GET INTO THE STUDY 5 minutes SAY: Today we will look at the victory we have over sin. SESSION 3 VICTORY OVER SIN DISCUSS: Draw attention to the picture (PSG, p. 36) as you introduce Question #1: What habits have you been happy to leave behind? GUIDE: Direct attention to The Bible Meets Life (PSG, p. 37). Highlight the author s example of how repentance has worked in his marriage. Reinforce the importance of faith in finding hope by reading The Point (PSG, p. 37): Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. PRAY: Begin the Bible study with prayer. Ask God to reveal personal sin and to give wisdom in understanding His Word in this study. Thank Him for the victory He promises over sin. The Point Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. The Bible Meets Life As Americans, we pride ourselves on being free people. We parade our rights and freedoms and applaud the one who stands as an individual free from others. But are we really free? True freedom is only an illusion without Christ. Without Him, we experience the worst form of slavery: being mastered by sin that leads to death. Victory over such a master is only possible because Christ has stepped in and set us free. The Passage Romans 6:4-14 The Setting In Romans 6 Paul related what Christ has done for us in His atoning death and glorious resurrection with what believers are then to do not to allow sin to reign over them, but rather to live their lives for God. What believers are in position, they are to become in practice. Through union with Christ, we no longer are dominated by sin. We now share in the resurrected life of Christ. 42 Session 3
Romans 6:4-7 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. KEY WORDS: Baptism into death (v. 4) Describes the believer s total identification with Christ s death for sin. Believers are baptized into Christ s death so they may walk in newness of life. Jesus frees us from slavery to sin. 1 Verse 4. Therefore refers to verses 1 3. In those verses Paul asserted that believers had died to sin because of their identification in their baptism into Christ s death. Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Rom. 6:3). Such a baptism burial marked both the end of the old life death to sin and the start of a new way of life in which believers are to walk or conduct themselves. [Paul] was using the ritual act of baptism as a symbol of the complete redemptive event that finds its effectual cause in the death of Christ and its completion in the faith of those who believe. 1 The Greek term for walk (peripateo) was a key word in Paul s ethics. He used it over 15 times to refer to the way of life the believer was expected to live. This way of referring to conduct was rare among ancient Greek writers but common within the Jewish tradition, where one s steps were to be guided by God s law (the Torah). In fact, the Hebrew term for such teaching, halakhot, is derived from the Hebrew verb translated to walk. Hence, Paul in Romans wrote of walking in newness of life (v. 4), walking according to the Spirit (8:4), and walking according to love (14:15). This newness of life is a life no longer dominated by sin. STUDY THE BIBLE Romans 6:4-7. 10 minutes SUMMARIZE: Before reading the passage, set the context by summarizing the information in The Setting on page 42. READ: Read or ask a volunteer to read Romans 6:4-7. SUMMARIZE: Use Bible Commentary 1 on this page and page 44, and the Key Words and Digging Deeper (PSG, p. 38) to discuss baptismal practices in the early church, and to highlight Paul s meaning as he referenced baptism into death. SAY: Baptism by immersion is important. We value it, not because it is necessary for salvation, but because it symbolically expresses the deepest meaning of our salvation. In baptism, we are symbolically buried with Christ. Just as Christ died and was buried, we also die and are buried. SUGGESTED USE WEEK OF MARCH 19 43
THE POINT Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. OPTION: IN ADVANCE, ask a group member to share a brief testimony of what his or her baptism portrayed and what significance it had for his or her own walk with Christ. GUIDE: Refer group members to PSG page 39. While the beauty and richness of the symbolic act of baptism can hardly be exhausted, our death is remembered in at least two ways. 1. We die because we recognize the penalty of our sinfulness. 