Beauty in the Book: Romans 6
Themes
This chapter describes in depth the transformation that occurs when a person passes from death to life in Christ. It touches on themes of holiness, obedience, and the benefits of willing servitude to a good God.
Questions
This chapter addresses the following questions:
What is the significance of baptism?
What does it mean to live freely, while still being God’s servant?
What good does it get me to be God’s “slave”? What’s the benefit?
Moving Forward
This writing will break down the chapter section-by-section, offering commentary for your reflection. Don’t miss the ending titled Beauty in the Book where it all gets wrapped up in a bow—highlighting how every chapter is woven with uplifting realities of God’s goodness and grace.
Romans 6:1-4
As we step into Romans 6, and Paul continually builds upon where he has been thus far in Romans, let’s do a quick little re-cap:
Chapter 1: Paul describes God’s rightful wrath towards a sinful humanity.
Chapter 2: Paul confirms that no one is righteous in God’s sight—whether they have a Jewish or Gentile background.
Chapter 3: Paul reiterates that all have sinned and fallen short of what God requires, and yet, each person who trusts in Jesus is justified freely by God’s grace.
Chapter 4: Paul describes how Abraham was a man of faith, and how we are his “spiritual children” when we have faith like his. God’s promise to Abraham is passed along to us by faith.
Chapter 5: We now have peace with God in Christ. We received salvation as a gift and now we live in God’s favor. Grace won.
Paul wraps up chapter five confirming that the law served to increase people’s awareness of sin and their guilt before God—that grace might reign in Jesus Christ.
Grace got the final word, and Paul transitions into describing what life looks like now that we are “people of grace”. Spoiler alert: living as people of grace doesn’t mean taking any opportunity to sin, just so that the reality of grace might be put on “full display”!
Oh no! Living as people of grace means that we step fully and truly into the beautiful reality that in Christ we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit; we are brand new beings:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Baptism is the concept of a person’s old life being done away with in Christ, and new life rising up in them.
Water baptism has been widely incorporated into church history to symbolize this spiritual reality taking place. As a person’s body is submerged under water, we recognize their old way of life “dying”. As they rise out of their water, their “new life” in Christ is celebrated and magnified.
This spiritual cleansing that takes place when we are baptized into the death and life of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament, as God spoke regarding the transformed hearts his people would experience in the New Covenant:
Here’s Ezekiel 36:25-27:
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV
And if you want to geek out on prophecies—which, if you’re here reading commentary right now, you just might—check out what was written in Jeremiah 31:33 regarding the new covenant:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33 NIV
God followed through on His word to write the law on our hearts; enjoy this passage written to people of the New Covenant in 2 Corinthians 3:3-6:
You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:3-6 NIV
Boom! Gotta’ love when things come full circle. The Spirit gives life. The New Covenant is one that ushers in the life of the Spirit, not the law of death.
The way of salvation, not the way of condemnation.
This is the way of kindness, shown to us by God through the sending of Jesus.
Romans 6:5-10
As we venture out into this world, living boldly in the new life given to us by God, we no longer continue in the sin that kills. We are no longer agents of sin and death. But on the contrary, it is more fitting for us to walk in the way of grace—shining Christ’s light in the world and giving full way to his life coming forth through our mortal bodies.
I love the way it’s described in Titus 3:3-8. About how we were once stuck in our sin, but because of God’s kindness, we have been saved, washed, and reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is only fitting then, that those who have trusted in God continue to walk in this goodness:
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. Titus 3:3-8 NIV
We used to be enslaved by sin. Sin: the opposite of love. Stuck in malice, or evil intent towards others. And in envy, a more-for-us-less-for-them kind of mindset. When Jesus came, this whole way of fleshly living was flipped on its head through a sacrificial, servant-hearted, humble, victorious King.
In the book of Titus, we see the gravity of doing good—not in a way to earn our own salvation, which we see was generously given to us by faith in Christ—but in order to do what is excellent and profitable, in reflection of the new life of Jesus flowing in and through us.
Galatians 2:20 puts it this way:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NIV
We have been set free from sin. (Romans 6:7) May we walk in the new life that is ours in Christ!
Romans 6:11-14
This portion of scripture beautifully highlights the freedom we have in Christ. We are no longer enslaved to the power of sin. We are free agents, which leaves us with this question:
What will be now offer ourselves to, now that we are free?
