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Romans

Romans 6 – Freedom From Sin’s Dominion

Published since 02. Dec. 2025
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Romans 6
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What we have learned so far in this epistle about the Gospel has to do with what God has declared Himself to be on our behalf—what He has accomplished for us through the death and resurrection of Christ, and what we receive simply by faith. In all of this, God has, so to speak, been having His say towards us in blessing. Chapter 6 opens with the very relevant question, “What shall we say then?”

This signals that another line of thought is now opening before us. Nothing can surpass the wonder of what God has done for us, but what, in response, are we now going to be for Him? What is the believer’s proper answer to such amazing grace? Does the Gospel bring in a power that enables the believer’s response to be worthy of God? As we enter chapter 6, we begin to explore these questions and to discover how the Gospel sets us free to live lives of practical righteousness and holiness.

If people only gain a head knowledge of God’s grace while their hearts remain untouched, they can easily twist grace into license and say, “Well, if God’s grace abounds over our sin, then let us keep sinning so that grace may keep abounding.” Does the Gospel support such thinking in any way? Not for a moment. Quite the opposite. It plainly tells us that we are dead to sin. How then could we keep living in it? Once, we were very much alive to sin. We were keenly interested in whatever pleased our own lawless wills—anything that satisfied us—while being completely dead to God and His things. Now the situation has been completely reversed: we are dead to the sin to which we were once alive, and alive to the things to which we were once dead.

Have we been ignorant of this, or only vaguely conscious of it? That should not have been the case, because this fact is plainly portrayed in Christian baptism, a rite that stands right at the threshold of Christian life. Do we know—or do we not know—what our baptism means?

There is perhaps an earlier question that should be asked: Have you been baptized? We ask this because in some circles there seems to be a clear carelessness about it, likely produced, we suspect, by the over-emphasis on it in previous times. If we neglect baptism, we suffer real loss. In baptism, we are buried with Christ, as verse 4 says, and not to have been buried with Him is a serious loss. Moreover, if we are not among “as many of us as were baptized,” then the Apostle’s argument in verses 4 and 5 loses its force for us personally.

What then does baptism signify? It means identification with Christ in His death. It means that we are buried with Him, and that we are placed under the obligation to walk in newness of life, just as He was raised into a new order of things. This is its meaning and the obligation it carries, and we are greatly impoverished if we do not know it. We greatly fear that the intense controversies about the mode, manner, and subjects of baptism have led many to overlook its meaning entirely. Debates over baptism have often been conducted in a very “unbaptized” spirit—so much so that no one would suppose the disputants to be “dead to sin.”

Baptism, however, is a rite—an outward sign. It does not itself bring about anything vital, and sadly, millions of baptized people will find themselves in a lost eternity. But it points to something that is vital in the fullest sense—namely, the cross—as we shall see.

Notice the closing words of verse 4: “newness of life.” They provide a concise answer to the question that opened the chapter. Instead of continuing in sin—that is, continuing to live the old life—we are to walk in newness of life. As we move through the chapter, we discover the nature of that new life.

Our baptism was, in picture, our burial with Christ. It is called “the likeness of His death,” and in it we were identified with Him—that is what the somewhat obscure phrase “planted together” means. We submitted to baptism in the confidence that we are to be identified with Him in His risen life. The “newness of life” in which we are to walk is linked with the risen life in which Christ now exists.

In verse 3, we were to know the meaning of our baptism; now, in verse 6, we are told to know the meaning of the cross in relation to “our old man” and “the body of sin.” The cross stands behind baptism; without it, baptism would have no meaning.

We have already seen Christ’s death in relation to our sins and their forgiveness. Here we see His death in relation to our sinful nature, from which all our individual sins have sprung.

It is perhaps not easy to grasp what is meant by “our old man.” We can explain it by saying that Paul here personifies everything we are as natural children of Adam. If you could imagine a person whose character included all the ugly moral features ever shown by all the members of Adam’s race, that person could be described as “our old man.”

