Free from Sin, Enslaved to Righteousness (Romans 6:15-23)

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:15-18, ESV).

Free to Obey

The chapter began with the rhetorical question, “Are we to continue [present tense] in sin,” followed by an emphasis on freedom. Here the question is repeated but slightly altered, “Are we to sin [aorist tense],” followed by an emphasis on servitude. The subtle difference may simply be between the habitual lifestyle of sin and any violation of the “law.” 

If the intention of the law was to direct people to live righteously in line with God’s will (cf. 2:17-18; 3:1-2; 7:7, 12, 14), and if “we are not under law,” are we then left with no standard of morality so that sin is reinvigorated? Once again Paul responds, “By no means!” Freedom from sin is not freedom to sin, which would otherwise be a total misconception of freedom “under grace” apart from the law. 

Although Christians are free from the old Mosaic system as a means of justification, it is entirely untrue that there are no obligations to the divine will under grace. Obedience continues to be inextricably linked to faith as a fundamental requisite within the new-covenant system of grace. In fact, the sixth chapter of Romans appears to be a concerted effort to reaffirm the essential role of “obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:26).¹

To “present yourselves … as obedient slaves” is a willful choice of being completely devoted in service. The choice is between “sin” unto [εἰς] “death,” or “obedience” unto [εἰς] “righteousness.” Paul is thankful to God that the Romans have chosen the latter, involving the “standard” [τύπος] (cf. 5:14), “pattern” or “model,”² of “teaching” [διδαχή], the body of doctrine mutually accepted and followed by first-century churches of Christ (16:16). This is “the doctrine [διδαχή] that you have been taught …” (16:17), the pattern of instruction “to which you were committed” [παραδίδωμι], “delivered” (ASV, N/KJV), “handed over” (CSB), “entrusted” (ISV, NASB 2020, NRSV); “has now claimed your allegiance” (NIV). 

The teaching of Jesus and the apostles, especially in terms of the demands of discipleship, the ethical requirements of the faith, and the principles that must guide believers in their relations one to the other and to the world became in time so definite and fixed that one could go from one area of the church to another and find the same general pattern. The law was a fixed, definite entity with precepts and prohibitions. Grace has its norms also.”³

This obedient faith emanated from the “heart” [καρδία], the physical, mental, and spiritual core and impetus of action,⁴ and was necessary for “having been set free from sin” (cf. v. 22; 8:2) and to “have become slaves of righteousness.”

Slaves to a New Master

“I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification” (Rom. 6:19).

Paul has been using the familiar analogy (“in human terms,” cf. 3:5; Gal. 3:15) of slavery in the Roman world⁵ to illustrate the past bondage to sin and current obligation to righteousness. Allusion to “your natural limitations” is lit. “your weakness of the flesh,” which Paul acknowledges for himself in the next chapter. While moral impediments may be suggested, it particularly conveys “the difficulties of apprehension, from defective spiritual experience, which prevent the understanding of its deeper truths.”⁶ This is not intellectual ineptness but limitations fostered by corrupt moral character (cf. 8:5-7; 1 Cor. 2:14; 3:1-3). Not only is this “weakness in the capacity to understand,” but “the proneness of self-deception and to forgetting the obligations imposed by grace.”⁷

In the past the Romans had given themselves over to “impurity” (cf. 1:24) and increasing “lawlessness” (cf. 4:7) but have now changed masters to “righteousness” (cf. 1:17) unto “sanctification.”⁸ The noun “sanctification,” used in Romans only here and in v. 22 (with its verbal form in 15:16), refers to the process of making or becoming holy, “set apart for God and separated by life and conduct from the unbelieving world …”⁹ It is cognate with the adjectival “holy” or “set apart,” as well as “holiness” and “saints” (1:7; 8:27; 12:13; 15:25, 26, 31; 16:2, 15).

While one is sanctified at the time of conversion (1:7), sanctification or holiness is to be maintained by holy living (6:1-2, 4), with complete and ultimate sanctification anticipated in the future (6:22). It is not uncommon for a distinction to be made between “sanctification” as an action or process, and “holiness” as the resulting state, but such a clear distinction between the two is less than certain. 

Wages of Sin Vs. Gift of God

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:20-23).

