I don’t know if I can do justice to this chapter in which Paul has some deep, deep statements about our being “dead to sin”.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ² Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for the one who has died is freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

I want to make this really simple and applicable to our struggle with the flesh and sin. But it’s like laparoscopic surgery: AI “A surgical procedure where the fix is simple but requires access to deeper body parts could be described as a minimally invasive surgery or a laparoscopic surgery according to Yale Medicine. These procedures use small incisions and specialized instruments, allowing surgeons to reach the area needing repair with minimal disruption to surrounding tissues. It is frequently used for abdominal procedures, including hernia repairs and other conditions requiring access to the abdominal cavity. Surgeons insert a laparoscope (a thin, lighted tube with a camera) through small incisions, allowing them to visualize the surgical area and perform the repair.” A very simple repair but the surgeon has to get deep into the body to do the repair. In Romans 6 Paul takes us deep in order to give us a simple fix to the power of sin in our lives.

Paul made a statement in chapter 5 that led to the discussion in chapter 6. Romans 5:²⁰ The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Grace covers all sin. Jesus said in Luke 7:47 “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” Two sinners are both forgiven by the grace of God: one has 1,000 sins forgiven, the other has 100. One might be tempted to say that the one forgiven 1,000 sins received more grace, which is true in a way. But then someone might say, “well, if you get more grace when you sin more, then now that I have grace to cover my sins then why not just sin more and get more grace. It grace covers us no matter how much we sin, then why not just sin more after you become a Christian.”

Technically, you would be forgiven more if you sin more as a Christian. So why not just keep sinning and get even more grace. But Paul refutes the temptation to think like this. Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? ² Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” Paul goes on to say 3 times, “you died to sin”. When did you die to sin? When you were buried with Christ in baptism. The word “baptism” in the Greek means “to immerse, to dip”. It is not a sprinkling or pouring of water over a person. It is a burial, just as Jesus was buried in the tomb. Someone might say, “what difference does it make how much water is used?” Ask Namaan the leper that question. He hesitated when told to dip in the river Jordan 7 times to be cleansed of his leprosy, but he finally humbled himself and obeyed and was cleansed. The fact is that Jesus said, “he that believes and is baptized (immersed, dipped in water) shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). That’s enough for me! I chose to be immersed in water in my baptism just to obey Jesus and be safe. I did it when I was old enough to know what I was doing. But baptism is more than just a command to be obeyed. It is a beautiful picture of our old “body of sin” was buried and then raised from the water (again, implying immersion first) to “walk in newness of life just as Jesus’ dead body was buried but then raised to live again, never to die again. Paul said in Ephesians 2:1 “you were dead in your trespasses and sins” but in 2: ⁵ even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up with Him. When we are baptism we are raised from the dead spiritually. We have eternal life and, unless we fall from grace (which is possible), we will never die spiritually again. Our new resurrected body will contine to live eternally even when we die physically. We will have “immortality” which is only promised to believers in Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:53-36). John 11:²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies (physical death), ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die (spiritually).”

So why should I try so hard to not sin after being baptized if grace will cover me (unless I fall from grace) no matter if I keep on sinning a lot? This is a mental thing. I have crawled under my 2 foot high crawl space 50 times (it seems) getting out buckets of water from a terrible irresponsible plumbing mistake when the house was first built 17 years ago. I crawled in the mud trying to pull the plastic vapor barrier back and dry out the mud that dumping many gallons of tub water poured directly into the crawl space because of that mistake. When I finally dried out most of the mud and pulled the plastic vapor barrier back over the mud, my pants and shirt (I always used the same ones to crawl under with) were so caked in mud that I asked my wife if she should wash them for me (she still washes my clothes, sorry ladies if that bothers you!) or if I should just throw them away. She said “throw them away” and I did. My old clothes went into the garbage bin outside and were carried far away to the dump a few days later. It felt so good to get rid of those muddy clothes once for all. Do you think that I even wanted to go get them back out of the garbage bin and wear them again? Do you think that I ever wanted to go to the city dump and retrieve them and wear them again? Of course not.

Ok, we did the spiritual laparoscopic surgery. We got deep, and now the fix is simple. The fix is a mental thing, howbeit hard to apply in real life. My old self (the muddy shirt and pants) were thrown away at baptism. You will be forgiven for future sins after that (unless you fall from grace), but why would you ever want to put that old self of sin back on again. Of course, the reason you might want to do that is because of your flesh and lusts that are always tempting you. But every time you are tempted to sin, you must say “no, I am not going to put those old muddy clothes back on; I am done with sin”. Our lusts still have the power to get us to sin after baptism, but sin no longer has the power to kill me spiritually. Hebrews 2:¹⁴ Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” 1 Corinthians 15:⁵⁴ But when this perishable (our physical body)puts on the imperishable (eternal life spiritual body), and this mortal (physical body) puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death (spiritual death) has been swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵ Where, O Death (spiritual death) is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 John 5:¹⁸ We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. ¹⁹ We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” The devil, even if he is still active (which is debatable since he was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone in 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed), can get you to sin (maybe just indirectly through his getting you to sin by yielding to your lusts). James says in James 1:¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵ Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death (spiritual death).”

