** This post represents my summary and understanding of this passage. Before reading, please read Romans 6 so that you can better know if you agree with me or not. I suggest the ESV version. **
Summary [Verses 1-14]
We died to sin, so we should not continue to live in sin. When we were baptized in Jesus Christ, we were buried with him by baptism into death, and united with him in his resurrection. This was so that we may walk in newness of life. Our old self was crucified with Jesus on the cross and we are no longer slaves to our sinful nature. Christ was raised from the dead; he will no longer die again. Death does not rule over him. Because of his death and resurrection we are also dead to our sins and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, so that you obey its desires. Instead, offer yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. You are not under the law but under grace.
Summary [Verses 15-23]
As we obey our sinful nature, we become slaves to sin. But because of Jesus, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are slaves to righteousness. Just as we offered ourselves as slaves to sin, we should now offer ourselves as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. The fruit of sin was shame and death. But the fruit of righteousness is sanctification and the outcome is eternal life. Eternal life is a gift from God to all of those who believe.
Sanctification = to be set apart. The continual work of the Holy Spirit in the believer to be made more like Christ.
My Take Away:
Romans is turning out to be a lot more complicated than I expected. I love this book, but it has been hard for me to summarize it. At the same time, I have been learning a lot! It is amazing how much you learn when you try to really understand the passage. Reading it multiple times, in different versions, and then summarizing it in my own words has really helped me learn from Romans.
So anyways, the main point I got from this passage is that once we give our lives to Christ we should fight against our desire to sin. Sin won’t go away once we accept Christ into our life, but the Holy Spirit will help us fight against the desire to sin. Our weapon against sin is Christ. We need to continuously look to obey Christ, spend time in His word, pray so that we are better equipped to resist temptation. Sin only brings regret and shame. But obeying Christ brings life.
A word that came up a lot on this passage is sanctification. The more we chose to obey Christ and the more we chose to live for him, the more he will work to sanctify us, to make us more like him. I dont know about you, but I am currently going through a process of sanctification and it is HARD! I don’t think I ever fully understood what sanctification meant until recently.
Lately, I have noticed that I can be very judgmental of people’s actions. I tend to only relate to those who act like me and have the same faith and beliefs as me. God has been ripping that apart the past month. And I am also struggling to love some people in my life because of their past. God has also been ripping that apart. As I write this paragraph, I get a text from the person I am struggling to love, saying they would be around for an event. And honestly, I started sobbing. I cried because I really didn’t want that person there, but clearly God is pushing me to accept them and love them.
Sanctification process HURTS! God is ripping away a sin in my heart and trying to make me more like him. As much as that sucks, I know that is what is best for me. I know keeping that sin in my heart is only hurting me and pushing me away from Christ. So bring on the hard work, God!
- What is one sin God has been revealing to you lately?
- What are you doing to battle that sin?
Simply Julesicle 