As former “slaves of sin,” so-called “freedom” was essentially “free in regard to righteousness,” when sin was the master rather than the righteous ways of God. Using agricultural imagery (cf. 1:13; 15:28), “fruit” (vv. 21-22) here refers to “the conduct of one’s life in the realm either of salvation or of damnation.”¹⁰ Fortunately the Roman saints are “now ashamed” (cf. 1:16) of their past sinfulness that led only to “death” (cf. 5:12–6:16), something earned and thus deserved as “wages.”¹¹ Now, having been “set free from sin” (cf. v. 18), they have submitted themselves as “slaves of God” producing a different kind of “fruit,”¹² namely “sanctification,” a new and holy way of life, “and its end, eternal life” (cf. 2:7; 5:21), which is unearned and undeserved as “the free gift of God” (cf. 5:15-16) “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Conclusion

We are accountable for our own decisions and actions, as God allows us freedom to choose. He calls us to exercise our freedom responsibly by rendering ourselves completely to his will. He offers us freedom from ourselves and from the master of sin, so we may wholeheartedly obey him. We are thus free from sin’s control and free to obey God in humble service to his righteousness.

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ C. K. Barrett, Romans 131. “Against those who might object that the abandonment of the law as a code of conduct (cf. 6:14, 15; 7:1-6) leads to license, Paul argues that the gospel itself provides sufficient ethical guidance for Christians. Through the renewal of the mind that the gospel makes possible, Christians can know and do the will of God (12:2) …” (D. J. Moo, Romans 746).

     ² Acts 7:44; 1 Cor. 10:16, 11; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:7; 2 Thess. 3:9; 1 Tim. 4:12; Tit. 2:7; Heb. 8:5; 1 Pet. 5:3. In Gal. 6:16 Paul pronounces a blessing on those who walk according to the κανών (“rule” or “standard”), derived from a Semitic word for stalk or reed that came to be used for “measuring rod,” thus a “standard” or “rule.” The English word “canon” is derived from this word, referring to a list of titles of various works or the collection of documents themselves, in particular the biblical canon.

     ³ E. F. Harrison, “Romans” 73.

     ⁴ See Psa. 9:1; 13:5; 86:12; 111:1; 119:2, 7, 10, 34, 58, 69, 145; 138:1; Prov. 3:1; 4:23; Matt. 12:34-35; 15:18-19; 18:35; Eph. 6:6; Philem. 20; Heb. 10:22.

     ⁵ During the first century AD approx. 16-20 percent were reportedly slaves within a population of about 60 million (W. V. Harris, “Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade” MAAR 36:117-40); some estimates are as high as 33-40 percent (K. R. Bradley, Slavery and Society 33). See K. L. Moore, “Households and Slavery,” Moore Perspective (24 July 2019), <Link>.

     ⁶ W. Sanday and H. C. Headlam, Romans 169.

     ⁷ H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds., EDNT 1:170; R. Mohrlang, Romans 106. 

     ⁸ Cf. 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; outside of Paul only Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2. Compare 1 Pet. 4:1-5.

     ⁹ R. C. Kelcy, Thessalonians 83.

     ¹⁰ H. Balz and G. Schneider, eds., EDNT 2:252.

     ¹¹ Cf. Luke 3:14; 1 Cor. 9:7; 2 Cor. 11:8. 

     ¹² See also Gal. 3:22-23; Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:11; Heb. 12:11; Jas. 3:17-18.

Related Posts: Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4), United with Christ (Rom 6:5-14)

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United with Christ: Dead to Sin, Alive to God

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God” (Rom. 6:5-10, ESV).  

To be baptized “into Christ” (v. 3) is to be “united with” him (v. 5a), both in “death” (vv. 5b-8a) and in “life” (vv. 8b-10), from having been “enslaved to sin” to being “set free from sin” (vv. 6-7). The slave-free and death-life analogies continue through the rest of the chapter. In baptism, reenacting the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we obey the gospel (vv. 16-17), the aim of the apostolic mission (1:1, 5, 9, 15-16; 10:15-16; 15:16-20; 16:26). 

Jesus died and arose from the dead “once for all,” tasting death for everyone and destroying the devil’s power.¹  Accordingly, Jesus Christ is “our Lord” as he is “declared to be the Son of God … by his resurrection from the dead” (1:4). We thus share in the hope of his “resurrection” (5:2, 10) as we look to the future, “we will also live with him.” At the same time, we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus” presently as we “walk in newness of life” (v. 4). “The bodily resurrection lies ahead, but there has already taken place a ‘spiritual’ resurrection (cf. Col. 2:12; Eph. 2:6) that introduces the believer into a new life …”² This is “eternal life” (vv. 22-23), not just with respect to longevity but in quality both now and in the future (cf. 2:7; 5:21).

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom. 6:11-13). 