This is not a one time surgery like repairing a hernia with laparoscopic surgery, solving the problem permanently. This is a constant ongoing war of the flesh and the spirit with many battles (losing a lot of those battles). Galatians 5:¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want.” This is a constant ongoing war, often losing many battles, for mind control. Romans 7:²¹ I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, ²³ but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from ^[y]the body of this death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” Romans 8: ⁵ For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

That’s where the Spirit of God comes in to help you win battles and win the war with sin. I was never really tempted to go get those muddy clothes out of the garbage bin, but I am often tempted to put back on my old self of sin and its many lusts. Paul said that we are “freed from sin” (Romans 6:7). He is not saying that we are freed from ever committing sin, but that we are freed from the power of sin to kill us spiritually ever again (unless we fall from grace). Hopefully we will never make the “practice of sin” a habit in our lives after baptism. 1 John 3:⁴ Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who remains in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him or knows Him. ⁷ Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; ⁸ the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God.” Again, a mental thing. I still help coach volleyball. It’s one thing to go to the gym and hit a few volleyballs, but it’s another thing to start volleyball practice where we want to keep hitting volleyballs because we enjoy volleyball and want to get better at it.” John makes a strong statement in these verses. The truly born again baptized believer will not practice sin or sin “continually” (NASB). He will sin, but he will fight the flesh and try not to sin, certainly not to practice sin. John even says he “cannot sin” continually. He is not saying that one truly born again is no longer capable of committing sin or that the Spirit will keep him from ever sinning again after baptism. John had already said that it was possible for us to sin after being born again: I once had a neighbor who said that he (and his fellow church members) could not sin. He said that even if he commited adultery, it wasn’t a sin (he told his wife that) b/c he was filled with the Spirit. 1 John 1: ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” John is saying that a truly born again believer just can’t practice sin or sin “continually”. His new resolve will just keep him from doing so. Not that it is impossible for him to do so, but that he will draw a line and say to his lusts, “I just can’t do that; you got me to yield to you a few times, but that’s it: I’m putting my foot down; I just can’t and won’t keep yielding to you! Jesus died to save me from sin and gave me a new nature and practicing sin goes against everything that Jesus did for me!” You have to talk to your lusts!

In the meantime while you are talking to your lusts and rebuking your lusts, the Spirit is telling you, “stand up to your lusts! Practicing sin is not your new self, your new forgiven nature.” The Spirit keeps reminding you how muddy and yucky those old muddy clothes were and asking you “why do you want to get them out of the garbage and wear them again?” It’s a mental thing. The Spirit is telling you, “Do you remember what it felt like wearing clothes caked in mud? How yucky you felt? How glad you felt to take them off and throw them away and take a hot shower?” The Spirit is our counselor to help us fight the battle of the mind control, the war with sin. But we must always be listening to the Spirit talking to us through the word and in whatever way that you feel that the Spirit speaks to you.

Peter gave the qualities of the Christian growth ladder in 2 Peter 2 and then said: 2:⁸ For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they do not make you useless nor unproductive in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For the one who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choice of you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; ¹¹ for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” Do you remember how great it felt to get saved from your sins when you were baptized? You came up out of that water with a smile, hugging everyone. You probably made a resolve to try to never sin again. Later you do sin, but hopefully you feel sorry about your sins b/c you know Jesus died for your sins, and you repent of any sin and ask forgiveness. But Peter is saying that through the practice of sin and the lack of practicing righteousness that you have “forgotten your purification from former sins”. You have forgotten how yucky the muddy clothes felt. You have forgotten how sorrowful you once were over your sinful condition. You are “short-sighted” or “nearsighted” spiritually. AI: “Nearsightedness, also known as myopia, is a condition where you can see objects close up clearly but have difficulty seeing objects that are far away.” You can see your sin really close up, you feel the urge to sin, your lusts are actively working on you can’t see or remember how bad that sin made you feel long ago when you decided to seek forgiveness for sin. “Spiritual nearsightedness, spiritual myopia.”

I know this has been long. It just kept growing one thought after another. The fix to keep us from practicing sin is a mental thing, but it is hard to apply in real life. After writing this article, I am going to try to “practice what I preach”. Every time I am tempted to give in to my lusts, I am going to try to listen to the Spirit telling me to stand up to my lusts and rebuke them. Have you ever had lustful sinful thoughts and emotions and yet you just kinda hid them b/c no one could see them, no one knew about them except you? So you didn’t really fight those sinful lusts and emotions. You just let them hang out in your mind and heart. Eventually those thoughts and emotions will lead to sinful action. I want to put those lusts out of my mind and replace them with pure thoughts. Paul talked about that. Philippians 4:⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹ As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” The peace of God, spiritual peace that comes from knowing the you have been saved by grace through the death of Jesus, will “guard” your heart (your emotions) and your mind (your thoughts). A guard stands at a house not allowing anyone or anything bad to get in the house. But the key is to replace those lustful thoughts and emotions with things that are pure, lovely, etc. I am going to try to do that.

What about you? Can you hear the Spirit telling you right now to let Him help you win the war?