2. We die because we give ourselves totally to Christ. DISCUSS: Question #2 (PSG, p. 40): What, in your own words, does it mean to be dead to sin? It is a life lived through the empowerment by God s Spirit (7:6), lived in light of the realities of the coming age of God s kingdom, and that reflects the values of that new age. With the words just as Christ was raised from the dead so we too may walk in newness of life, Paul emphasized that this new way of living for believers is based on the spiritual power derived from Christ s resurrection. Believers are summoned to a new way of life and empowered to live such lives because we have participated in Christ s death, burial, and resurrection. Paul s words Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father ground Christ s resurrection in divine action. While the words the glory of the Father often designate the majesty of God, as used here the phrase can also refer to the power of God. Verse 5. Paul s conditional sentence beginning with for if summarizes and affirms his statement of verse 4. The if clause starts with the known we have been united with him in the likeness of his death and becomes the basis for the then clause we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. That we are united with Christ not only points to a close union, but reminds believers that our new life is not self-originated but is derived from Christ, with whom we are now one. That we have been united further emphasizes that such was not our original condition but what we have become. Further, the Greek perfect tense of the verb indicates such union is permanent. Thus, while the believers death Paul writes of is not the same as Christ s, it is the likeness of his death, or similar to it. Christ s death was real and so is our death. Our union with Christ involves a real death to our former manner of life and a real resurrection to a new way of life. Verses 6-7. With the words we know Paul appealed to the Roman believers knowledge. Old self is literally old man. Paul also used this expression two other times (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9). In all these cases Paul wrote of the repudiation of the old self. The old self was a worn out self; a self that was crucified with him [Christ], indicating it was destroyed. All the old self stood for and over which sin ruled has been defeated ended. The past tense of the term in the Greek emphasizes the decisive end of the old self. Paul s words are clear: it was not just a part of our old nature that was crucified with Christ it was our complete old self what we were before our conversion the whole of it! 44 Session 3
2 Perhaps a brief contrast between Romans 6:6 and Galatians 5:24 would be helpful. In Romans Paul was speaking judicially or legally who believers are positionally before God. He referred to something that already has happened to believers. The believers old self has been crucified with Christ. We no longer face the penalty of sin. This past event is unique, never to be repeated. It refers to our identification with Christ. In Galatians 5:24, Paul wrote of what believers must do believers must crucify their old self, the sinful nature ( the flesh ). This action relates to the power of sin in believers lives in the present. It is a continuous, conscious action of the rejection of sin in one s daily life. It is something all believers must do for themselves as part of their progressive sanctification through the enabling presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16 25). 3 Paul then pointed to the twofold purpose for this death of the old self: so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless and so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. Human bodies are not in themselves sinful, but sin so dominated our fallen beings that our bodies belonged to sin. In fact, Paul s literal words are the body of sin, an expression he used only here, referring not to the anatomical (physical) body but to life prior to one s saving experience with Christ. The Greek verb translated powerless means defeated or deprived of power. Sin had made us its own and we had become enslaved to sin sin had become our master. No longer emphasizes what we were until we died with Christ but also reminds us of the great deliverance we have experienced since coming to Christ. Paul s statement in verse 7, since a person who has died is freed from sin, was meant to be understood in the context of the believer s dying with Christ. Being crucified with Christ has disabled our sinful self and resulted in our rescue from sin s slavery. When Paul wrote that such a person is freed from sin, he literally wrote, has been justified from sin. Justification is God s declarative act by which, on the basis of the sufficiency of Christ s atoning death, he pronounces believers to have fulfilled all of the requirements of the law that pertain to them. Justification is a forensic [legal] act imputing [crediting] the righteousness of Christ to the believer; it is not an actual infusing of holiness into the individual. It is a matter of declaring the person righteous, as a judge does in acquitting the accused. 2 It is this justification that frees us from slavery to sin. Those who have died with Christ are no longer answerable or obligated to their old master sin. The believer is now free to live for God. He or she can still choose to sin, but the believer is no longer a slave to sin. SUMMARIZE: Refer to Bible Commentary 2 to contrast Romans 6:6 to Galatians 5:24. Reinforce that Romans 6:6 was speaking judicially or legally to a past event, never to be repeated. We no longer face the penalty of sin because our old self has been crucified with Christ. In Galatians 5:24, the act of crucifying the old self is the continuous action of rejecting sin in one s daily life. SUMMARIZE: Refer to Bible Commentary 3 to explain the two-fold purpose of this death to the old self: 1. So that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless; and 2. So that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. DISCUSS: Question #3 (PSG, p. 39): Where do you see evidence that people are enslaved to sin? (Alternate: Why is dying to self so hard?) TRANSITION: Death is the first step in our journey that Paul discusses. The next step is living fully for Christ. 45