“So … also” [οὕτως καί], “drawing an inference from what precedes” (BAGD 597) and serving as “the hinge of the paragraph,”³ Paul charges: “you … must consider”—present (continuous) imperative—“yourselves,” like Christ, “to be”—present (continuous)—“dead” (detached, separate), “indeed”—emphatic affirmation—“to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Note the personal responsibility and effort in the process of sanctification: “Let not …. Do not present …. but present yourselves …” 

The reality of being united with Christ is not of our own doing (v. 5) but we make it operative by willing cooperation, an intentional endeavor to conform in obedient faith to the way of life the Lord expects. For the redeemed and sanctified ones submitting to “Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 23), sin must no longer “reign” as lord and master. Paul uses imagery seemingly borrowed from the customary practice of a free person selling himself into slavery because of debt or other extreme circumstances, surrendering “his right of self-determination” and owing “full allegiance to his master.”⁴ Paul himself has chosen to be “a slave of Christ Jesus” (1:1).

The general “you” (v. 11) is more specifically described as “your mortal body” (v. 12), alluding to life in the material world, narrowed further to “your members” (v. 13), with which we engage in the affairs of the world (cf. 7:5, 23). The verb “present” (vv. 13, 16, 19) is translated from παριστάνω, which carries the sense of “giving oneself in service to,”⁵ so not necessarily “to present yourself to a master, but to dedicate yourself entirely in obedience to him.”⁶

This servitude is a deliberate choice we have control over and to which we are held accountable (cf. 12:1-2). The word “instruments” [ὅπλα] refers generally to “implements” (cf. 13:12) and more particularly to “tools” or “weapons” (cf. John 18:3; 2 Cor. 6:7; 10:4). We have the choice of willingly offering ourselves as “weapons” for “unrighteousness”⁷ or as “tools” for “righteousness” (vv. 13-20),⁸ recalling OT prophecies about beating destructive weapons of war into productive farming instruments (Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3), or vice versa (Joel 3:10). 

Free from Sin’s Dominion

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:14). The dominion of sin has been defeated. Most relevant to those of Jewish heritage and those influenced by them, “law” is reintroduced into the discussion (cf. 2:12-27; 3:19-21, 28-31; 4:13-16; 5:13, 20) because it required strict obedience and enabled sin to increase (5:20a), whereas grace offers forgiveness and provides “the will and the power to obey; hence grace breaks the mastery of sin as law could not.”⁹

While we are “not under law” (i.e., the Law of Moses), we are “under grace,” a subtle reminder that the grace of God is not a license to sin (vv. 1-2) but affords motivation and discipline to live a righteous life free from the mastery of sin.¹⁰ Through the “law” sin reinforces its grasp on those under it (5:20-21; 7:1–8:3), but sin loses its grip when divine grace replaces the old law. 

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ Heb. 2:9-15; 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10.

     ² D. J. Moo, Romans 386.

     ³ D. J. Moo, Romans 354.

     ⁴ F. S. Malan, “Bound to Do Right” 127.

     ⁵ D. J. Moo, Romans 384. 

     ⁶ F. S. Malan, “Bound to Do Right” 127.

     ⁷ See also Rom. 1:18, 29; 2:8; 3:5; 9:14

     ⁸ See also Rom. 1:17; 3:5, 21-26; 4:3-13, 22; 5:17, 21; 8:10; 9:30-31; 10:3-10; 14:17.

     ⁹ F. F. Bruce, Romans 132; cf. E. F. Harrison, “Romans” 72.

     ¹⁰ Cf. 1 Cor. 15:9-10, 56-58; Tit. 2:11-12.

Related Posts: No Law, No Transgression (Rom 4:15), Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4), Free from Son (Rom 6:15-23)

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Baptism in the Likeness of Christ’s Death, Burial and Resurrection

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:1-4, ESV).  

Having established the facts that “we have been justified by faith … we have also obtained access by faith into this grace” (5:1-2), and “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (5:20), Paul must now avert potential misconceptions and indifference toward obedience, morality, and the ever-present dangers of sin (cf. 3:5-8). The thought of forgiven sinners continuing to sin evokes the definitive, “By no means!” [μὴ γένοιτο].¹ As to the true nature and purpose of God’s grace, it “was never supposed to be a tool to let people wallow in sin. Grace was extended so people would leave sin (2:4), not increase their participation in it.”²

Died To Sin

Carrying on the previous chapter’s theme of “sin” and “death” vs. “grace” and “life,” this section begins with the rhetorical use of “we” that immediately includes the reading audience. Against the spiritual “death” incurred by sin (5:12-21), Paul reminds the sanctified ones in Rome (1:7) that “repentance” (2:4) must accompany their obedient response to the gospel, so instead of living [ἐπιμένω] in—having “cordial relations with” and “persisting in” (cf. 11:22, 23)—sin, “we … died to sin.” This is achievable because Christ himself “died to sin” (v. 10) and we “died with Christ” (v. 8) and have been raised from the waters of baptism to “walk in newness of life” (v. 4). 

