Romans 6

Romans 6 is a very important chapter because Paul explains what grace really does in the believer. Grace does not give a person permission to continue in sin. Instead, grace brings the believer into union with Christ, so that the old life of sin is counted as dead and a new life begins. Through Christ’s death, the believer is delivered from the slavery of sin, and through Christ’s resurrection, the believer is given power to walk in newness of life. Paul’s main point is that a Christian is not merely forgiven while remaining under the rule of sin; he has been joined to Christ and is now called to live as someone who is alive to God.

Romans 6:1-2 (NKJV)
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Paul answers a wrong idea that some people might have about grace. If grace forgives sin, does that mean we should continue sinning so that grace can be shown even more? Paul strongly says, “Certainly not!” Grace is not a license to sin. The reason is that believers have died to sin. This means that in Christ, they are no longer under the old rule and slavery of sin. A person who has truly received Christ has entered into a new relationship with God, and it would be completely inconsistent to continue living as though sin is still his master. Grace does not leave us in sin; grace delivers us from sin’s dominion.

Romans 6:3-4 (NKJV)
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Paul explains that baptism represents the believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection. When a person is baptized into Christ, he is identifying with Christ’s death, meaning the old life of sin is buried with Him. But baptism does not only point to death; it also points to resurrection. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, the believer is also raised to walk in newness of life. This means Christianity is not only about having past sins forgiven, but about receiving a new life from God. The old life ruled by sin is to be left behind, and the believer is now to live by the life and power of Christ.

Romans 6:5 (NKJV)
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Paul says that if we have been joined to Christ in His death, then we will also share in His resurrection life. This has both a present and future meaning. In the future, believers will share in the bodily resurrection when Christ returns. But even now, believers are raised spiritually with Christ to live a new life. This means that the Christian life is not based on trying harder in the strength of the old self, but on sharing in the life of the risen Christ. Because we are united with Him, His victory becomes the basis of our victory, and His life becomes the power by which we live.

Romans 6:6 (NKJV)
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Paul explains that our “old man” was crucified with Christ. The old man refers to the old life we had in Adam, the life ruled by sin, self, and separation from God. In Christ, that old life has been put to death so that the “body of sin” might be rendered powerless. This does not mean the physical body is evil, but that the body which was once used by sin as its instrument no longer has to be controlled by sin. The purpose of this is clear: we should no longer be slaves of sin. Christ did not die only to forgive us while leaving us in bondage; He died to break the power of sin and bring us into freedom.

Romans 6:7 (NKJV)
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Paul gives a simple principle: a dead person is no longer under the authority of his old master. In the same way, the believer who has died with Christ is freed from sin’s dominion. This does not mean temptation disappears or that the believer can never make a mistake, but it means sin no longer has the legal or spiritual right to rule over him. The believer now belongs to Christ. He is not a helpless slave to sin anymore. Through union with Christ, he has been brought out from under sin’s control and is now free to live unto God.

Romans 6:8 (NKJV)
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Paul says that if we died with Christ, we also believe that we shall live with Him. This life with Christ includes eternal life in the future, but it also begins now. The believer does not only share in Christ’s death to sin; he also shares in Christ’s resurrection life. This is the secret of the Christian life. God does not merely command us to live better; He gives us the life of His Son. To live with Christ means to live in fellowship with Him, depending on His power, His Spirit, and His righteousness. The Christian life is Christ living in us.

Romans 6:9 (NKJV)
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

Paul points to the permanence of Christ’s resurrection. Christ was raised from the dead, and He will never die again. Death has no more dominion over Him. This is important because believers are joined to a living Christ who has completely conquered death. His resurrection is not temporary; it is final and victorious. Because we are united with Him, we share in the power of His victory. Sin and death belonged to the old realm, but Christ has passed beyond their dominion, and those who are in Him are called to live in the reality of His victorious life.

Romans 6:10 (NKJV)
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Christ died to sin once for all. This means His death was complete and final. He came into the place where sin had brought humanity, and He dealt with it fully. But now that He is risen, He lives unto God in perfect, unbroken fellowship. This becomes the pattern for the believer. In Christ, we are to see ourselves as finished with the old life of sin and alive to God. The Christian life is not a life of repeatedly going back under sin’s rule, but a life lived toward God through the risen Christ.

Romans 6:11 (NKJV)
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul now tells believers how to think about themselves. They are to “reckon” or count themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. This does not mean pretending something is true when it is not true. It means believing and accepting what God says is true because of our union with Christ. The believer must not define himself by his old life, old failures, or old slavery to sin. He must see himself as God sees him in Christ: dead to sin’s dominion and alive to God. This faith response is important because victory begins when we believe the reality God has given us in His Son.

Romans 6:12 (NKJV)
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

Because the believer is dead to sin and alive to God, Paul says not to let sin reign in the mortal body. Sin may still try to tempt, influence, and pull the believer through bodily desires, but it no longer has the right to rule. The command “do not let” shows that in Christ, the believer is no longer helpless. He can refuse sin’s rule because he now has a new life and a new Master. The body must no longer be governed by sinful desires, but brought under the direction of the life of Christ. Grace gives the believer power to say no to sin and yes to God.

Romans 6:13 (NKJV)
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Paul tells believers not to offer the parts of their body as instruments for sin. The hands, eyes, tongue, mind, and whole body must not be given to unrighteousness. Instead, believers are to present themselves to God as those who are alive from the dead. This means they are to live with the understanding that they no longer belong to the old life. They have been made alive in Christ, and now their bodies are to become instruments of righteousness for God. The issue is not merely avoiding bad behavior, but yielding the whole person to God so that His righteousness can be expressed through the believer’s life.

