Text – Romans 6 (1:16) 7 (12-25) 8 (15-17) Opinion
Paul’s letter to the Romans is probably the very first of his letters. He spends a lot of time talking about sin and forgiveness. As I do not believe in proof texts, please read all of Romans 6-8 and struggle with me to grasp Paul’s treatise on salvation.
In Romans Paul sets out to explain his views of how salvation comes about to people who have sinned and been separated from God as a result. Perhaps that’s why there is so much emphasis on sin and salvation in the book of Romans.
It is my opinion that to Paul, the word sin has two meanings and two means of dealing with it.
One meaning Paul said sin is what we usually think of. You do something opposed to God’s will. That can be what you do is wrong or what you fail to do that is right. In this definition sin is transgression. Paul leans heavy on the Old Testament here quoting or referring to it 80 times because the transgression definition of sin was the hallmark of the Jewish experience with God. If you want to claim infallibility, Paul reminds that sin and death came into the world through the very beginning of mankind.
Paul uses different metaphors to explain that sin is alienation from God. Thus we need to be reconciled back to God. Jesus preached that you must repent of your sins. You're sorry, you're remorseful and you regret it. In process one, Jesus provided the sacrifice for your sins. Your sins are atoned by Jesus sacrifice. He paid the price for your sins, thus by faith in Jesus you are connected to that sacrifice and the sins you commit are forgiven. Jesus takes your punishment and your sins are forgiven.
Paul has a second and more complex definition of sin. In this definition of sin, we are slaves to sin. We are mysteriously enslaved to the power of sin. Paul talks about people being enslaved in a way that suggests is like a cosmic power that is trying to force you to behave in certain ways. Even he recognizes that he fails to do what is right and continues to do what is wrong.
Next Paul say some people feel like they can't stop themselves from doing something that they know is wrong. It's like you can't stop yourself from committing transgressions. For Paul, there actually are forces that are trying to drive you to do things that are contrary to what you want to do and what God wants you to do. The principal force doing this is the power of sin. For Paul, sin is not just a transgression. It's also a power. It's a demonic power that's opposed to God and opposed to people and that has enslaved everybody. So, everybody is also enslaved to sin.
The problem is not just that you've broken God's law and he's going to punish you unless somebody pays the penalty for you. It is that you are enslaved to a power that that is stronger than you and there's nothing you can do to prevent you from committing transgressions.
As a trained Pharisee this view of the world is that there are evil powers and it's just not demons and the devil. There are other forces in the world that are opposed to people that are that are keeping them from being in a right standing with God
Because you are a human being, you're necessarily enslaved to the power of sin and its other power, the power of death. For Paul, of course, death is when you stop breathing, that would be death. But for Paul, it was much bigger than that. It wasn't just something that just happens. Just as sin isn't just something that happens. The power of death for Paul is a cosmic power, a demonic force that is trying to capture you. And when it captures you, it annihilates you. And so it's the power of death.
And Paul believed that the power of sin and the power of death were related to each other. Sin forces you into a life of alienation from God. You can't stop it because you're its slave. And when it has its full way with you, it hands you over to the power of death that wipes you out. Thus you're permanently removed from the presence of God. And so the power of sin and the power of death are apocalyptic powers.
Paul also provides us with a way out of our slavery to the power of sin.
Jesus saves you from transgressions by paying the price for you. He is paying the penalty that you should pay. You owe God a debt and Jesus paid the debt for you. But what about this power that's enslaving you? The power of sin.?
So Paul had sophisticated reasoning on this that you have to you have to read Romans 6,7 and 8 very closely to see how it works
Here Paul writes about how you get out from the power of death. He provides a solution. Since Jesus was raised from the dead, he overcame the power of sin and death. So if you are somehow connected with Christ’s death and resurrection, you too can overcome the power of death. That's how you can have eternal life. Paul knows Christ overcame the power of death because he knows Jesus was raised from the dead. He saw him. So he's no longer dead. So he over overwhelmed death. Jesus defeated death and the power of death, which is the greatest of the powers, he must have overwhelmed the other powers as well, including the power of sin.