True believers will demonstrate their faith by attempting to live in a way that is pleasing to him at all times. Those who allow sin to continue to dominate their lives reveal their lack of true devotion to Christ, and this inevitably raises questions about the reality of their claims to believe in him. To accept Christ as Savior is to accept Christ as Lord, and if that is to mean anything, it must mean everything.³

Baptized Into Christ Jesus

“Do you not know” is a rhetorical way of reaffirming what the readers already know.⁴ In fact, Paul uses a form of the word “know” in vv. 3, 6, 9. What he is saying is common knowledge among Christians. The eighteen first person plurals in vv. 2-9 are applicable to “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus.”⁵ The verb βαπτίζω means to submerge (in water),⁶ and the English word “baptize” is simply an anglicised form of the Greek. In obedience to the gospel, Paul himself had been baptized,⁷ which he also taught others to do, and wherever he and his coworkers evangelized, receptive hearers were baptized.⁸ Here Paul takes for granted that the sanctified ones in Rome have all been obedient to this divine directive as well.⁹

To be “in Christ” is to be integrated into the only spiritual realm wherein God’s gracious blessings are available, incl. “redemption” (3:24), “alive to God” (6:11), “eternal life” (6:23), “no condemnation” (8:1), “free … from the law of sin and death” (8:2), “the love of God” (8:39), “the truth” (9:1), and Christian unity (12:5). How, then, do we enter Christ to access these and all other spiritual blessings?¹⁰ Paul answers, with respect to penitent believers, “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus …” (cf. also Gal. 3:26-27). Elsewhere he writes, “we were all baptized into one body …” (1 Cor. 12:13); thus, to be “in Christ” is to be incorporated into his emblematic body – the church, the community of the saved.¹¹ The title “Christ” [Χριστός] recognizes Jesus as the long-anticipated Messiah who has inaugurated the messianic kingdom,¹² in which baptized believers participate both in the present age and in the age to come (cf. vv. 5-7; 14:17; 16:25-27; Eph. 1:15-23). 

Baptized Into Christ’s Death

Being justified before God is made possible by Jesus’s atoning “blood” (3:25; 5:9),¹³ which he shed in his death (5:6-10), the spiritual benefits of which are accessed when we are “baptized into his death.”¹⁴ The act of baptism is for those having “died to sin,” who are “buried” (in water) and “raised,” corresponding to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (the central theme of the gospel message), making forgiveness of sins and spiritual life available.¹⁵ This is how the saints in Rome “became obedient from the heart … freed from sin” (vv. 17-18; cf. 10:16). 

Walk In Newness of Life

As forgiven sinners, the relationship between God and penitent baptized believers is dramatically transformed through reconciliation when divine grace, “in which we stand,” is appropriated (5:2). But instead of remaining stationary, we “walk in newness of life.” The verbal “walk” [περιπατέω] portrays a persistent manner of life (cf. 8:1, 4; 13:13; 14:15), and the noun “newness” [καινότης] (cf. 7:6), synonymous with the adj. “new” [καινός],¹⁶ “denotes the fullness of the reality of salvation which Christ has given to Christians in comparison with the worthlessness of their former condition” (TDNT 3:451). “Repentance is a characteristic of the whole life, not the action of a single moment.”¹⁷

Conclusion

From the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he has been writing to penitent baptized believers sanctified in Christ. Whatever he says before, within, and after chap. 6 must be interpreted accordingly. To claim “justification by faith alone,” from chaps. 3, 4, 5, 10, or anywhere else in the letter to the exclusion of gospel obedience, is therefore to misunderstand and misappropriate Paul’s entire message. We are justified, saved, reconciled to God, and sanctified in Christ by divine grace through faith, involving an obedient faith-response to the gospel. In fact, the saving message of the gospel that Paul proclaimed stands on the foundational truth of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4), which penitent believers obey by dying to sin, being buried in the waters of baptism, then raised to faithfully walk in newness of life.

