Romans 6 Bible Study
A biblical teaching of Romans 6 – Bible Study Questions in Romans 6:1-23
In Romans Chapter 5 we learned there is so much grace that we have to ask ourselves should we just go sin. The same question immediately comes up in Chapter 6.
Remember, we are sinners by BIRTH, not by our behavior. We inherited it from ADAM ALONE. Meaning no matter how good we are, we are dead and what we need is life. Nothing we do can save us, and only Jesus can save us and give us that life.
Remembering apart from works, and apart from the law, what/who makes us righteous? Is there Anything else YOU can do to make YOURSELF righteous?
Would you agree or disagree that many Christians – after being saved then start to think they “maintain” their righteousness by THEIR BEHAVIOR, and not Jesus alone.
Do you think they see themselves as unrighteous when they struggle with sin?
Do you see a contradiction with this? Galatians 3:3 reminds us “are you so foolish, having begun by the spirit, are you now perfecting yourselves by the flesh?”
Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God
[Romans 6:1] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
This question is addressed after delivering a HUGE message of grace and he knows exactly what they are thinking. Like, are you kidding me! This question would not have come up or need to be defended unless you were preaching about a TON of grace we are given.
Paul’s response is NOT like the Legalist, who would say “NO – you’ll be out of fellowship, God won’t answer your prayers, you’ll be punished or accursed. Instead, he says in verse 2…
[Romans 6:2] 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
The point here is our hearts are changed and have new desires. How can we just go on sinning as if nothing has changed? Don’t we believe God made us new?
He is not saying we don’t struggle with sin. Even Paul said he struggled. BUT what does scripture says happened to the old us when we became believers? It says we were placed into Christ and just like he died, so did our old selves.
[Romans 6:3] 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
DO YOU NOT KNOW. We need to know that this change is real, not just some scribblings in the bible. And Paul is addressing this because apparently these guys just don’t seem to get it yet. We need to know we have been placed into Christ, and it’s real.
Paul now explains the knowing part and that we were placed into Christ.
[Romans 6:4] 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
By being buried with him that means the OLD you is not coming back up. He’s dead. And there is the other part of the gospel – Jesus did not just die to pay for our sins, but He ROSE from the dead. Most people think that’s just to show His power over death, and while that may be true, His resurrection served a purpose for you. It made you alive in Christ!
Do You believe that you are a NEW creation?
[2 Corinthians 5:17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
[Galatians 2:20] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[Ezekiel 36:25-27] I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
This is why we should not sin anymore. Not because that’s what will MAKE us righteous, but because it’s NOT who we are. We truly are new. But that does not mean we wont sin.
[Romans 6:5-11] 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Dead to sin does NOT mean we don’t sin. It means we are dead to the law of sin, which is death. You are dead to the law of sin, and alive to God, because of what JESUS did.
So do we still struggle with sin and stumble sometimes? Yes. James did. Paul did. But why is it Jesus will never die again if we “still” sin? Because “ONCE FOR ALL” means His ONE death paid for ALL sin, past, present, and future.
[Romans 6:12] 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
Note: It does not say in your Heart or Spirit. It Says Mortal body. Sin does NOT reign in your heart anymore.
Sin is called “It’s”. Don’t obey its lust. Sin is a power, and it does not originate from you. This is why we have the power to say no – because it’s not really who we are not, but rather the tempter.
[Romans 6:13] 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Would you agree or disagree that law causes sin and it’s grace that allows us to defeat sin? (actually answered in next verse)
[Romans 6:14] 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Sin has no dominion over you because you are under grace. Many people say too much grace leads to sin, but this teaches that grace is what takes sins dominion away from us which will actually help us to avoid sin.
[Romans 6:15] 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Wow – like this big grace message is hard for people to believe. So again, Paul knows how the readers will respond to such a huge message of grace, and he’s answering the combative questions in advance.
[Romans 6:16] May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Again, Paul is reminding us Do You Not Know. We NEED to know this. We now know that sin never satisfies and always leads to death. Not spiritually for Christians, but when we sin there are earthy consequences, so why would we WANT to do it?
[Romans 6:17] 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
Okay, there’s that big word obedient. But look at where this obedience is coming from. You became obedient from the HEART, not your flesh. Even if/when you stumble the heart is obedient. Obedience is a gift from God. It’s this new obedient heart that keeps us in fellowship with God.
[Romans 6:18] 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
The new us has new desires. We can’t help but desire to be righteous. And I think that’s why so many think it’s about their behavior, but we have to remember he’s not in the process of making us righteous…. He already did it on the cross.
[Romans 6:19-20] 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
In other words, you now have a choice, because you are different.
[Romans 6:21-22] 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
We are free from sin. We are sanctified. There’s your reason to stay away from sin. To so we can “be” okay with God, but because you already “are” okay with God. Live out who you are. Live out what has been placed in.
Some say we are not sanctified and that it’s a process. While our behavior is in fact being sanctified as we renew our minds to who we now are, we as individuals have already been sanctified. Past tense.
[Acts 26:18] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who “are” sanctified “by” faith in me.’
[Romans 15:16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might (if we believe) become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (not by our behavior or works)
[1 Corinthians 1:2] To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:
[1 Corinthians 6:11] And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
As for being holy:
[Hebrews 10:10] And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
[Romans 6:23]23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Take away: Our old self is DEAD. It was Buried. It’s Gone. We have been raised in Christ. We are New, Our Desires are New, and we are now Obedient from the heart. You are righteous, holy, justified, sanctified, and it’s a free gift from God, lest any man boast…. OR DO YOU NOT KNOW.
See Entire Romans Series Below
Romans 1 - WatchRomans 2 - WatchRomans 3 - WatchRomans 4 - WatchRomans 5 - WatchRomans 7 - WatchRomans 8 - WatchRomans 9 - WatchRomans 10 - WatchRomans 11 - WatchRomans 12 - WatchRomans 13 - WatchRomans 14 - WatchRomans 15-16 - Watch