All that we were as children of fallen Adam has been crucified with Christ, and we are to know this. This is not an opinion, but a fact—an act of God carried out in the cross of Christ, as real as the putting away of our sins, which took place at the same time. We are to know it by faith, just as we know that our sins are forgiven. Once we know it by faith, certain other results follow. But first of all, we accept it in simple faith.

God’s purpose in the crucifixion of our old man was that “the body of sin” might be “destroyed”—better translated “annulled”—so that we might no longer be slaves to sin. Again, this is not easy to understand. We must remember that sin previously ruled us in our bodies, making them, in a terrible sense, “bodies of sin.” The point is not that our physical bodies themselves have been annulled, but that sin, which once fully dominated our bodies, has been annulled in its power. This annulment was achieved through the crucifixion of our old man, the result of our identification with Christ in His death, so that His death became ours.

Take note of the closing words of verse 6. They clearly show how sin is viewed in this chapter: sin is a master, a slave-owner, and we have fallen under its power. The issue in this chapter is not the presence of sin in us but sin’s power over us. We have received our discharge from sin. We have been “justified” (cleared) from it, as verse 7 says.

Our discharge was accomplished through Christ’s death. But it is crucial to maintain the connection between His death and His resurrection. We saw this in the last verse of chapter 4, and we see it again here. Our death with Christ is in view of our living with Him in resurrection life.

The word “know” appears for the third time in verse 9. We should know the meaning of baptism. We should know the bearing of Christ’s death on our old man. Third, we should know the bearing of Christ’s resurrection. His resurrection was not just a return to life. It was not like Lazarus’s raising—a return to this present life for a time, followed by another death. When Christ rose, He left death behind forever, entering a different order of existence that we may call, for convenience, the “resurrection world.” For a brief moment, death had dominion over Him, and that only by His own will in submitting to it. Now He is beyond death forever.

His death was a death to sin, once and for all. Notice: it is sin here, not sins—the root principle that permeated our nature and ruled us, not the individual acts that proceeded from it. And again, it is not “death for sins” but “death to sin.” Sin never had any claim on Him in His nature as it had on us. But He had to deal with sin when, in His sacrifice, He took up the whole question of sin as it affected God’s glory in a ruined creation and as it stood as a massive barrier to our blessing. Having taken this up and borne its judgment, He has died to sin and now lives to God.

Let us pause and test ourselves about these things. Do we really know this? Do we truly understand Christ’s death and resurrection in this way? Do we realize how completely our Lord has died out of the old order dominated by sin—into which He came in grace to accomplish redemption—and how fully He now lives to God in the new world into which He has entered? It is important that we grasp this, because verse 11 then tells us that we are to reckon (count) according to what we know.

If we do not know correctly, we cannot reckon correctly. No shopkeeper can correctly reckon his accounts if he does not know basic arithmetic. No ship’s captain can rightly compute his position if he does not understand navigation. In the same way, no believer can rightly reckon his position and attitude toward sin or toward God if he does not understand how Christ’s death and resurrection apply to him.

Once we do know, the reckoning commanded in verse 11 becomes very clear. Our case is tied to Christ’s, for we are identified with Him. Did He die to sin? Then we are dead to sin—and we reckon it so. Does He now live to God? Then we now live to God—and we reckon it so. This reckoning is not pretending. It is not trying to imagine ourselves to be something we are not. Quite the opposite. We are dead to sin and alive to God by God’s own acts in the death and resurrection of Christ (to be applied in us by His Spirit, as we shall see later). Because of this, we accept it and adjust our thinking accordingly. We reckon things as they really are.

Before we were converted, we were dead to God and alive to sin. We had no interest in God’s things; we did not understand them; they left us cold and dead. But when something appealed to our natural desires—anything that fed our vanity and self-love—we were full of interest and energy. Now, by God’s grace, the situation is exactly reversed because we are in Christ Jesus.

Once we have adjusted our reckoning in light of the facts about Christ’s death and resurrection that we know, there remains another step. We are to yield ourselves to God so that His will may be practically worked out in detail in our lives. The word “yield” appears five times in the latter part of the chapter.

