Argument of Romans 6-8
Argument of Romans 6
Paul, in Romans 1-5, explained God’s righteousness and man’s unrighteousness in relation to sin, condemnation, and justification by faith. Paul now advances his argument in Romans 6. The believer’s union with Christ, “in Christ,” makes it possible and practical to live the Christian way of life right now. Believers are so closely united with Christ that they share the benefits of his death and resurrection. Believers are not to continue to sin just because they are under grace. We died to sin so that sin no longer has the legal right to control us. When we first believed in Christ as savior, we were baptized, which means we were identified with his death and resurrection and were in that very moment joined to Christ (“in Christ,” position or absolute family status). This baptism is the baptism by the Holy Spirit. We became a new creation or new man, and our old self, the unregenerate Adam man, died with Christ to sin (sinful nature and personal sin) and we are now able to live with Christ in newness of life, Jesus’ resurrection kind of life. (Romans 6.1-5). The result was that sin’s legal and practical hold ceased to have authority over us, so that we are no longer slaves to sin. We can think of sin as a king or master who no longer has the right to control us. In Adam we could only act under sin’s control. Sin was built in to our humanity since we descended from Adam. Now at faith in Christ the old self, our unregenerate self, died to sin and sin has nothing to control. But sin in some way still remains a part of humanity (Romans 6.6). We are now able to live the Christian way of life in the power of the Holy Spirit (the story of Romans 8) by knowing this doctrine (knowing this, Romans 6.6,9), by faith acceptance of the doctrinal truth (consider, Romans 6.11), and by presenting (παριστημι paristemi aorist imperative, Romans 6.13) ourselves to God for righteousness—making the right decisions which are in accordance with God’s will as it is revealed in Scripture. The aorist tense is used for conduct in a specific case—choosing to serve God whenever the choice comes up, not to serve sin. This will happen many times; it is not a once and done forever meaning here. We no longer present (παριστημι paristemi, present imperative for the habit) ourselves to (king) sin. We now live this new grace life and do not need to sin (Romans 6.1,14). Believers are now slaves of God and righteousness, no longer slaves of sin, and this new slavery will result in righteousness, sanctification, and eternal life. We are God’s slaves to produce his righteousness (Romans 6.17,18,22). We gain great benefit from this new slavery: righteousness in life now, progressive sanctification, and eternal life in the future. So, what should we do about this? In everyday life we should know the truth of our new kind of life, believe that truth, and apply that truth by presenting ourselves to God for righteousness, not to sin resulting in Christian life death (carnality and walking in darkness) and possibly physical death. In summary, being slaves of sin had no benefit—sin brought death. As slaves of God believers do benefit—righteousness in life now, progressive sanctification, and eternal life in the future (Romans 6.15-23).
Argument of Romans 7
Since believers now can live in newness of life, serve God and righteousness, and experience sanctification, why does one fail so often. The answer is that the Adam sinful nature is still present and it can only bring failure. To demonstrate this Paul first addresses those familiar with the Law of Moses. The Law worked through the sinful passions of man’s nature to bring about sinful conduct. But believers died to the Law in Christ (Jewish believers in Paul’s context) so the Law has no legal authority over them. They are released from its authority, and now can live the new life in Christ that the Holy Spirit produces (Romans 7.1-6). The Law was good yet it did not provide power to live. The Law taught about sin and how to live well if it was obeyed, yet the Adam sinful nature used the Law to provoke people to commit personal sin. Before Paul knew the Law’s clear prohibitions he was not tempted to violate what he did not know. Once he knew the prohibitions he struggled to obey them because of his sinful nature. Paul knew that even as a believer, in his flesh he was a slave to sin (Romans 7.7-14). He concluded with a brief biography of his battle with sin as a believer. What about us in the church? Paul knew that since Christ fulfilled the Law and the purpose for the Law, church believers are not governed by the Law. It still is of value because it teaches God holiness, teaches about sin, and teaches about God’s plan. Though we are not under the Law as Israel was, we are under our conscience which is taught by the Bible and the ordinances of God. So every believer has this same kind of battle. The foundation of Paul’s and our problem is the indwelling sinful nature. Because sin lived in him he did things that he did not want to do and did not do what he wanted to do. This struggle demonstrated his inner spiritual conflict between the law of sin and the law of God. He and all believers needed to be set free from slavery to the sinful nature. Who will set him and all believers free? God set us all free through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, and our relationship to Christ. This freedom is put into practice in each believer’s life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit as Paul will explain in Romans 8.
Preliminary Argument of Romans 8
Union with Christ places believers under the law of the Holy Spirit in fact and in practice, not under the law of sin and death (8.1-4). Believers have the option of living through the Holy Spirit or through the sinful nature (Romans 8.5-8). The Holy Spirit option is only true for those whom the Holy Spirit indwells (8.9-11). It then follows that believers are to live day to day like heirs of God should live, by the Holy Spirit (8.12-17). Creation may suffer now, but the future inheritance is much greater than any present suffering (8.18-25). Believers often do not know exactly what is God’s specific will when they pray, but they do know that God has a salvation plan from start to finish (Romans 8:26-30). God’s plan guarantees that each believer is secure now in life and will be secure forever (Romans 8.31-39).