In the book of Romans, Paul lays out a sweeping picture of the grace and salvation available in Jesus. It is fantastic. Paul looks at human sin, Christ’s atoning death, our faith, and overwhelming grace and forgiveness available in Jesus. By the end of chapter 5, Paul has painted a pretty amazing picture of God’s grace. It is free and abundant and makes sinners righteous. This grace is so glorious that wherever sin occurs, grace abounds all the more, covering it. Of course, this raises a natural question for someone who is taking the idea of grace seriously:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?(Romans 6:1)
It is a good question. What should stop us from giving ourselves up to sin, since we know that God will forgive it? If Jesus died for my sin and it is taken care of, why should it matter what I do? What is the incentive to live a good life? Let’s do whatever we want! I’ll be forgiven, right?
Paul gives a very direct answer to this question:
Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
If someone is a Christian, Paul says, it simply doesn’t make sense to continue pursuing sin. To be a Christian is to have died to sin. A Christian who wants to sin doesn’t really understand what has happened to them. They have been united to Christ. A Christian asking if they can keep on sinning is like a married man asking if he can sleep with other women. Even asking the question shows that you don’t have a clue what you have gotten into. This is why Paul is so strong: “By no means!” The thought is offensive to one who really knows that it means to be united with Christ.
But wait! Paul doesn’t just say that we have been united with Christ. He says how that union occurs. It happened when we were baptized. At my baptism, I was baptized into Christ’s death. His death counts as my death. His burial is my burial. This is the reason I have hope for the resurrection. If we have been united in death with Jesus through baptism, we will be united with him in life when he raises us from the dead. When I was baptized, my old nature, my old loves were killed, and now I am able to live for Christ.
Think about this for a second. Paul is asked: “Why should I stop sinning if Jesus is going to forgive me?” Paul answers: “You were baptized.” Huh? Growing up, I heard hundreds, literally hundreds, of sermons on why you shouldn’t sin. There were lots of good reasons why sin was a bad idea. But never once was I told, “Sin does not make sense for a baptized person.” Baptism was never referred to in the context of my behavior or my character. It wasn’t a factor in the logic of why I ought to grow and mature in Christ and stop sinning, either in my own thoughts or from the pulpit.
And yet, Paul’s instinctive, automatic, emphatic response to the question, “Why shouldn’t I sin?” has baptism at its core. Again, I go back to the wedding analogy. If I ask why I should not date other women, you would say, “Because you are married. You said your vows. You declared your commitment to your wife and accepted her commitment to you. You became spiritually united in that act. How could you betray those vows?” But, if I never made those vows, the argument falls apart. The same goes with Paul. The reason Paul can appeal to someone to not sin is because they have publicly entered into a covenant with Christ, uniting themselves to him. When? In the ceremony of baptism. And notice, Paul assumes this is true of all the Christians he is writing to. Who are the married people? Those who have had a wedding. Who are the Christians? Those who have been baptized.
[ASIDE: I will make the point loud and clear again, so that no one thinks that I am saying that baptism is what saves you…although we may get to I Peter 3:18-20 at some point…I don’t think baptism, in and of itself makes someone a Christian. You can be baptized and not be a Christian, just like two people can act out a wedding, but not mean it and never sign a marriage license, and therefore not be married…like as actors who have a wedding in a movie. You can also, in rare circumstances, be a Christian and not be baptized, just as two people can be stuck on a desert island, make promises to each other, and never have a wedding, but still be married. These are technicalities that are supposed to be abnormalities. Baptism is the normal way one makes their commitment to Christ and the Church.]
Imagine we invited Paul to speak in our church and share some good, compelling reasons we should fight sin and live for Christ. He gets up and says, “Because you have been baptized, it no longer makes sense to sin.” In our church, this message would not be applicable to a good portion of the people present…many of whom have believed in Jesus for a long time, but nevertheless have not bee baptized.
I don’t know about you, but that bothers me.