So the question is, how do we access that victory over the power of sin and death? Paul believes this is through baptism. Read Romans 6, carefully the beginning of Romans 6:1-6. It becomes clear what Paul thinks our victory over sin and the power of sin happens when a person is baptized. This was when only adults are baptized who had come to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection were baptized. Paul says in baptism you are united with Christ. You are made one with Christ. That's why Paul talks about being in the body of Christ. You actually have this kind of mystical experience of unification with Christ who died and was raised from the dead. So Jesus conquered the power of death and by dying and being resurrected Jesus took sin and the power of sin into himself and he died and it thereby killed the power of sin that was in him in his resurrection. So Christ killed the power of sin, and anybody who is united with Christ in his death and resurrection participates in that victory over the power of sin. You too are no longer under the power of sin because you've been united with Christ in baptism to enable you to overcame the power of sin because Jesus did. Because in your death burial and resurrection in baptism you've overcome the power of death and live forever just like Jesus.
Here Paul is getting kind of mystical. Here Paul's talking in terms of an apocalyptic understanding of overcoming the powers of evil that happen when you're united with a person who destroyed the powers of sin and death.
And so if you both believe and are baptized, that covers both the penalty for sin and the power of sin. Those two ways of thinking about sin and salvation seem to merge quite nicely to solve the whole problem.
Paul writes about sin as something you've done wrong and he writes about a power that has enslaved you. To Paul these are two different things.
In chapter 5 He refers back to the sin of Adam both as a violation of God’s command and as the introduction to the power of sin into the world which led to death where there was no death before.
Through faith in the grace of God and through the resurrection of Jesus we too are buried into His death of sin. We to connect with His victory over the power of sin and death. We connect with and participate in His resurrection, in baptism we are both free from the sins we commit in faith and repentance and free from the cosmic power of death through the power of Jesus resurrected victory over death.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is probably the very first of his letters. He spends a lot of time talking about sin and forgiveness. As I do not believe in proof texts, please read all of Romans 6-8 and struggle with me to grasp Paul’s treatise on salvation.
In Romans Paul sets out to explain his views of how salvation comes about to people who have sinned and been separated from God as a result. Perhaps that’s why there is so much emphasis on sin and salvation in the book of Romans.
It is my opinion that to Paul, the word sin has two meanings and two means of dealing with it.
One meaning Paul said sin is what we usually think of. You do something opposed to God’s will. That can be what you do is wrong or what you fail to do that is right. In this definition sin is transgression. Paul leans heavy on the Old Testament here quoting or referring to it 80 times because the transgression definition of sin was the hallmark of the Jewish experience with God. If you want to claim infallibility, Paul reminds that sin and death came into the world through the very beginning of mankind.
Paul uses different metaphors to explain that sin is alienation from God. Thus we need to be reconciled back to God. Jesus preached that you must repent of your sins. You're sorry, you're remorseful and you regret it. In process one, Jesus provided the sacrifice for your sins. Your sins are atoned by Jesus sacrifice. He paid the price for your sins, thus by faith in Jesus you are connected to that sacrifice and the sins you commit are forgiven. Jesus takes your punishment and your sins are forgiven.
Paul has a second and more complex definition of sin. In this definition of sin, we are slaves to sin. We are mysteriously enslaved to the power of sin. Paul talks about people being enslaved in a way that suggests is like a cosmic power that is trying to force you to behave in certain ways. Even he recognizes that he fails to do what is right and continues to do what is wrong.
Next Paul say some people feel like they can't stop themselves from doing something that they know is wrong. It's like you can't stop yourself from committing transgressions. For Paul, there actually are forces that are trying to drive you to do things that are contrary to what you want to do and what God wants you to do. The principal force doing this is the power of sin. For Paul, sin is not just a transgression. It's also a power. It's a demonic power that's opposed to God and opposed to people and that has enslaved everybody. So, everybody is also enslaved to sin.