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ “Certainly not!” (NKJV), “Far from it!” (NASB 2020), “May it never be!” (NASB 1995), “Absolutely not!” (CSB), “Not at all!” (NIV), “Of course not!” (NLT), “By no means!” (NRSV), “God forbid” (ASV, KJV). See also 3:4, 6, 31; 6:15; 7:7; 1 Cor. 6:15; Gal. 3:21.

     ² Brad Price, Romans 120; cf. C. K. Barrett, Romans 131. 

     ³ Roger Mohrlang, Romans 25.

     ⁴ Rom. 6:3, 16; 7:1; 11:2; (cf. 10:19); 1 Cor. 3:16; 5:6; 6:2-19; 9:13, 24; 2 Cor. 13:5; comparable to the more straightforward “you know” (1 Cor. 12:2; 16:15; 2 Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:13; Eph. 5:5; Phil. 2:22; 1 Thess. 1:5; 2:2, 5, 11; 3:4; 4:2; 2 Thess. 2:6; 2 Tim. 1:15, 18), and opposite of “I want you to know” (1 Cor. 11:2; Col. 2:1).

     ⁵ The correlative pronoun ὅσος, “as many as” (LSV, NET, NKJV), is equivalent to “all” (CSB, ESV, ISV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, WEB). 

     ⁶ Matt. 3:6, 11, 13, 16; Mark 1:5, 8-10; Luke 3:16; John 1:26, 31, 33; 3:5, 23; Acts 8:36-39; 10:47; 11:16; Eph. 5:26; Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:20-21; 1 John 5:6, 8. 

     ⁷ Note “we were buried” [συνετάφημεν], “we” [ἡμεῖς] (v. 4); cf. Acts 9:6, 18b; 22:10, 16; 1 Cor. 12:13.  

     ⁸ Acts 16:14-15, 29-34; 18:8; 19:1-5; 1 Cor. 1:14, 16; 12:13; 15:1-4; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 4:5; 5:26; Col. 2:12; Tit. 3:5.

     ⁹ “From this and other references to baptism in Paul’s writings, it is plain that he did not regard baptism as an ‘optional extra’ in the Christian life. He took it for granted that the Roman Christians, who were not his converts, had been as certainly baptized as his own converts were” (F. F. Bruce, Romans 129).

     ¹⁰ Eph. 1:3; cf. also 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:7, 11; Col. 1:14; 2:10; 2 Tim. 2:10; et al.

     ¹¹ Cf. Rom. 1:6-7; 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 1:2; 12:12-27; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16; 3:6; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:23, 30; Col. 1:18, 24. 

     ¹² See K. L. Moore, “The Kingdom of God (Part 3),” Moore Perspective (25 Jan. 2014), <Link>. 

     ¹³ Cf. Matt. 26:28; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Col. 1:20; Heb. 9:12-28; 10:19, 29; 13:12, 20; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; 5:6-8; Rev. 1:5; 5:9; 7:14; 12:11.

     ¹⁴ Systematically evaluated, sins are removed by Christ’s blood (Rev. 1:5) at baptism (Acts 22:16); Christ’s blood cleanses the conscience (Heb. 9:14) at baptism (1 Pet. 3:21); Christ’s blood saves (Rom. 5:9) at baptism (Mark 16:15-16); Christ’s blood was shed at his death (John 19:33-35), we are baptized into his death (Rom. 6:3-4).

     ¹⁵ Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:37-38; 8:36-39; 22:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:4-6; 4:5; Col. 2:12; 1 Pet. 3:20-21.

     ¹⁶ Cf. 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:15; 4:24. 

     ¹⁷ Sinclair Ferguson, The Grace of Repentance 10. 

Related Posts: United with Christ (Rom 6:5-14), The Church in the Gospel Plan, What Must I Do To Be Saved?, Faith and Works: Romans, Abbreviated Gospel

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The Broad Reach of Justification (Romans 5:12-21): Part 2

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:15-17, ESV).

Death in Adam Vs. Life in Christ

What Jesus accomplished in his death does not merely correspond to the predicament instigated by Adam but far exceeds it, “much more” [πολλῷ μᾶλλον] (cf. vv. 9, 10, 15, 17), so “if Adam’s fall had the effect of producing the ruin of many, the grace of God is much more efficacious in benefitting many, since admittedly Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to ruin.”¹ Reference to the “free gift” [χάρισμα]² or “act of grace,”³ and the “free gift” [δωρεά]⁴ in “grace” [χάρις],⁵ are reminders of what has already been affirmed: justification is a “free gift” [δωρεάν] by God’s “grace” [χάρις] (3:24). Further, “eternal life” (cf. 2:7; 5:21) is the “free gift” [χάρισμα] (“act of grace”) of God in contrast to “death” as something earned, i.e., the “wages” [ὀψώνια] of sin (6:23; cf. 4:4-5). Association with our physical progenitor “Adam” (Heb. adám, meaning “mankind”) renders us susceptible to sin and death, i.e., “condemnation” [κατάκριμα] (cf. v. 18), whereas our association with our spiritual forerunner Christ grants us redemption and life, i.e., “no condemnation” (8:1). “Our destiny is determined, if you will, by the community of which we are most essentially a part—'in Adam' or 'in Christ.'”⁶

Disobedience and Sin Vs. Obedience and Righteousness

“Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18-19, ESV).  