THE POINT Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. STUDY THE BIBLE Romans 6:8-11 10 minutes READ: Read or ask a volunteer to read Romans 6:8-11. SUMMARIZE: Use Bible Commentary 4 to explain what Paul meant by living with Christ. GUIDE: Refer to PSG pages 40-41 and point out that Christ calls us not only to die to our old lives, but also to live for Him in our new ones Just as we are buried with Christ in our baptism, we are raised to our new life in Him. Our new life in Christ is modeled after His new life after His resurrection. No longer in slavery to death s reality, Christ was raised by God to never die again. Romans 6:8-11 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. KEY WORD: Consider (v. 11) The Greek word is a bookkeeping metaphor; it invites reasoning and refers to making a calculation. It is to count on something as a fact. Jesus makes us spiritually alive. Verses 8-9. Paul began verse 8 as a conditional sentence, now if. Again, this conditional sentence does not express contingency but certainty and could be rendered as since. Verse 8 repeats the truths from verses 4 7. That we died with Christ, a decisive act in the past, is not an end in itself. We are to live with him. In verses 2 7 the language of death is prominent as he stressed burial and crucifixion. Now, however, the language of life and resurrection dominate. 4 Paul s verb in the words we will also live with him is future tense. Some Bible students have concluded that Paul was referring only to believer s eternal existence with Christ following the end-time resurrection. But based on Paul s words about walking, or living, as Christians, it is better to view this statement as living on the basis of the newness of life in the here and now because we have died to sin and seek to follow God s will and ways in this world. As in verse 6, Paul appealed to the Roman believers common Christian knowledge: we know. The Christian faith is not a blind faith but is built on knowledge. Christ died once (1 Pet. 3:18). He was raised once (Rom. 4:25). This will never happen again. The reason is that death, which once ruled over Him, no longer rules over him. Christ defeated 46 Session 3
death. That Christ will not die again reminds us that Christ s resurrection from the dead was not to mortal life but to a type of life of which He declared, I am the Living One. I was dead, but look I am alive forever and ever (Rev. 1:17 18). Verse 10. In contrast to Christ s once for all death to sin is His on-going life to God. That Christ died to sin does not mean He was a sinner or that He was subject to sin s power because of His humanity. He died with respect to sin, or for sin. His death was related to sin ours (2 Cor. 5:21). He took upon Himself the consequences of our sin. His death put away sin (Heb. 9:26). Now the life Christ lives, he lives to God His resurrected life is solely for the glory of God. The words do not imply that Christ formerly did not seek to live for God s glory. But they do imply the example or pattern that all those who have died to sin, been buried with Him into death, and been raised to new life in Him are to follow. As believers, we are to live to God, that is, to please Him by walking in His ways and according to His will. In this, the words lead us to the exhortation in verse 11. 5 Verse 11. In moving from doctrine to exhortation, Paul moved from the principle to what must be the Roman believers conviction. 3 So, you too shows that all of what Christ did has implications for believers. The mind of the Christian is important for holy living. Paul told believers to consider ( count or reckon ) a term that invites reasoning and refers to making a calculation. It is to count on something as a fact. Paul was exhorting them to reflect, to recollect, to remember; to let those truths register; and then to act on them. Paul told his fellow believers to consider yourselves in two new ways. The verb is a present imperative, indicating both that this is a continuing process throughout the Christian life and that believers continually need to remember and remind themselves of these two facts. First, believers need to consider themselves dead to sin. It does not mean we will no longer commit sins but that we are no longer enslaved to sin or dominated by it. Second, believers are to consider themselves alive to God. The believer s life is now redirected. Rather than seeking to please himself or his fallen nature, the believer s life is now focused on God, in service and in a desire to please Him. All of this is possible because believers are in Christ Jesus. It reminds us our new life is not due to ourselves but because of