6:1–2. Paul argues in chapter 6 that while sin has not yet been eliminated as a present reality, believers in Christ who have been declared righteous do not regard sin as something insignificant, because they have understood the implications of their conversion. When they came to faith, they were united with Christ, who died because of sin and who was raised from the dead (6:1–14). The fact that believers are “not under the law but under grace” does not mean they tolerate sin. Rather, they have been freed from the slavery of sin, with the result that they are consistently devoted to righteousness and holy living (6:15–23).
6:3–4. In 6:3–10 Paul gives a theological explanation; in 6:11–14 he gives an ethical explanation. He begins with a reminder of a theological truth he expects the Roman Christians to know already: faith in Christ establishes a union with Christ with respect to his death (6:3). For speakers of the Greek language the term baptizō (“baptize”) refers not to a particular ritual but to the act of immersion. Paul asserts that sinners who have come to faith were “immersed into” the Messiah Jesus, which means that they share his fate. Since Jesus died on the cross—the place where God was graciously present to atone for sins—the believer’s immersion into Jesus Christ is an immersion into his death and resurrection (6:4).
6:5. Paul goes on to argue that since faith in Jesus Christ establishes a union with his death, it likewise establishes a union with his resurrection. As Jesus was raised from the dead through the glorious power of God the Father, so believers participate in his resurrection, which enables them to live a new life in Jesus. And this is the reason they cannot sin deliberately or live carelessly. The newness of the life of the Christian believers is the new life of the Spirit (7:6), the life of the new creation (2 Co 5:17; Gl 6:15), the life of the new humanity (Eph 2:15). Paul speaks in 6:5 of the believer’s future resurrection. Believers are enabled to live a new life on account of the power of God, which was manifested in Jesus’s resurrection and is at work in their lives by virtue of their union with Christ.
6:6–7. Paul restates what he said in verses 3–5, explaining why Christians cannot continue sinning. Since union with Christ is a union with his death, it is a union with Jesus’s crucifixion (6:6). The purpose of Jesus’s death and the purpose of the believer’s union with him is the destruction of the “body ruled by sin,” the liberation from the power of sin that has enslaved Adam’s descendants (1:18–3:20). In 6:7 Paul explains why believers cannot be slaves to sin: dead people are no longer controlled by the power of sin. Believers who have been identified with Jesus’s death have been freed from the enslaving power of sin and its consequence, God’s condemnation. This does not mean that Christians no longer sin. Believers have been freed from sin and its consequences, but they are not yet free from temptation, or from the possibility of sinning, or from the reality of committing sins. But sinning is not the state of affairs that believers consider to be normal and acceptable.
6:8–10. Paul then explains what the believer’s union with Jesus’s resurrection means. As believers are incorporated into Christ’s death and resurrection, they will live with him in the future of God’s ultimate triumph over death (6:8). The reason is that Christ, whom God raised from the dead, will not die a second time (6:9); this means that those who are united with Christ’s death will not die a second time either. Death no longer has any power over Jesus, and thus death no longer has power over believers, as their death has already taken place (on the cross). In 6:10 Paul explains why the power of death has been canceled: when Jesus died, he “died to sin”—that is, to break the power of sin, which owns sinners by imposing the death sentence (5:21; 7:9–11, 15–20). As the power of sin has been broken once for all, the risen Christ lives for the glory of God.
6:11–14. Paul explains his assertion in 6:2 that believers have died to sin and thus cannot go on sinning. Believers, who are incorporated into Christ, must consider themselves dead to sin and thus ready and enabled to live for the glory of God (6:11). This is possible as the result of their union with Christ and their participation in the liberation from the power of sin that he provides. They are no longer controlled by sin, which always results in death. Now God is their master. The implications of this new reality are spelled out in 6:11–12. Believers must not allow sin and desire to take over again. Sin can be tempting; both temptations and acts of sin are not ideas but realities that continue to be possibilities for believers. Since Christ triumphed over sin and death, believers in Christ must not allow themselves to come under the enslaving power of sin again, as their union with Christ’s resurrection enables them to resist sinful desires.
6:15–23. Paul restates the question of verse 1, suggesting that some might argue that living under grace gives permission to sin (6:15). He forcefully rejects such a conclusion and explains its fallacy, emphasizing that there are only two options: obedience to sin or obedience to righteousness. Believers should know that they are slaves of the master whom they obey, which is either sin or God (6:16). If people obey sin, the result is death, eternal separation from God (Gn 2:17; 3:24). If people obey God, the result is righteousness, the grace of God’s gift through Jesus Christ, and life in the presence of God. Paul’s thanksgiving (6:17) clarifies that believers do not occupy neutral ground in the battle between sin and righteousness. They were once enslaved to sin (1:18–3:20). Since they were united with Jesus Christ, they have become obedient to God. It was God who liberated them from the power of sin and its death sentence and subjected them to the power of righteousness (6:18).