“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” – Romans 6:1-4 (NLT)
I love the topic of baptism! Along with the conversation about faith, baptism is one of my favorites. The power of it. What it accomplishes in our lives. Not only that, but it is (supposed to be) one of the first public proclamations of faith in Christ Jesus. It is powerful.
Christ’s blood, His death on the cross, broke the power of sin forever. As verse 10 of this chapter tells us, “When He died, He died once to break the power of sin. But now that He lives, He lives for the glory of God.” So when we come to faith in Christ, we are immediately covered by His blood, which breaks the power of sin off of us. Then through baptism, we are cleansed of our old selves, the sinful man, and we rise from the waters as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Because of this cleansing and the power of sin being broken off us, we now can step into the glorious goodness of righteous living before God our Father, which leads to holiness.
I want to do a separate article specifically on baptism soon, because I feel that the importance of it is lacking in our current church culture. But for now, we will keep it simple.
“Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” – Romans 6:12-14
Just to drive home the point that Paul has been making very clear since the beginning of his letter to the Roman church, he makes things very clear and practical. We are no longer slaves to sin, and therefore we have the ability to not be controlled by the sinful nature any longer. We have been equipped with the ability to recognize sin, to recognize temptation and say, “No, I am not that way anymore. You no longer have any part in my life.” And Paul makes it very clear that we will never be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). Meaning, you have the choice to walk away from the temptation.
So, what will you choose?
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