Romans 6:14 (NKJV)
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 6:14 (NKJV)
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Paul is teaching that sin should no longer rule over the believer. “Sin shall not have dominion over you” means sin no longer has the rightful authority to control the life of a person who is in Christ. Before coming to Christ, sin ruled the heart, controlled the desires, and kept the person in bondage. But through union with Christ in His death and resurrection, that old dominion has been broken. This does not mean the believer will never be tempted, or that the flesh will never try to rise again, but it means sin is no longer the master. Paul is not saying that God’s moral law has been abolished. He is saying that the believer is no longer “under law” as a system of condemnation, outward obligation, and human effort. The law can reveal sin, expose guilt, and show what righteousness looks like, but it cannot place the life of Christ inside the heart. When a person is merely under law, sin still has dominion because the law commands righteousness but does not give power to produce it. But believers are now “under grace.” Grace is not permission to sin; grace is God’s saving power in Christ. Under grace, God not only forgives sin but gives the believer the life of Christ through His Spirit. This frees the believer from the inward law of sin and death and from the old ministry of the letter that only condemns. This agrees with Romans 7:6, where Paul says that believers have been delivered from the law so that they should serve “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Therefore, grace does not free us to continue in sin; grace frees us from sin, from condemnation, and from powerless religion, so that Christ may live in us and produce true obedience from the heart.

Romans 6:15 (NKJV)
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

Paul again answers a possible misunderstanding of grace. Some may think that because believers are not under law but under grace, they are free to continue in sin. Paul strongly rejects this. Grace does not mean freedom to sin; grace means freedom from sin. Being “under law” means standing under a system where the law condemns the sinner but cannot give him power to overcome sin. Being “under grace” means standing under God’s saving power in Christ, where forgiveness, life, and victory are given freely. Therefore, grace does not make sin acceptable; grace breaks sin’s dominion and enables the believer to live in obedience to God.

Romans 6:16 (NKJV)
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Paul explains that a person becomes the servant of whatever he chooses to obey. If a person yields himself to sin, sin becomes his master, and the result is death. But if a person yields himself to God, the result is obedience leading to righteousness. Paul’s point is that nobody is truly neutral. A person is either under the rule of sin or under the rule of God. Grace does not place us in a middle ground where we can live for ourselves; grace transfers us from the slavery of sin into the service of righteousness. True freedom is not doing whatever the flesh wants, but being set free to obey God from the heart.

Romans 6:17 (NKJV)
17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Paul gives thanks to God because the believers were no longer slaves of sin. In the past, sin ruled over them, but now they have obeyed from the heart the teaching of the gospel. This obedience was not merely outward or forced; it came from a heart that had responded to the truth. The gospel did not simply give them new information; it brought them into a new experience. They were delivered to a new teaching, a new Master, and a new life in Christ. This shows that true Christianity is not just a change of belief on the outside, but a heart surrender to the truth of God.

Romans 6:18 (NKJV)
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Paul shows the great change that has happened in the believer. Once, they were slaves of sin, but now they have been set free through Christ. However, this freedom does not mean independence from God or living according to self. It means they have now become servants of righteousness. Every person serves something. Before Christ, sin was the master; after receiving Christ, righteousness becomes the new master. This is not bondage in a negative sense, but the true freedom of living under God’s life, God’s Spirit, and God’s purpose. The believer is freed from sin so that he may live unto God.

Romans 6:19 (NKJV)
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

Paul uses simple human language because of the weakness of the flesh, meaning he explains spiritual truth in a practical way they can understand. Before coming to Christ, they gave their bodies and lives to uncleanness and lawlessness, and this led only to more lawlessness. Sin never stays still; when a person serves sin, it increases its control and leads deeper into corruption. But now Paul says they must present themselves to righteousness in the same deliberate way they once gave themselves to sin. Their hands, thoughts, words, actions, and whole life are now to be given to God. The result is holiness, meaning a life separated from sin and dedicated to God.

Romans 6:20 (NKJV)
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Paul reminds them of their former condition. When they were slaves of sin, they were “free” from righteousness, meaning righteousness had no control over their lives. They were not living under God’s rule or producing the fruit of His character. This kind of freedom was not true freedom; it was actually slavery to sin. A person may think he is free because he follows his own desires, but if those desires are controlled by sin, he is still a slave. Before Christ, they were separated from the power of righteousness and unable to live the life God intended.

Romans 6:21 (NKJV)
21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Paul asks them to look back at their old life and consider what fruit it produced. The things they once practiced now bring shame, because they can see clearly that those things had no true value. Sin may promise pleasure or freedom, but its fruit is emptiness, shame, corruption, and death. Paul wants believers to remember that their old life did not lead them closer to God or give them real life. It only led toward death. This reflection helps them see why they should never desire to return to the slavery from which Christ has delivered them.

Romans 6:22 (NKJV)
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

Paul now contrasts the old life with the new life in Christ. Believers have been set free from sin and have become servants of God. This new service produces fruit unto holiness. In other words, the life of God begins to show itself in the believer through a changed character, changed desires, and a life that is increasingly separated from sin. The final result is everlasting life. This shows that salvation is not only about being forgiven from past sins, but about being brought into a new life under God, where His righteousness bears fruit in us and leads to eternal life.

Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul summarizes the two paths. Sin pays wages, and its wages are death. This means that sin always leads to separation from God, corruption, and final destruction. Death is what sin earns. But eternal life is different; it is not wages earned by human effort. It is the gift of God, freely given in Christ Jesus our Lord. This life is not merely living forever; it is the life of God received through Christ, a life of fellowship with Him, freedom from sin, and final victory over death. Sin gives what is deserved, but God gives what we could never earn: eternal life in His Son.