Romans 5:21-6:14 "A New Identity "

[The index for the series is here.]

I am using the Pastor's titles for these posts. The appropriate links are:

• Audio file
• Note sheet

The text:

(NET) Romans 5:21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Believer’s Freedom from Sin’s Domination

6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.¹ 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection.² 6 We know that³ our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us,⁴ so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)⁵ 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know⁶ that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die⁷ again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you too consider yourselves⁸ dead to sin, but⁹ alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, 13 and do not present your members to sin as instruments¹⁰ to be used for unrighteousness,¹¹ but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments¹² to be used for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

Notes:

¹ tn Grk “may walk in newness of life,” in which ζωῆς (zōēs) functions as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89–90, where this verse is given as a prime example).

² tn Grk “we will certainly also of his resurrection.”

³ tn Grk “knowing this, that.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁴ tn Grk “may be rendered ineffective, inoperative,” or possibly “may be destroyed.” The term καταργέω (katargeō) has various nuances. In Rom 7:2 the wife whose husband has died is freed from the law (i.e., the law of marriage no longer has any power over her, in spite of what she may feel). A similar point seems to be made here (note v. 7).

⁵ sn Verse 7 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.

⁶ tn Grk “knowing.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁷ tn The present tense here has been translated as a futuristic present (see ExSyn 536, where this verse is listed as an example).

⁸ tc ‡ Some Alexandrian and Byzantine mss (P94vid א* B C 81 365 1506 1739 1881 pc) have the infinitive “to be” (εἶναι, einai) following “yourselves“. The infinitive is lacking from some mss of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes (P46vid A D*,c F G 33vid pc). The infinitive is found elsewhere in the majority of Byzantine mss, suggesting a scribal tendency toward clarification. The lack of infinitive best explains the rise of the other readings. The meaning of the passage is not significantly altered by inclusion or omission, but on internal grounds omission is more likely. NA27 includes the infinitive in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

⁹ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

¹⁰ tn Or “weapons, tools.”
¹¹ tn Or “wickedness, injustice.”
¹² tn Or “weapons, tools.”

Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.

My Comments: Most of this ground was covered at the end of this post, and in these posts:

• 6:1-4
• 6:5-7
• 6:8-11

with the exception of verses 12-14:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

Carl is using this message as a way to summarize and tie together this entire presentation on our having a new identity, why we have a new identity, and what that identity should mean for our behavior. This is of course a key passage in presenting Paul's view on how being justified by faith and Christ's action alone should still lead to a changed set of behaviors - even though that behavior is not a basis for our justification.

Bob Deffinbaugh calls verses 12-14 the "Practical Implications of Our Union With Christ":

Instead of continuing to present the members of our bodies to sin, as instruments of unrighteousness, we must present our bodies to God, as those who have been raised from the dead. Now that we are Christians we must present our bodily members to God as the instruments which He may use to produce righteousness, in and through us. It is not enough to forsake sin; we must aggressively pursue righteousness.

Next: 12-14 -- "Sin Shall Not Be Your Master"