Following the explanatory digression of vv. 12b-17, Paul resumes the opening thought of v. 12a: “just as” [ὥσπερ] sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, “so then” [ἄρα οὖν],⁷ “as one trespass led to condemnation [κατάκριμα] for all men …” This defines “death through sin” as spiritual in nature, “because,” like Adam, “all sinned.” By contrast, “so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” The “many” (vv. 15, 19), expressing a large but indefinite number, is the “all” (v. 18) in each category, whether disobedient like Adam resulting in “condemnation,” or obedient like Christ resulting in “justification and life.” No one becomes a sinner unconditionally due to Adam’s sin, and no one is made righteous unconditionally as a result of the Lord’s death.⁸

Adam’s sin brings us death and condemnation by God; Christ’s righteousness brings us life and a warm welcome by God. Adam’s wrongdoing puts us under the judgment of God; Christ’s sacrifice brings us into the grace of God. Adam’s disobedience dooms us; Christ’s obedience saves us. And the good news is that the freeing power of the latter is greater than the enslaving power of the former…”⁹

Sin Increasing Vs. Grace Abounding

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21, ESV).

While the whole world is “held accountable to God,” the introduction of the Law of Moses essentially redefined “sin” (5:12-13) as “guilty transgression,” revealing and enhancing “knowledge of sin” (3:19-20)¹⁰ and thereby increasing the “trespass.” Before the law, ignorance of sin prevailed. This is certainly not a criticism of divine law, which was intended as a gracious gift to guide and protect Israel (2:18; 7:12, 14; 9:4), still serving “to make people aware of their desperate need for forgiveness and the saving grace of Christ apart from their observance of the law.”¹¹

With sin increasing, “grace abounded all the more” (cf. 5:2, 15). And the dominating influence of sin “in death” (cf. 5:14, 17a), something over which we have control (6:12), has been surpassed by the reign of grace “through righteousness” (cf. 5:17b). The ultimate result is “eternal life” (cf. 2:27; 6:22-23), provided only “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” concluding the fifth chapter of Romans with a key concept stated at the beginning, middle, and end (5:1, 11, 21; cf. also 7:25).

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ J. Calvin, Romans 114-15, as quoted in F. F. Bruce, Romans 124.  

     ² Qualified in 1:11 with the adj. “spiritual” [πνευματικός]. The “gifts” in 11:29 had been committed to Israel (cf. 3:2; 9:4-5); the “gifts” in 12:6 are inclusive of but not limited to the miraculous.

     ³ C. K. Barrett, Romans 113.

     ⁴ In Paul (5:15, 17; 2 Cor. 9:15; Eph. 3:7; 4:7). Elsewhere particularly ascribed to God (John 4:10; Acts 8:20) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 10:45; 11:17), and descriptive of heavenly-generated salvation (Heb. 6:4).

     ⁵ Paul uses χάρις twenty-six times in Romans, six in this chapter and five in chapter 11.

     ⁶ R. Mohrlang, Romans 96. 

     ⁷ ASV, CSB, NASB, BSB, BLB, ERV, GNT, LSV, MSB; “Therefore” (ESV, N/KJV, NRSV), “Consequently” (ISV, NIV, NET), “In conclusion” (NAB). 

     ⁸ R. C. Deaver, Romans 175. “When humankind declared its independence from God, it abandoned the only power which can overcome the sin which uses the weakness of the flesh, the only power which can overcome death…. guilt only enters into the reckoning with the individual’s own transgression. Human beings are not held responsible for the state into which they were born” (J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 97). See K. L. Moore, “Are Humans Totally Depraved from Birth?” Moore Perspective (1 July 2015), <Link>; and “Unconditional Election,” Moore Perspective (8 Jul 2015), <Link>. 

     ⁹ R. Mohrlang, Romans 96. 

