New Testament Commentary - Romans 6

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 6 Baptism is in similitude of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ—The wages of sin is death—Christ brings eternal life.
1 WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that ^agrace may abound?^a 2 ^aGod forbid. How shall we, that are dead to ^bsin, live any longer therein?	1^a Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? There is the fact that it is only by the grace of God, the mercy of the atonement of the Savior, that we are saved. But that is but the one side of the coin which Paul has to continually stress as he is forever attempting to convience those converted Jewish Christians who are still stuck in the precepts of the Law of Moses. And one of the high precepts of that law is that by a man's keeping of the commandments of God is one saved. Thus the Jews had a commitment to live by the letter of the law and that letter included 613 rules and commandments. Yet as extensive a list as 613 rules and commandments could be, it never could be exhaustive in respect to all matters of wickedness and righteousness, of good and evil. Thus even if one could possibly live all 613 rules and commandments in perfection, they would still fall short of God's perfection and level of righteousness. And thus if they would only rely upon personal performance of such, they would never obtain heaven for man cannot so save himself. Only in and through one's faith in Christ and the workings of the Spirit in man to the fulfilling of the atonement, can man be justified, sanctified and raise up to the level of God. And this is what Paul is saying to these stubborn Jews of the letter of the law. Not that they should stop living a righteous life in connection with the law, but as exemplified by the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, they are to raise above or higher in their performances unto God as led by the Spirit. Thus Paul is not teaching against works and the keeping of the commandments, but rather Paul is teaching that only in and through Christ can one come to liver the 'higher' level of God's expectations unto perfection in all things in and through the gospel and doctrine of Christ. And thus the Jews need to let go of the Law of Moses, thinking that in it was salvation, for salvation was never in the Law of Moses or in any such 613 rules and commandments. Only in, of and through Christ is sin removed and men perfected unto the sanctification of becoming EVEN AS GOD IS. And such men who are found upon that path and track will be living much more righteously than any such man and his 613 rules of Jewish tradition.	1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were ^abaptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are ^aburied with him by ^bbaptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the ^cdead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should ^dwalk in ^enewness of life.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
5 For if we have been planted together in the ^alikeness of his ^bdeath, we shall be also in the likeness of his ^cresurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our ^aold man is crucified with him, that the ^bbody of sin might be ^cdestroyed, that henceforth we should not serve ^dsin. 7 For he that is ^adead is ^bfreed from sin.		1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
8 Now if we be ^adead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being ^araised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto ^asin ^aonce: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but ^aalive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your ^amortal body, that ye should obey it in the ^blusts thereof. 13 Neither ^ayield ye your ^bmembers as ^cinstruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but ^dyield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of ^erighteousness unto God. 14 ^aFor sin shall not have ^bdominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under ^agrace? ^bGod forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves ^aservants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye ^bobey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have ^aobeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made ^afree from ^bsin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the ^ainfirmity of your flesh^a: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness^b unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were ^afree from righteousness.	19^a infirmity of your flesh Paul speaks often of man's infirmity of the flesh. This can be but the same as which is spoken of in Ether chapter 12, where there it speaks of men's weakness before God. This infirmity of the flesh or men's weakness before God, is inherent in that men are of a fallen carnal nature as to the things of the flesh. For the body of man is that 'natural man' which is an enemy unto God. And it is this human nature inherent in us all which did prompt the likes of both the Apostle Paul and the Prophet Nephi to consider themselves but 'wretched men' of the flesh before God. Only in submitting this mortal housing unto the control of the spirit and that in concert with the Spirit of God, does man begin to overcome this fallen carnal natural nature of man. And whether Paul's proverbial 'thorn in the flesh' is but one in the same as this general fallen nature of man, or one thing of a particular concern unto Paul is of no real difference, for any such weakness of the flesh is but an expression of the whole of the matter before God.
21 What ^afruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made ^afree from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your ^bfruit unto ^choliness, and the end everlasting life. 23 For the ^awages of ^bsin is ^cdeath^a; but the ^dgift of God is ^eeternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.	23^a the wages of sin is death For any who so think that purely upon the grace of God is man saved and that man can thus continue in his fall and sinful state relying solely upon the merits of Christ unto exaltation, they are going to find themselves saddly mistaken. Christ has performed the atonement and only though such are we saved and redeemed. Immortality and the resurrection is a free gift of salvation unto all men. In that only is God's grace a free gift unto men. Only in the overcoming of physical death is salvation universal unto all men. Only in that physical death is the grace of God sufficent in and of it self to reclaim and redeem all men. All who have lived will live again. But there is more than physical death at stake here. For the 'wages of sin is death'. And that death is spiritual death, that death is to be cut off from the presence of God, that death is to be locked out forever from the Kingdom of God wherein God dwells. And yes, that grace of God which enables men to overcome their sins is still a gift of God. For man cannot remove his sins from himself, but with the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God, man may have his sins removed. But once the sins are removed, man CANNOT expect to return to them and to be saved in his sins. And here in lies the subject of works. Man must, once he has obtained a forgiveness of sin, learn to live righteously and no longer in sin. Thus while Christ has done his part, men must also do all that they can do and not to fall backward back purposefully into those sins from which the grace of God has removed them from. Else if they do, they have broken their covenant of baptism in Christ and it is become null and of no effect until men once again repent and are again reborn unto righteousness in Christ to be led by the Spirit of God in their daily walk before God. That is, once a man knows that it is wickedness to commit murder and has obtained Christ's grace unto forgiveness, if he so knowingly commits murder, or any other such sin knowingly, then he has cut himself off from before God until such time as he may repent. And murder is of the nature that man might loose his soul over and his reward over forever, being cut off from the presence of God, experience that spiritual death for ever more.