Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Once we hear the gospel of our salvation and believe in Jesus Christ to justify us unto eternal life, we now have a righteous standing in the sight of God, we have now been redeemed, and declared righteous, and now saved from the debt and penalty of sin against us. But once we are now “in Christ,” and now possess His Righteousness, Paul now educates the justified in Christ in the new identity that they ALSO have in Christ beginning in Romans chapter 6, and when he says “shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound,?” he is actually asking the saints; ‘your not going to stand there and just be justified are you?’ The saint in Christ is going to “continue” his sanctified life one way, or the other; either he is going to be ‘alive unto sin,’ and live unto this world as a justified saint, or he will “be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.”

Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Oftentimes we don’t place the importance upon sanctification as we ought to, we often look at sanctification as being ‘optional’ or we might say “well I’m just not ready yet,” but our sanctification is one of the most important aspects that we have “in Christ”! Not our justification as some might think, when they look at the cross, most see Christ’s provision as a ‘get out of hell free card,’ but part of why He gave Himself for us centers around our being in His likeness, and bring forth fruit, and glory, as ones who are being “conformed to the Image of His Son.”

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 3:24  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

When Adam was created, he was a godly creature, Adam and Eve already had a righteous standing in the sight of God! God didn’t create man to have to justify him, God created man to work with Him, man was created to showcase godliness and sanctification, see this is what angered Satan! He saw godliness-and how it had an effect on the angelic realm, and that affected him in a way that caused him to go after the man, and he has been doing this ever since. People also seem to try to do 1 or the other, if they understand their justification; then they will just be content to just only be justified- then there is some who don’t understand their justification, but they do a lot of ungodly sanctification, and ungodly works, and they place a lot of emphasis on works, but the doctrine of justification falls by the waist side, and is rarely preached or understood.

Rom 5:18  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 
Rom 5:19  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 
Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 

And when we who are justified unto eternal life, commit sin in our sanctified lives, God’s gracious “free gift” of “grace” will “abound” our daily sins for the rest of our lives in Christ, but why should God’s grace HAVE TO abound our sins? We are beseeched to live unto Him, not this world, we are to act as the One we are ‘representing,’ He has given us a ‘new identity,’ and because we are now “in Him,” we ought to walk in His Word, His Will, and in His life.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin. 
Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 

Finally, notice the “with him,” and “we also,” and “like as,” and the word “likeness” that there is in 5 verses? Paul teaches the saint about his sanctification, and his new identity that he now has in Christ the moment he became justified unto eternal live, and that the saint ought to desire to “serve” the Lord, rather than serve his own flesh, and by doing that; he WILL be ‘serving sin,’ next time, we will look at what Paul is teaching about what it means to be “baptized into His death,” and that it has moting to do with water baptism at all.

Rod Jones