     ¹⁰ See also Gal. 3:19, 22; 1 Tim. 1:9-10. It has been suggested that the adv. “where” [οὗ] in this passage is in reference to Israel (C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans 1:293).

     ¹¹ R. Mohrlang, Romans 21; cf. G. W. Hansen, Galatians 101.

Related Posts: Broad Reach of Justification (Part 1), Baptism: Death, Burial, Resurrection (Rom 6:1-4)

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The Broad Reach of Justification (Romans 5:12-21): Part 1

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come” (Rom. 5:12-14, ESV).

Paul uses an antithetical parallel to bring this section of the letter to a close with the universal perspective with which the discussion began (1:16-32). “Paul encapsulates all human history under the two archetypal figures (note the double ‘all’ of 5.18) – Adam and Christ – as embodying, in effect, the only two alternatives which the gospel opens to humankind.”¹ For a comparable analogy, see 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 45-49.

Sin Entered the World

“Therefore” [διὰ τοῦτο], “on account of this,” continuing and expounding upon the fact that “we have now received reconciliation” (v. 11), that which occasioned this great need is recounted. Sin and death entering the world through Adam, with consequent estrangement from God, necessitated Christ’s death that atones for sin and provides the way for life and reconciliation. Three descriptive terms are used interchangeably: (a) “sin” [ἁμαρτία] (vv. 12-21), that which is contrary to the holiness of God; (b) “transgression” [παράβασις] (v. 14), disobedience to a revealed command; and (c) the comparable “trespass” [παράπτωμα] (vv. 15-20), generally a sinful act.

Paul begins the thought with, “just as [ὥσπερ] sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin …” But he does not continue the thought until v. 18, with the connecting particles “so then” [ἄρα οὖν] (ASV, CSB, NASB). In between is an extended parenthetical digression starting with, “and so” [καὶ οὕτως] (vv. 12b-17). 

Death Through Sin

Human “sin [ἁμαρτία] came into the world” when Adam violated an explicit commandment of God: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17); enjoined even before Eve was created (Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-6).² Since Adam did not literally die the very day he violated this command (Gen. 3:6–5:5), the phrase “in the day” applies to eating the forbidden fruit and thus breaking God’s law. The promise “you shall surely die” simply states a fact about the future without specifying the time.³ Nevertheless, the text introduces “death” as a figure of speech with spiritual ramifications that becomes clearer as divine revelation unfolds. 

Biblically defined, physical death, which naturally occurs when separated from the tree (source) of life (Gen. 3:22-24), is effected when the human spirit is detached from the physical body.⁴ Spiritual death—the consequence of sin (Rom. 6:23)—is severance from God (the supreme source of life).⁵ While Adam did not physically expire the moment he ate the forbidden fruit (although the countdown had begun), he did consequently break his intimate relationship with God, thus fulfilling the words of Gen. 2:17. 

The concept of dying, in the context of Romans 5, is not merely physical death (to which even the innocent are subject) but spiritual death (alienated from God in need of reconciliation) as the ultimate effect of sin (cf. 1:32; 5:12; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5; 8:6).⁶ There is a fundamental difference between physical death, to which all mortals are amenable,⁷ and spiritual death, which is the consequence of personal sin (2:6-9; 3:23). This distinction between physical death and spiritual death is crucial to understanding the otherwise perplexing words of Paul in this passage (and of Jesus in John 11:25-26). We all die physically because of Adam’s sin, but each accountable person is responsible for the sins he or she commits (Rom. 2:6; 14:12)—leading to spiritual death—and is therefore in need of the spiritual life (reconciliation) only Jesus can provide (5:9-11).

Comparable to “perish” [ἀπόλλυμι] (2:12), the “death” which “spread to all men because all sinned”⁸ has already been identified as God’s wrath and judgment against sinners in need of redemption (3:5-23),⁹ “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23). Note the parallel between “death” [θάνατος] (5:12) and “condemnation” [κατάκριμα] (v. 18a), contrasted with “justification” [δικαίωσις] of “life” [ζωή] (v. 18b). The spiritual nature of this so-called “death” is implied by its spiritual consequence and the remedying response of Jesus’s death, allowing “no condemnation” (8:1). In fact, reconciliation resulting from sin’s forgiveness implies a prior separation because of sin. 

