McDonald’s Basement, September 12, 2007
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 6:14
Understanding “Died to Sin”
A few weeks ago, I began our study by calling us to drastic submissiveness to the Bible. We went, you remember, to look at the reformers as examples both of true humility to Scripture (in their understanding of salvation) and also of some willful blindness (in infant baptism and sacralism). I then made this application: Particularly when studying difficult texts like Romans 6, we must people who are radically submissive to Scripture.
I am raising this point again because in my view, in order be truly humble to Romans 6, we need to change our understanding of a certain aspect of it. It has to do with the phrase “died to sin.” Up until now, I have seen this as meaning that Christ and we in Him died against or to the detriment of sin; in His death Jesus took this person of Sin and conquered it. To support this, I stressed the fact that Paul is talking about a real, historical death and not something metaphorical.
I was both right and wrong. Paul is talking about an actual, historical death—for Christ and for believers in Christ their representative. But Paul is going so much deeper than that. He is saying that this actual, historical death was a death to (or a going out of existence with regard to) sin’s mastery. He is taking the physical and historical and joining it with the metaphorical. Our crucifixion with Christ was a death under the punishment for our sin and, by virtue of that (by virtue of there now being no condemnation), it was a death to the power of sin over Christ and us.
I have a picture in my mind that may help. There is a kingdom and a King that rules it. Throughout this kingdom are certain castles and villages that are ruled by a lesser master. This master is Sin. You were born into slavery to this master. And your duty was to go out, fight, and engage in all kinds of treachery against the greater King.
Very early on you were caught and taken before the greater King who condemned you to death. But instead of being brought out and executed immediately, you were taken back and more firmly enslaved to your old master. This was part of your punishment. On the way to your full and final death, you were made to live a death in bondage to Sin. Your only hope was to become dead to your master by the removal of condemnation. You must go out of existence regarding him, so that when Sin comes, and stands over you, and says, “Go fight,” you are like a dead man to Him.
For the glory of His name and for the name of His Father, the Son of the King purposed to break your bondage and give you life. So the Father delivered Him to the executioner, your sentence was read over Him, and He was killed in your place. That death was your death—the Son was your representative and in Him your debt was paid. But that death was more than just your death as the punishment for your treachery. It was (because your condemnation was gone) your death to the power of your former master Sin.
This is what Paul is saying about our death with Jesus. We died to sin. When did that death happen? On a wooden cross, 30 AD. Our justifying death in Jesus our representative was our death to the power of sin.
Not under Law but under Grace
The first reason Paul gives for not continuing in sin is that we died in Christ to sin. The second reason he gives is that we are not under law but under grace. Verse 14“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Tonight, I want to answer just two questions about this verse. First, what does Paul mean by “under law” Second, what does he mean by “under grace,” and what are the implications of this.
First Question. Under Law
God’s first clear command to Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:16b-17 is very helpful in comprehending the nature of law. Look closely for the two aspects of this decree.
“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it you will surely die.” Do you see the two ways that law works? In the first place, the law ruthlessly demands obedience (do not eat of the tree). And in the second place, the law condemns for disobedience (in the day you eat from it you will surely die).
But here is the truth that underpins all of Paul’s thinking about what it means to be “under law”: not only does law demand obedience and condemn disobedience, in doing those two things, it increases sin. He said in chapter five that “the law came in so that the transgression might increase . . .” Now here you are thinking, “Paul, surely you mean that sin only makes sin look like it increases. The law points out sin and shows it to be what it is.” That is true, but the deep-seated reality that he is uncovering rises much higher than that. In a man under law, sin increases.
Fleshly man is law-hating; he does not subject himself the law of God (Romans 8:8). So what happens when law comes in its commanding, exacting, dominating role? Sinful passions are aroused by it in rebellious, self-loving, God-hating people. “Who is God to lord over me?” And so sin abounds in defiance of the law.
It does not end there, however. You must imagine sin as a person, always looking for anything that he may take and use for his own advantage. Law is one of those things. Paul talked about this in chapter 7 verse 8. “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind.” In verse 11, he explains how. He says, “. . . sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” Sin is a liar—he takes the good and right law of God, deceives, and kills.
Illustrated in my mind, it looks like this. The law is standing over me, commanding and dominating, and sin walks up next to me.
“Hey, Bryan.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re tired.”
“I know.”
“I hate law, don’t you?”
“Right, I hate law.”
“You know, you can’t do it. Nobody could keep that law. It’s unreasonable and unfair. So just sin. Its what you really want anyway.”
Sin, in whatever way possible, takes the righteous and good law of God and, through deception, kills us.
Law increases sin in its commanding role and it also increases sin in its condemning role. You remember what Paul has said about the strength of sin that lies behind its mastery. The strength of sin is in death (its result) and the cycle of sin leading to more sin through condemnation. But until now he has left out crucial point—law. Why does sin result in death? The law takes it and condemns it, resulting in further sin. All of this is beneath verse 14 and Paul’s meaning of “under law.”
Second Question. Sin Shall Not Be Your master—You Are Under Grace.
What does Paul mean when he says we are “not under law but under grace?” In chapter 7 verse 4 Paul answers this second question. “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ . . .” There it is. Your law fulfilling, punishment-erasing death with Jesus, was death to law. Sin can no longer grab it and twist it and use it to kill you because it is not your hope of righteousness. Christ is your hope of righteousness. And law no longer entangles you in the always-increasing cycle of death and sin because your justifying death in Jesus has removed death.
So my answer to both of the questions I began with is this: you died. You died in Christ, beneath the condemning cry of law, to the dominating, sin-increasing power of law. And therefore sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Bryan Elliff © 2007