Since we are dead to sin, it is obvious that we are under the obligation not to grant sin any rights over us. Once, sin ruled in our mortal bodies, and we were constantly obeying its desires. This is no longer to be the case, as verse 12 tells us. We have died to sin, the old master; its claim over us is ended. Now, being alive from the dead, we belong to God, and we gladly acknowledge His claim. We yield ourselves to Him.

This yielding is very practical, as verse 13 shows. It affects every part of our bodies. Previously, each member was, in some way, employed in sin’s service and became an instrument of unrighteousness. It is a wonderful thing that every member may now be engaged in God’s service. Our feet can run on His errands. Our hands can do His work. Our tongues can speak His praise. For this to be so, we must yield ourselves to God.

The word “yield” occurs twice in verse 13, but in the original, the verb is in two different tenses. A Greek scholar has commented that in the first case, the verb is in the present tense, with a continuous sense: “Do not keep yielding your members”—it is never to be done. In the second case, the tense is different: “Yield yourselves to God”—as a completed act.

Let each of us seriously ask: Have I done this as a once-for-all act? Have I definitely yielded myself and my members to God for His will? If so, let us be careful never to forget our allegiance and slip into the trap of yielding our members—even for a moment—to unrighteousness, for that leads to sin.

Sin, then, is not to rule over us, because we are not under law but under grace. Here is God’s answer to those who say that if people are taught, they are no longer under law, they will plunge into sin. The truth is that nothing so subdues the heart and promotes holiness as the grace of God.

Verse 15 shows that there have always been people who think the only way to promote holiness is to keep believers under the tight control of law. There were such people in Paul’s day. He anticipates their objection by repeating, in substance, the question with which he began the chapter. In response, he restates the position more fully. Verses 16–23 expand what he had already said in verses 12–14.

He appeals to practical knowledge we all share. We all know that if we obey someone, even if we are not officially called their servant, we are their servant in practice. This is true spiritually as well—whether we serve sin or God. Judged by this standard, we were unquestionably once slaves of sin. But when the Gospel “form of teaching” reached us, we obeyed it—thanks be to God! As a result, we have been set free from sin’s bondage and have become servants of God and of righteousness. Therefore, being now servants of righteousness, we are to yield our members in detail so that God may have His way with us.

This yielding is therefore tremendously important. It is what our knowledge and our reckoning lead up to. If we stop short of it, our knowledge and reckoning become ineffective. This is likely the reason for so much weakness and ineffectiveness among Christians who are well taught in theory. They stop short of actually yielding themselves and their members to God. Oh, let us make sure that if this has never yet been done as a definite act, we do it at once! Having done so, we will need—and find—grace for the ongoing, practical yielding of our members in God’s service.

All of this assumes that the old master, sin, is still within us, always looking for opportunities to assert itself. This makes the triumph of grace all the greater. It also makes the lessons we learn more valuable. We learn how to yield our members as servants to righteousness leading to holiness, even while sin is still lurking within, eager to reassert its rule. In serving righteousness, we serve God, for doing God’s will is the first element of righteousness. And righteousness in all our behavior leads to a holy life and character.

Instead of continuing in sin as those enslaved by its power, we are set free from it by coming under God’s rule. Twice we read the phrase, “made free from sin” (vv. 18, 22). Once we were “free from righteousness.” We have left the old power and come under a new one. This is the road to holiness and life.

Eternal life is here viewed as the end of this wonderful story. In the writings of the Apostle John, we find eternal life presented as a present possession of the believer. There is no contradiction between these two views. What we now possess in its essence will be ours in its full extent when eternity is reached.

The last verse of the chapter, so well known, gives a concise summary. We cannot serve sin without receiving its wages—and its wages are death. “Death” is a word with a broad meaning. In one sense, death came upon humanity when sin brought total separation from God. Physical death occurs when the body is separated from the spiritual part of a person. The second death is when lost people are finally and eternally separated from God. The full “wages” of sin include death in all three senses.

In relation to God, no wages are mentioned. Everything is a gift. The very life in which we can serve Him is His gift through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus, at the end of the chapter, we return to the thought with which the previous chapter closed. We may well glory in the eternal life that is ours by God’s gift, and gladly accept all the consequences to which it leads.

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