Two vital truths in Romans 6

Here is an audio recording of Jonathan doing a teaching based on this page at a Well Church life group in 2013:

Introduction

There is some awesome revelation in Romans Chapter 6.  Paul teaches two vital truths in this chapter:

1. What Jesus does for us because of his death on the cross
2. What we need to do in response – repent and believe

So let’s consider each of these two vital truths and explain the results of them.

What Jesus does for us because of the cross

What does Jesus do for us because of his death on the cross? Paul answers this in Romans 6:

• We are dead to sin (v2)
• We are freed from sin (v7, 18, 22)
• We were baptized into Jesus Christ and into his death (v3, 4)
• We were planted together in the likeness of his death (v5)
• Our old man was crucified and dead with him (v6, 7, 8)
• The body of sin is destroyed (v6)
• Sin no longer has dominion over us (v14)
• We are made into the likeness of his resurrection and alive from the dead and will live with him (v5, 13)
• We are not under the law, but under grace (v14, 15)
• We become servants of righteousness (v18) and to God (v22)

What we need to do in response – repent and believe

So what do we need to do in response to what Jesus does? Paul gives the answers again in Romans 6.  He gives several definitions of repentance, without actually using that word. Believing in Jesus includes repentance.

Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound and because we are not under the law? Paul answers no (“God forbid”) (v1-2, 15).   So we are not to continue in sin – this means we must turn away from sin; this is one definition of repentance.

How shall we…live any longer therein (in sin) (v2)?  So we have a choice – will we continue to live in sin or will we turn from sin – i.e. will we repent from sin?

We also should walk in newness of life (v4).  So there is a choice of what we walk in, and Paul is telling us we should walk in new life, i.e. we should repent.

Henceforth we should not serve sin (v7).  Paul is telling us we should not serve sin, it is something we should choose to do, this is another way of saying we need to repent from sin.

We are to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (v11).  Again this is something we are to do, we need to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. This is another aspect of repentance – about how we view what Jesus has done for us in making us dead to sin.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof (v12).  Paul is telling us to do this because it is a choice we have to make to not allow sin to reign in us and not to obey it in its lusts.  This is repentance.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God (v13).  This is a great definition of repentance: stop yielding ourselves to sin and instead yield to God.

We have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to us (v17).  Obedience to the gospel (the doctrine delivered to us) is a turning to God, again a definition of repentance.

As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (v19).  Paul is telling us to do something – yield, turn from yielding to uncleanness and iniquity and instead yield yourselves as servants to righteousness. This again is repentance.

So according to Romans 6 and many other parts of the Bible, salvation is not just about what Jesus did on the cross.  Although its only by the shedding of blood that there is remission of sin (Heb 9:22) and Jesus finished the sacrifice (John 19:30) so that whoever believes can be saved (John 3:16), it is clear from Romans 6 that there is a response of repentance and faith that we have to make to be saved – our salvation was not finished on the cross.  Yet that faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8); it is the faith of God (Gal 2:20 KJV). How amazing!

Definition of Repentance in Romans 6

So to summarise what we have just said above, Paul gives several definitions of repentance in Romans 6 as follows:

• Turning from continuing in sin (v1, 15) or to live in sin (v2)
• Turning from serving sin (v7)
• Turning to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (v11)
• Turning from letting sin reign in our bodies or obeying its lusts (v12)
• Turning from yielding our members to sin to yield ourselves to God (v13, 19)
• Turning to walk in newness of life (v4)
• Turning to obey the gospel (v17)

Repentance is a choice that Paul tells us to make, in response to what Jesus does for us because of his death on the cross. Repentance is included in believing. As Romans 10:9 says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Results

What Jesus does for us and our response to this in repentance (believing) results in us turning from death (v16, 21, 23) to holiness (v19) and eternal life (v22, 23).  To receive holiness and eternal life and therefore to be saved is not just because of what Jesus did on the cross or what we do in response by repenting, which is included in believing in Jesus.  Salvation and eternal life is a result of both, you cannot be saved without one or the other. Paul’s statement in Eph 2:8 that we are saved by grace through faith is similar to this, grace being what Jesus revealed when he died on the cross and faith is our response in repentance. Salvation is not just by grace or through faith, it is both, it is by grace through faith.  These are two truths that are so vital to our salvation and eternal life.