Romans 6 Bible Study: Alive in Christ!

Major Jane Mylechreest encourages us to choose freedom.

Key text

Romans 6:1–14

I recently visited the town where I grew up in America. I enjoyed driving around to see the house where we lived, the schools I attended, the library, the swimming pool and the ice cream shop. It’s strange, both good and bad, to be physically in a place that is so strong in your memories.

Pause and reflect

Have you ever been back to visit a place from your childhood? How did it compare to what you remembered?

Although the town was familiar, it’s not the place where I live any more. It’s not the place I belong any more. Everyone experiences this. There are places we used to be part of, sometimes for years. Yet time passes – we grow up, leave school, leave home, move house, get different jobs. Eventually, we might get to retire!

You might like to visit your old school, but would you put on the uniform, walk in, sit down and take a maths exam? If you quit your job in a fast-food chain, would you pop in one day, grab a mop and start cleaning the toilets? If you went past your old house, would you cut the grass in the front garden? No! You don’t have to do those things any more.

Pause and reflect

Think of something you are glad to never have to do again.

In Romans 6:2 we read: ‘We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?’ Jesus has freed us from our previous life where we were controlled by sin – not just from an old school or an old job, but a life that was harmful to us and to others.

Sin might make us do things we don’t want to do. It can take away our dignity, build anger and resentment, or be present as lust or greed. Sin doesn’t reward us or benefit us. It just makes us feel ashamed and can ruin our relationships. Sin is insatiable. And it won’t let go. The power of sin over us is stronger than a boss or a coach – the Bible tells us it’s more like a slave master. We can’t outgrow it, quit it or run away from it. The only way out is death to it. A dead person can’t be controlled, can’t be cajoled, can’t be blackmailed or berated or coerced or convinced. When a person is dead to sin, they no longer belong to sin.

Paul writes good news: ‘We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin’ (vv6 and 7).

Jesus died on the cross, but he rose to life and can never die again. By asking his forgiveness for our sins, we can join with his death – not a physical death on a cross, rather a death to sin. By turning a completely new direction, we can move away from sin and towards God instead.

How? We ask for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong (see 1 John 1:9), we confess – recognise, admit, proclaim, declare out loud – that ‘Jesus is Lord!’ (see Romans 10:9), and we choose to live for him (see 2 Corinthians 5:15).

Pause and reflect

Have you asked God for forgiveness for the things you do wrong?
Have you said out loud that Jesus is Lord?
Have you made a clear, definite choice to live for God and not for yourself?
If so, you are no longer a slave to sin, but you belong to God. Just like Jesus rose again, you can rise into a new, different kind of life where you want to do God’s will.

God’s forgiveness is free to anyone who asks.

The temptation to sin is still present in our lives, but the Holy Spirit can help us resist it. It’s like seeing your head teacher on the street and knowing he can’t make you wear a blazer and tie any more. Sin will try to boss you around, but you don’t have to obey it any more.

God’s forgiveness is free to anyone who asks, but it was costly. Jesus’ death was painful and humiliating and he went through it so we can be free. Now that he has shown us such abundant, amazing kindness, are we going to look back over our shoulders at the sin we left behind? Paul asks: ‘Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase?’ (v1) and emphatically states: ‘By no means!’ (v2)

You don’t have to obey sin. So, don’t go where it will start trying to control you again! Paul urges his readers: ‘Do not offer any part of yourself to sin’ (v13). Don’t go back to visit the old life you had, where sin had power over you.

Stay away from the places that led you to temptation – the physical places, the online places, the places in your mind.

Pause and reflect

What strategies do you have to help you stay away from the things that tempt you?
How does the Holy Spirit steer you in the right direction?

‘Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life’ (v13). Like Jonah released from the big fish, or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walking out of the fiery furnace, or Lazarus emerging from his tomb, we walk away free and alive. Next, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God (see Romans 12:1). We are not just dead to sin; we are alive to love him, to worship him and to join with him in bringing his Kingdom to Earth.