Shall We Then Sin More?

October 27th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Oct 20, 2024

Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 6:1-3 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

Paul’s last thought was “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (5:20). This being the case, why not continue to sin so that God’s grace could reach the outer limits of man’s depravity? Why not turn sinning into a religious duty in order to give God the opportunity to showcase His mercy and grace? After all, if Christians are now free from the Law and have liberty to do anything they please, why not exercise our liberty to the utmost? Sadly, in the history of the Church, some have indeed adhered to such nonsense. The Russian monk Rasputin, for example, believed that salvation came as the result of incessant sinful practices followed by repeated repentances. He believed that those who sinned more and more understood God’s grace and joy far more than those who lived a moral life. Paul addresses this heresy here because even he was slanderously being reported as sinning so that good may result (3:8).

So, should Christians “continue to sin that grace might increase”? The phrase itself implies that sin is man’s nature (cf. 5:12-14), so ceasing to sin would be difficult. Paul says, “May it never be!” Unlike the theology of some, Paul had not even the slightest notion that God’s magnanimous grace should ever encourage sin in His people. He then asks the obvious question in v. 2 revealing the absurdity of continuing in sin: “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” If one has truly died to sin, and death separates, how could one still live in that which they are separated from? Truly, when a sinner is converted to Christ, dying to sin, he is set free from the control of sin—a truth seen throughout the NT (cf. Rom. 6:6, 11; Col. 3:5; cf. 1 Pet. 2:24).

Truth is, what Christ did on the cross overpowers what Adam did in Eden, causing all to be born in sin. So God’s exhibition of grace on the cross in Jesus Christ, bringing life to believers reveals the superiority of grace over and against the plague of Adam’s sin which brought death.

Notably, Paul never says that sin dies to the Christian; rather, the Christian dies to sin. Sin is still alive and still desires to have the Christian (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8), but the Christian is dead to loving sin after coming to faith in Christ, no longer under its lordship. The Church father Origen (185-255) described death to sin in this way: “To obey the cravings of sin is to be alive to sin; but not to obey the cravings of sin or succumb to its will, this is to die to sin.”
In v. 3, Paul asks, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” It is true that our inborn sin continues to exist after salvation, seeking to dominate the conduct of every believer. But having been “baptized into Christ,” a metaphor for faith, or being immersed into Christ, believers are dry-baptized into Christ’s death as well. In other words, Christ’s death for sin becomes the believer’s death to sin. So, when a person believes in Jesus Christ, trusting Him for their salvation, they repent of their life of sin, burying that life and leaving it on the other side of the grave for a life pleasing to God.

Food for Thought

How absurd would it be for us to cheat regularly on our spouses just because we know they will forgive us? For the cheater, that isn’t love! And for the spouse who must forgive over and over, this just promotes more sin. Truth is, God hates sin, and what He hates, we must hate. As Christians, we will continue to sin, but as we mature in our walk with Christ, we will sin less and less while hating sin more and more. The question then becomes, Are we growing in Christ and thus learning to hate sin more and more? Or, do we simply continue to use foul language, watch filthy shows, and fail to worship while taking God’s grace for granted? May it never be!