Christ. Jesus not only frees us from sin, He makes us spiritually alive! GUIDE: Use Key Word (p. 46; PSG, p. 40), Bible Commentary 5 and content from PSG page 41 to explain the meaning of the term consider. Highlight that this is an accounting term: To consider is simply to deal with the facts. An accountant does not balance the spreadsheet as she wishes; she considers the numbers in front of her and renders a truthful bottom line based on those numbers. Sin has no authority over our lives. Sin can t make us do anything anymore. We are no longer trapped in this endless cycle of guilt and shame, of promising to do better only to fail again. The bottom line is that we are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. DISCUSS: Question #4 (PSG, p. 42): Disciples of Jesus are dead to sin. Why, then, do we still struggle with sin? (Alternate: What does it look like to be dead to sin but alive to God?) TRANSITION: Next, we will see what it means to live under Christ s reign in our daily walk with Him. 47
THE POINT Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. STUDY THE BIBLE Romans 6:12-14 15 minutes READ: Read or ask a volunteer to read Romans 6:12-14. SUMMARIZE: Use Bible Commentary 6 to explain what Paul meant by the mortal body. GUIDE: Sin s effects and consequences can become incremental (PSG, p. 43): What the eyes see, the mind remembers. What the mind remembers, the heart desires. What we desire becomes what we do. What we do determines who we are. DISCUSS: Question #5 (PSG, p. 44): How can we help one another live out the freedom Jesus has made available to us? (Alternate: We live under grace and not the law. Why does this truth free us from sin s control?) Romans 6:12-14 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace. KEY WORD: Reign (v. 12) Meaning to rule or to have dominion, Paul used the term metaphorically of the reign of sin (v. 12), grace (5:21), and righteousness (v. 17). Our lives are to reflect that we are in Christ. 6 Verse 12. Therefore ties Paul s words that follow with those that preceded. It also introduces the conclusion of Paul s argument. In verses 12 13, he issued two negative commands, the effect of which was to remind his readers they had a choice. He exhorted his readers, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. That sin can reign over believers may seem strange in light of the fact that Paul had just stated that believers were set free from sin s power (v. 7) and that believers could now live a new life (v. 4). But sin not sins plural, but sin as a power can still reign in the lives of believers if they allow it! That believers are joined to or united with Christ, that believers are buried and raised with Christ, does not mean they are freed from either the temptations of sin, their own spiritual limitations, or their own fallen desires. By speaking of the body as mortal, Paul subtly hinted that, in contrast to the life lived for God, this body that responds to sin is passing away. It also reminds us that as long as we are in these mortal bodies we are subject to all the passions, pressures, weaknesses, temptations, conditions, and behaviors of mortality. The body is susceptible to desires. The word is neutral, being used of good desires as well as evil desires. Obviously, Paul here had evil desires in mind. 48 Session 3
Verse 13. Paul s second negative command was believers were not to offer any parts of their bodies to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. Paul s word offer was used of sacrificial offerings. Weapons could be translated as instruments or tools. Unrighteousness refers to wickedness. Then, in words that are a mirror image, Paul provided the proper course of action for the believer. But introduces the reverse action: they were to offer themselves and all the parts of their bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. What was the reason they could do this? They were alive from the dead spiritually. The Greek verb tense Paul used in his exhortation for believers to offer themselves to God indicates a decisive act, a deliberate commitment. Verse 14. Paul s words sin will not rule over you are not a command; they are an assurance based on all that he had stated to this point. Paul now gave the reason why sin will not rule over believers: it is because of what believers are under. They are not under law, trying in their own power to do right and be righteous before God. Rather, believers are under grace. The two are mutually exclusive. The law only makes sin abound (5:20); it increases transgression (7:9 11); it cannot justify anyone (3:20). The law commands and demands; it rebukes and condemns, but it does not save (Gal. 2:16). In fact, Christ came to set free, to redeem those under the law (4:4 5). Christians, rather, are under grace, a word Paul used 24 times in Romans. Grace is God s free gift, unmerited and undeserved. It is not earned. We contribute nothing to experiencing it. Grace includes all the believer has experienced through Christ justification, baptism into Christ and His death, and new life. With these words Paul ended the argument he