The problem is not just that you've broken God's law and he's going to punish you unless somebody pays the penalty for you. It is that you are enslaved to a power that that is stronger than you and there's nothing you can do to prevent you from committing transgressions.
As a trained Pharisee this view of the world is that there are evil powers and it's just not demons and the devil. There are other forces in the world that are opposed to people that are that are keeping them from being in a right standing with God
Because you are a human being, you're necessarily enslaved to the power of sin and its other power, the power of death. For Paul, of course, death is when you stop breathing, that would be death. But for Paul, it was much bigger than that. It wasn't just something that just happens. Just as sin isn't just something that happens. The power of death for Paul is a cosmic power, a demonic force that is trying to capture you. And when it captures you, it annihilates you. And so it's the power of death.
And Paul believed that the power of sin and the power of death were related to each other. Sin forces you into a life of alienation from God. You can't stop it because you're its slave. And when it has its full way with you, it hands you over to the power of death that wipes you out. Thus you're permanently removed from the presence of God. And so the power of sin and the power of death are apocalyptic powers.
Paul also provides us with a way out of our slavery to the power of sin.
Jesus saves you from transgressions by paying the price for you. He is paying the penalty that you should pay. You owe God a debt and Jesus paid the debt for you. But what about this power that's enslaving you? The power of sin.?
So Paul had sophisticated reasoning on this that you have to you have to read Romans 6,7 and 8 very closely to see how it works
Here Paul writes about how you get out from the power of death. He provides a solution. Since Jesus was raised from the dead, he overcame the power of sin and death. So if you are somehow connected with Christ’s death and resurrection, you too can overcome the power of death. That's how you can have eternal life. Paul knows Christ overcame the power of death because he knows Jesus was raised from the dead. He saw him. So he's no longer dead. So he over overwhelmed death. Jesus defeated death and the power of death, which is the greatest of the powers, he must have overwhelmed the other powers as well, including the power of sin.
So the question is, how do we access that victory over the power of sin and death? Paul believes this is through baptism. Read Romans 6, carefully the beginning of Romans 6:1-6. It becomes clear what Paul thinks our victory over sin and the power of sin happens when a person is baptized. This was when only adults are baptized who had come to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection were baptized. Paul says in baptism you are united with Christ. You are made one with Christ. That's why Paul talks about being in the body of Christ. You actually have this kind of mystical experience of unification with Christ who died and was raised from the dead. So Jesus conquered the power of death and by dying and being resurrected Jesus took sin and the power of sin into himself and he died and it thereby killed the power of sin that was in him in his resurrection. So Christ killed the power of sin, and anybody who is united with Christ in his death and resurrection participates in that victory over the power of sin. You too are no longer under the power of sin because you've been united with Christ in baptism to enable you to overcame the power of sin because Jesus did. Because in your death burial and resurrection in baptism you've overcome the power of death and live forever just like Jesus.
Here Paul is getting kind of mystical. Here Paul's talking in terms of an apocalyptic understanding of overcoming the powers of evil that happen when you're united with a person who destroyed the powers of sin and death.
And so if you both believe and are baptized, that covers both the penalty for sin and the power of sin. Those two ways of thinking about sin and salvation seem to merge quite nicely to solve the whole problem.
Paul writes about sin as something you've done wrong and he writes about a power that has enslaved you. To Paul these are two different things.
In chapter 5 He refers back to the sin of Adam both as a violation of God’s command and as the introduction to the power of sin into the world which led to death where there was no death before.
Through faith in the grace of God and through the resurrection of Jesus we too are buried into His death of sin. We to connect with His victory over the power of sin and death. We connect with and participate in His resurrection, in baptism we are both free from the sins we commit in faith and repentance and free from the cosmic power of death through the power of Jesus resurrected victory over death.
