In the third sermon of our Romans series, we looked through Romans 6:1-14 to see how believers in Christ Jesus have been set free from the control of sinful nature to live for righteousness. In this passage, Paul refutes erroneous thinking that encourages living in sin as a way to magnify God’s grace. Paul provides two key reasons to show how Christians cannot keep continuing in sin. Paul shows how Christians are united with Christ through both the reality of spirit baptism and the outward sign of water baptism. Being united with Christ is to also be united in His death and resurrection. Christ’s death sets us free from the slavery to sin; our sinful nature can no longer impose on us. Christ’s resurrection completely defeats the effects of sin and death; granting us eternal life in the future and enabling us to live for His glory now. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians are dead to sin and alive to God. As followers of Jesus under the domain of God’s grace, let us present our whole being as instruments of God’s righteousness.