The encouragement given by Paul to the Romans is for them to offer themselves fully to God as instruments of righteousness, rather than to sin as instruments of wickedness.
Consider what a musical instrument does. Simply put, it is maneuvered and operated by a user to produce something. For example:
A flute has a person blow into it and move their fingers around on the holes in order to produce a tune. (I hope you’re laughing right now at how little I clearly know about music—haha!)
A piano has keys that a person’s fingers move up and down on in order to produce a melody.
A tuba has air pushed through it while buttons are pressed, and powerful sound flows out.
In the same way, we have these instruments of our bodies. May we willingly give ourselves over to God’s operation. In doing so, may the breath of the Holy Spirit flow powerfully through us as the song of the heavens is put on display through our mortal human bodies.
Romans 6:14 reminds us:
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14 NIV
Sin no longer controls us. Grace reigns triumphantly.
We are now enabled to live freely, fully, and instrumentally for the glory of Jesus’ name.
Romans 6:15-18
Paul takes this concept steps further by describing the sort of servitude we are to live with now that we seek to be instruments of righteousness.
Depending on your version of the Bible, this section likely uses the word “slave”. In the greek, this word is doulos (δοῦλος) and has some nuances to it worth mentioning.
While the word “slave” holds pretty weighty and negative connotations in our world today—often describing one forced into unjust labor—this word “doulos”, while it can be translated simply as slave, leaves a lot more room for one who serves with a willingness of heart.
Just as the portion of scripture beforehand incites Romans readers to “offer” themselves to God as instruments of righteousness, so this word “doulos” contains the idea that one might willingly offer themselves to a role of service for another’s cause.
This is the beauty of the New Covenant, and the circumcision of heart we have received through the Holy Spirit:
But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. Romans 6:17 NIV
We are free to obey from the heart. We are free to love God and live accordingly because of the inner transformation brought about entirely by his grace. Isn’t it lovely!
Romans 6:19-21
When we were enslaved by sin, we offered ourselves to sin and the impurity of our lives was ever-increasing. Our filthiness before God was staggering.
Like pigs wallowing in mud, we savored our sinful lifestyle and our wickedness increased all the more. And like mud that turned to quicksand, we were sinking: entirely unable to be under the control of righteousness, even if we wanted to.
We couldn’t get ourselves the cleansing our souls required. When we reflect on those times of our lives before Jesus, it is clear that those ways of living only ended destructively. Apart from God, and without hope.
Like one stuck in a mud that turned to quicksand, these sin-filled stories end with the captives being swallowed up by death. But praise be to God, that in Christ, we were given a way out.
This, is who the Lord is! Psalm 40:2 puts it beautifully:
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
Like a hero who reached down from on high and pulled us out of quicksand, the Lord lifted us out of our pit and put our feet on the solid ground of his salvation.
We are no longer stuck in our muddy sin, dragging us into a pit of death, but rather we are washed and renewed by the Holy Spirit, and beckoned to a holiness that will lead us on into the beauty of eternity! (Talk about benefits!)
Sin earned us death. God gifted us life. He is forever good, amen?!
Beauty in the Book
Praise God, that in him, we aren’t just bad people made good or good people made better, but we are dead people brought to life.
We are given new hearts, hearts that are able to truly love Him. When we trust in Jesus, our old selves are no more, and our new lives are now wrapped up in the significance of his sacrifice on our behalf.
We are no longer law-bound, and on our way to a slow and destructive death. But we are Spirit-filled, being sanctified into holiness day-in-and-day-out, in a way that will find its completion in the magnificent beauty of eternity in the light of God’s presence!
May we allow the breath of the Holy Spirit to flow through us as we continually seek to show this love and light to the world, as instruments of goodness, offering our God-song to the world!
We are salt and light of the whole world! (Matthew 5:14-16)
The steadfast love, goodness, and mercy of God was put into full effect when he sent Jesus to us, and this is the beauty we have the privilege of reflecting into the world:
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NLT
That’s who God is. That’s the Jesus we get to follow. That’s the Spirit who is alive in us.
If we are to willingly make ourselves slaves to a cause, may it be to the cause of Christ: the most beautiful, selfless, benevolent generosity that ever graced the world.