had begun in Romans 6:1. There the question was asked if being under grace encouraged sin. Now Paul came full circle. He wrote that, to the contrary, grace opposes, discourages, and overcomes sin. Those born of God, those who have experienced the death of their old sinful self, are new creations who live new lives seeking to glorify God and not themselves. This is what grace does in the lives of believers. It allows us to live lives that reflect who we are in Christ. As believers, we are to live as Christ-followers freed from sin, spiritually alive, denying our old sinful self, and obeying God. In Christ, we have victory over sin. Sin is no longer our master Jesus is! LEADER PACK: Point to Item 3: Christ Gives Us More. IN ADVANCE provide each group member with a sticky note and a pen. Invite group members to write one sin over which God has given them freedom. For anonymity, ask them not to include their names and to write on the sticky sides of the note so that the responses aren t visible. Ask group members to place their notes on the poster to signify leaving these sins at the cross. Close with prayer thanking God for giving us true freedom in Him.. DO: Invite volunteers to share their responses to the activity on PSG page 44: I Surrender All. 1. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27 in The New American Commentary (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1995), 149. 2. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 969. 3. Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 256. 49
THE POINT Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. LIVE IT OUT 5 minutes GUIDE: Emphasize The Point: Sin is no longer my master Jesus is. REVIEW: Review Live It Out (PSG, p. 45; see text to the right). Encourage each group member to follow through this week with at least one of the applications. LIVE IT OUT Through Christ, we have victory over sin. How will that be evident in your life this week? > > Confess. Give your sin to Christ no matter how small you consider it. Acknowledge that Christ is your Lord and Master, and choose to live in victory in Him. > > Remove. Evaluate your life for the things or relationships that pull you into sin. Create a plan for removing them or their power over you. > > Team up. Partner with another believer and support each other in saying no to sin and yes to Jesus. Encourage each other and remind each other that sin is no longer the master; Jesus is. WRAP IT UP GUIDE: Emphasize that though we still live in a fallen world, we can have victory over sin because of Christ s victory on the Cross.. PRAY: Father, help us to be aware of our sin, and give us the courage to quickly confess it. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit who makes the victory possible in our own lives.. 50 Session 3
ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ JAMES MCLEMORE/ AQUINCUM MUSEUM/ BUDAPEST, HUNGARY Gravestone of C. Castricius Victor, from the end of the 1st century A.D. The gravestone shows the full arms, thus providing a credible document of 1st century legionary s equipment: helmet; protective armor; belt with fittings, leather straps, and dagger; sword; spear; and shield decorated with a Medusa and lightning bolts. The Greek word hoplon means tool, instrument, or weapon. We see three applications of the word from ancient Greek writings: 1. ship s tackle, including cables and ropes; 2. tools for blacksmithing, farming, and other trades that used specific equipment; and 3. weapons or implements of war. Paul likely used hoplon to Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Elsewhere Paul employed the word to encourage believers to put on weapons of light and to get rid of weapons of darkness (13:12). The weapons Christians use are effective in the conflict between God s way and sin (2 Cor. 10:4). Paul saw the struggle between sin and Christ as an active clash in which all Christians engage. He used language in his illustration taken from the daily life of a resident of Rome. Armed soldiers ready for battle walked the streets. This common sight gave the Roman believers a point of reference for weapons of battle. The excerpt above is from the article Instruments A Word Study (Fall 2005), which relates to this session. More Biblical Illustrator articles are available that relate to this session. See page 7 about Biblical Illustrator. SHARING THE GOOD NEWS Jesus took our sin upon Himself and offers us forgiveness. When we trust Him, we gain a new life and victory over sin. Each week, make yourself available either before or after the session to speak privately with anyone in your group who wants to know more about becoming a Christian. See the article, Leading Someone to the Greatest Decision of All, on page 2 for guidance in leading a person to Christ. Remind group members that page 2 in the PSG offers guidance in how to become a Christian. Encourage believers to consider using this article as they have opportunities to lead others to Christ. refer to a weapon in Romans 6:13. Get expert insights on weekly studies through the Ministry Grid. MinistryGrid.com/web/BibleStudiesForLife 51