Sin Prior to the Law

The aorist tense of “sinned” [ἥμαρτον] indicates a time prior to Christ’s redemptive work (the groundwork laid in the first three chapters of Romans), while “sin indeed was in the world before the law was given .… death reigned from Adam to Moses …” (cf. 1:18-32). There was an extended period, including the time of Abraham (4:1-22), without a specially revealed and recorded law-code from God comparable to the Law of Moses. But even “apart from the law” (3:21, 28), sin has been present in the world since the days of Adam. There has never been a time without law toward God (cf. 1 Cor. 9:21).¹⁰ Three dispensations of biblical history are noted here: (a) from Adam to Moses—a period fraught by ignorance apart from direct revelation; (b) from Moses to Christ—a period of instruction fraught by defiance and rebellion; and (c) from Christ to the present—a period of redemption.

It is “sin” [ἁμαρτία] that is not “counted” [ἐλλογέω] or “imputed” (ASV, N/KJV) “where there is no law” (cf. 2:12; 3:19-20; 4:15). Instead, the conscious and deliberate breach of a known law is more specifically understood as “transgression” [παράβασις] (v. 14; cf. 2:23; 4:15),¹¹ of which Adam was guilty (long before the Mosaic system) through willful disobedience. “In other words, ‘transgression’ is ‘sin counted’…. deliberate breach of divine command.”¹² In this sense, therefore, sin is counted or imputed according to the divine law to which a person is amenable, whether the pre-Mosaic “work of the law … written on their hearts” (2:14-15) and supplemented by direct revelation (4:3-22; 5:12-19), or the pre-Christian Law of Moses (2:12-13, 18; 3:19), or presently the gospel of Christ (1:16-17; 2:16). This counters, incidentally, any false rumors or accusations about Paul allegedly promoting sin by dismissing the legalistic works of the Jewish Law (3:1-8; 6:1; cf. Gal. 5:1-23).

The Reign of Death

Due to rampant iniquity, spiritual “death reigned” until the time of Moses, when the Law was issued “because of transgressions” as a temporary measure until the coming of Christ (Gal. 3:16, 19). The Lord Jesus is “the one who was to come,” the spiritual antitype of Adam. All along the descendants of Adam have been guilty of sin, even though their “sinning was not like the transgression of Adam.” Humanity has not broken the particular law Adam was amenable to, nor is mankind punished for transgressing an explicit command of the Mosaic Law. Nonetheless, all are without excuse for respectively breaching the applicable revelation of the divine will (1:20; 2:1, 12; 3:9-23).

--Kevin L. Moore

Endnotes:

     ¹ J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 94.

     ² It was beyond the scope of Paul’s argument and illustration to explain the Genesis 3 story in detail, and Eve was certainly not without culpability (cf. 1 Tim. 2:14). But Adam was the designated leader of his family and, as such, was held accountable (Gen. 2:18, 23-24; 3:6, 16; Eph. 5:22-33; 1 Tim. 2:13).

     ³ Note that “death was not part of the original divine intention in creation. ‘Death,’ which initially had no place within the world, ‘entered the world.’ …. death is not simply the natural consequence of the created state. It is the consequence of sin…. Paul asserts a continuum of life ending in death which stretches from Adam to the present” (J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 95).

     ⁴ James 2:26; cf. Eccl. 12:7; John 19:30; Acts 7:59.

     ⁵ Ex. 32:33; Isa. 59:1-2; Ezek. 14:7; Hab. 1:12-13; Eph. 2:1, 5; 4:18; 1 John 1:5-6.

     ⁶ See also Rom. 5:17, 21; 7:10, 13; 8:2; 2 Cor. 2:16; Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 2:13; Jas. 1:15; 5:20; 1 John 3:14; Rev. 20:14; 21:8. It is “evident that Paul was operating with a double conception of death. In this case it is the distinction between the death of humanity as an outcome of Adam’s first transgression and death as a consequence or even penalty for one’s own individual transgressions. Presumably … distinction between natural death and spiritual death” (J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 96).

     ⁷ 1 Cor. 15:21-22; Heb. 9:27; Jas. 2:26.

     ⁸ On the Calvinistic doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity (“original” or “inherited” sin), see K. L. Moore, “Are Humans Totally Depraved from Birth?” Moore Perspective (1 July 2015), <Link>. 

     ⁹ This is the “second death” of Rev. 20:14; 21:8; cf. 2 Tim. 1:10. 

     ¹⁰ “Sin” is defined as “lawlessness” [ἀνομία] (4:7; 6:19; cf. 1 John 3:4), not the complete absence of any kind of law but living without compliance to law’s standard. 

     ¹¹ Note also “trespass” [παράπτωμα] (vv. 15-20).

     ¹² J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 96.

Related Posts: Broad Reach of Justification (Part 2), Justification, Peace, Hope (Rom 5:1-2)

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