Bible Discussion — Romans 6

October 3, 2007, 12:00 pm; posted by
Filed under Bible, Chloe, Connie, David, Erin, Josh J, Mike J, Steve  | No Comments

This week, Bweinh.com looks at the next chapter in the book of Romans, Romans 6.

Genesis: 1-4 | 5-9 | 10-14 | 15-18 | 19-22 | 23-26
27-29 | 30-32 | 33-36 | 37-39 | 40-43 | 44-46 | 47-50

Exodus: 1-4 | 5-8 | 9-11 | 12-14 | 15-18
19-22 | 23-26 | 27-30 | 31-34 | 35-40

And the book of Romans: Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5

 
INTRODUCTION:
Mike:
Paul presents his readers with a decision: will they be a slave to “sin” or will they be a slave to God?

David:
In the last chapter Paul made the statement that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” He now deals with two questions that he assumes will come to the reader’s mind.

The first: “If grace brought sin, shouldn’t we continue (stay) in sin so that grace will keep coming?” The second: “Well, if we can’t stay in sin, can we visit occasionally (now that we have grace to forgive us when we do sin)?”

Erin:
Paul continues his logical argument for the Christian life in this chapter, focusing on why Christians should not just take Christ’s sacrifice for granted and continue living a sinful life.

Connie:
Sin versus grace! Watch them battle it out in a no-holds-barred fight to the death! Don’t miss it, right here, on Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday!!!

 
SOMETHING YOU’D NEVER NOTICED BEFORE:
Steve:
When the Romans were slaves to sin, they were “free in regard to righteousness,” able to raise as much heaven as they dared.

Connie:
Verse 15 is a great verse to fight the “once saved, always saved” doctrine.

Josh:
Just how often Paul likes to interrupt himself to ask questions that misrepresent his arguments, then shoot them down.

Chloe:
God is the slave’s master in this passage. How must this have sat with the abolitionists in the 19th century?

Mike:
v. 19: “I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.” I wonder what Paul really wanted to say, but couldn’t because of the weakness of his audience. I’m certainly glad his audience was weak, because the slavery analogy is so profound.

 
BEST BAND NAME FROM THE PASSAGE:
Steve: Reckon
Connie: Old Man
Josh: By No Means
Erin: Baptism Into Death
Mike: Somebody’s Slave
Chloe: Natural Selves
David: Undergrace

 
STORY IT REMINDS YOU OF::
David:
The “sin brings grace, so let’s stay in sin, so grace keeps coming” idea reminds me of people who go from crisis to crisis in their lives, thinking that the worse they are, the more likely God is to come and help them.

Mike:
This and the whole Houghton discussion reminded me of the cruel choice between sleep and church after a too-late Saturday night party. Would I present my body to the bed or to the Lord? I didn’t always choose the right master.

 
DEEP THEOLOGICAL MEANING:
Chloe:
In verse 23, Paul first talks about the wages of sin (did slaves in those days receive payment?), but then uses the phrase, “the gift of God,” which is more in tune with the idea of a slave and master. A slave did what he was told to do because he had been paid for, and if the master gave him a gift, it was completely out of the master’s magnanimity and love for the slave, not at all because the slave deserved it. So it is with Christ and grace.

Mike:
We Americans are used to thinking of ourselves as autonomous beings. This passage vigorously protests. Instead, Paul asserts that everyone lives with a guiding principle in their lives that essentially directs everything else they do. They can be separated into God and sin (everything else but God).

Erin:
What is death but separation from God? If Christ took on our ultimate separation from God, and Christ is God, then Christ separated from Himself in order that we, who separated because of our selfishness, might come back to God.

David:
Paul presents sin as a location (as opposed to an action) in answering the first question. It’s not what you do, but where you live; now that you’re saved, you can’t live there anymore. In answering the second question, he presents sin as slavery or bondage, saying, “You want to go back once in a while and be the Devil’s slave for a day? Are you crazy?”

Steve:
The last few verses of chapter 6 are so powerful and universal. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? Their end is death. But the lasting fruit of righteousness is holiness, everlasting life. This section is key to understanding the Gospel, and to finally casting aside the incorrect arguments Paul demolishes in the first part of this chapter. The fruit of sin is death. Why allow it to stick around?

 
RANDOM THOUGHT:
Mike:
How much Paul sounds like Dr. Phil in v. 21. Essentially, he sums up the situation of a person in slavery to sin and says, “How’s that workin’ for ya?” “So what advantage did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed?”

David:
Man is not strong enough on his own to be a free moral agent. He spends his life in servitude to either God or the Devil.

Steve:
It’s almost impossible for us to grasp the full significance of baptism to the early church, with its intimate connection to the life and ministry of the Christ they personally knew. Perhaps the biggest disconnect is that not long after Paul wrote these words, they became true in another way entirely. Baptism, the public profession of faith, not only united the early Christians with His death in spirit; it increasingly did so in reality.

Chloe:
“Offer the parts of your body to him:” How has no one misconstrued this phrase yet? Come on, everyone, let’s start a cult!

Connie:
God’s promises to us are powerful and effective for fighting sin. Sin can cause struggles in our lives, but it can’t rule over us.

 
WHERE IS JESUS IN THIS PASSAGE:
David:
Inviting us to be crucified, dead and buried with Him in baptism, so that we can rise with Him in newness of life.

Mike:
Making us alive to God if we are willing to identify with Him in life and in death.

Connie:
Verse 4: buried with Him and raised with Him, we walk in newness of life.

Josh:
Defying death.

Erin:
All over the place!

 
VERSE TO REMEMBER:
Chloe:
6:21 — “What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”

Steve, Chloe:
6:22 — “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Mike:
6:5 — “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

David, Josh:
6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Erin:
6:2 — “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

 
PORTION YOU WOULD MOST LIKE EXPLAINED IN HEAVEN:
Steve:
Why must that which leads to death sometimes seem so appealing?

Mike:
Why does sin still appear to have dominion over us sometimes?

David:
The first three words in my Bible. Genuine Bonded Cowhide.

 
LESSON TO TAKE AWAY:
Josh:
“If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.”

I think we all want to be part of the resurrection of Christ, but are we ready to share in His death, to die to sin? The simple fact is we cannot be resurrected unless we have already died.

Chloe:
You don’t deserve this. Never forget that.

Mike:
Examine who your true master is. What is the real guiding principle of your life?

David:
Grace did not come to teach us to live loose moral lives. As Paul told Titus, “The grace of God…hath appeared…teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world…”

Erin:
Our liberation from sin is one of the hardest, yet most important things to accept.

 
GENERAL RESPONSE TO THE PASSAGE:
Josh:
The second half of verse 14 is a line I’ve heard taken out of context as an excuse for sin too many times. Quite ironic when you consider just how strongly worded the context is. Grace isn’t our excuse to sin. It’s our freedom to leave sin behind.

Steve:
This chapter is probably second only to Romans 8 as the one chapter I would use to summarize the entire message of the Gospel. It doesn’t shy away from the reality of sin in the lives of humanity, but it is clear — to sin we must die if to God we devote our lives. And what a wonder it is, when the promise of verse 14 comes to pass, and sin, although it may beset on occasion, truly no longer has any dominion over us.

 
CONCLUSION:
Connie:
What can be a stronger motive against sin than the love of Christ?

David:
In chapter 6, Paul has us “dying with Christ” to both sin and death. He uses the analogy of death, separating us from all previous obligations, as the springboard into the next chapter.

Steve:
Next week is one of the most controversial and confusing chapters in the New Testament. You won’t want to miss that!


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