Romans 6:1-23

Sin and Death

Often I find myself reminding the people of our church that seemingly bad things aren’t always bad. In a couple of chapters we will hit the golden verse which serves as the basis for that opinion. (8:28) “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” God s so powerful and so far above us in His thoughts and ways that He could take something as seemingly awful as the cross and turn it into the salvation of mankind.

This chapter presents another magnificent turn around. Paul is addressing the fact that we should not sin. That seems pretty obvious but not everyone is capable of grasping the obvious.

The wages of sin is death. Most everyone who is at all familiar with the Bible has heard that verse. When adam and Eve sinned sin entered into the world and as a result death came as well. In fact, the law of sin and death is very simply stated: “The soul that sins will die.” Sin and death seem to be joined at the hip, and in a sense they are...but God...

This wonderful god who can take the cross and turn it into glory is also able to do the seemingly impossible with sin and death. You see, a dead person cannot sin. There is no gossip or immorality or rebellion in a graveyard. Sin has no power over one who is dead. When we come to Christ our old self is crucified and dead. Our new self, our born again self, isn’t after Adam but after Christ. The solution to our sin problem is simple - die.

Obviously this is somewhat metaphorical and we do continue to struggle with sin. We are born again instantly but it still takes awhile for the old self to die on that cross. But the process is started and it will be completed. The day we truly say “Yes” to Jesus is the beginning of the end for our sin nature. God sometimes uses the most unlikely of weapons to win His battles, but win He does. And all we can say is, “Wonderful.”