INTRODUCTION TO MARCH LESSONS
The pace of our lives does not lend itself to taking “time to be holy.” God is righteous (Part 1) and has justified us in Christ (Part 2). God expects those who have been justified to live in holiness (Part 3). In these lessons, which close out our study of Romans, students will learn how baptism puts one on a path to holiness, how God’s law exposes unholiness, how the root of that holiness goes back to our spiritual ancestors, and how God’s people live out holiness in the context of sacrifice.
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Unit: Romans (Part 3)
Theme: Holy
Lesson Text: Romans 6:1-4, 11-23
Supplemental Text: Acts 22:6-16; 26:19-23; 2 Corinthians 5:11-17; Ephesians 5:1-10
Aim: Pursue holiness as part of your new life in Christ.
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Download a PDF of this week’s lesson material (the Study by Mark Scott, Application by David Faust, and Discovery Questions by Michael C. Mack): LOOKOUT_Mar6_2022.
Send an email to [email protected] to receive PDFs of the lesson material each month.
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By Mark Scott
Holiness is hard to come by today. It almost seems to be a slippery virtue in our culture. But second to love, holiness is probably God’s greatest quality. It is God’s “otherliness,” setting him apart from his creation. Since creation presently is stained with sin, God’s holiness is partially viewed as moral excellence. When applied to his people, holiness has to do with being dedicated solely to God. The theological term for it, sanctification, is the major theme of Romans 6–8.
In the immediate context, Paul championed grace as the answer to sin. The text assumes the genre of a diatribe, and so one can almost hear the wheels turning in the minds of some in the Roman church: Let’s see, if grace increases where there is sin, then the way to get more grace . . . is to sin more. Paul battled against such thinking in Romans 6.
Baptism Declares Death
Romans 6:1-4, 11-14
Paul took the believers back to their baptism to make his point. There was a day when Christians said no to sin, when they died to sin’s effect on their lives, and when they committed to live for God. On that day, they put their faith in Christ, confessed his name, and followed their faith in baptism. The act of baptism declared that grace won and sin lost. To continue to live a life of sin is to misunderstand grace. Paul said no to this in the strongest way (By no means!—notice the same phrase in 6:15).
Baptism is a death. The word itself has the smell of death all over it. Jesus was baptized in water (Matthew 3:13-17), but he was also baptized (buried) in Joseph’s tomb (John 19:41-42). If one is dead, it is hard to sin. Our baptism unites us with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Therefore, it could hardly be a “work” for it is something that someone else does to someone. When the evangelist Juan Carlos Ortiz baptizes someone, he says, “I kill you in the name of Jesus.”
Since believers do not physically die in their baptism, they must count (consider or reckon) themselves dead. This allows them to also count themselves alive to God as they live this new life (a qualitatively new life). Sin cannot reign (be king) in their lives. That would make their body an instrument (weapon) of wickedness instead of an instrument of righteousness. Christians are to give no breath to their old dead lives. They are to live for the holy God who brought life to them. Grace, not law, now controls them, and their baptism declared this change.
Allegiance Declares Slavery
Romans 6:15-23
Paul shifted from the metaphor of death (baptism) to the metaphor of slavery in this part of the chapter. The word slaves appears 10 times in this section. It is difficult to think of slavery in the United States and not think of the Civil War (1861–65) or (in modern times) the debate about critical race theory. But slavery was different in Paul’s day. Sometimes even prominent people would sell themselves into slavery to lean into others for their care. So, the metaphor is appropriate to Paul’s argument since one could choose slavery as a means of showing allegiance.
We become slaves to whatever we embrace. Giving in to addictions makes us a slave to those addictions. It has to do with the illusion of freedom. Our freedom depends on the object of our choice. Following Paul’s argument and metaphor (an example from everyday life), to choose sin is to choose a union with death. Choosing sin makes people slaves to impurity and to ever increasing wickedness. In fact, choosing sin proved that they were free from righteousness. The benefit (fruit) of those things was shame and death.
But, to choose obedience is to choose righteousness and holiness. Paul acknowledged that the Roman Christians had chosen well. They chose to follow the pattern of teaching that had been given them in the gospel. Due to the nature of their choice, the believers experienced freedom and had become slaves of God. The benefits (fruits) are holiness and eternal life. Paul summed it up in the last verse. The wages (money to be used to purchase food) of sin is death. In great contrast though is the gift (charisma) from God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus. When our highest allegiance is to be a slave of Christ, because of who he is and what he brings, we experience true freedom.
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