “the hope of the glory of God.” It’s the good we can confidently expect, in pain or in peace.

Romans 5:5 says this,

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

This hope is not a wish. It is not “I hope so.” It is a sure hope based on what God has said.

In 2 Timothy 1:12 we read,

He knows by faith, because God spoke.

People lack faith not because they can’t think, but because they won’t accept what God said. We can read a recipe, but until we follow it, we don’t know what it tastes like. Faith works the same way.

The “love of God” in Romans 5:5 is His grace.

His love shown in Christ dying for sinners. That love is “shed abroad in our hearts” by the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost gave Paul the mystery, gave us the gospel, seals us as Ephesians 1:13 says, and teaches us the deep things of God as 1 Corinthians 2 says.

This is the first time “the love of God” appears in Romans.

The next time is in Romans 8:37 which says “nothing shall separate us from the love of God.”

Romans 3 showed God’s love in Christ’s death. Romans 4 showed it’s by faith, not works. Romans 5 shows the riches that love gives us. Romans 8 shows nothing can take it away.

This is also the first mention of the Holy Ghost in Romans. And that matters, because we glory in tribulations by knowing things that only the Spirit of God can teach us.

1 Corinthians 2:10 says the Spirit searches “the deep things of God.” While verse 12 says we received the Spirit “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”

That’s Romans 5—things freely given by grace.

So how do you glory in tribulations?

By knowing what God said.

By believing what the Holy Ghost revealed.

By trusting the hope of glory that cannot fail.

The Holy Ghost wrote the Scriptures, and He lives in us the moment we believed. That’s how this works. That’s how we can respond to tribulations in a way that’s not natural, but spiritual—because we know the truth God gave us.

Romans 6:15-18 – Is Sin OK?

Romans 6:15-18 – Transcript

Romans 6:12-14 – Living Under Grace

Romans 6:12-14 – Transcript

Romans 6:8-11 – How Do We Live With Christ

Romans 6:8-11 – Transcript

Romans 6:5-7 – We Are Freed From Sin

Romans 6:5-7 – Transcript

Romans 6:1-4 – Baptised Into Christ’s Death

Romans 6:1-4 – Transcript

Romans 5:15-21 – One Man Death – One Man Life

Romans 5:15-21 – Transcript

Romans 5:12-14 – How Adam Bought Death

Romans 5:12-14 – Transcript

Romans 5:9-11 – We Have “Much More”

Romans 5:5-8 – Transcript

Romans 5:5-8 – God’s Love Revealed

Romans 5:5-8 – Transcript

Romans 5:3-5 – Glorying in Tribulations

Romans 5:3-5 – Transcript

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