BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Romans 6 — Dead to Sin, Alive to God
Romans 6 teaches that believers are united with Christ in His death and resurrection, so sin no longer has dominion and they bear fruit leading to eternal life.
Scripture
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?
3Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection;
6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin;
7for he that hath died is justified from sin.
8But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him;
9knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him.
10For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:
13neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.
15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid.
16Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;
18and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.
19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.
20For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness.
21What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.
23For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What this passage means
The chapter opens with a question that exposes a false inference: if God's grace increases where sin increases, should believers keep on sinning? Paul answers with a decisive "God forbid," grounding his reply in a prior fact — believers have died to sin. This death is not a metaphor for resolve but a co-event with Christ's death, into which they were brought through baptism (vv. 3–4). Because they were buried with Him, the logic runs, the new life they now live mirrors Christ's resurrection from the dead.
Verses 5–11 build the theological core. Union with Christ in His death carries a promised union in His resurrection. The "old man" — the pre-baptism self — was crucified so that the "body of sin" might be done away, freeing the believer from bondage. Christ died to sin once for all; correspondingly, believers are to "reckon" themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (v. 11). The chapter's imperatives (vv. 12–13) follow from this indicative reality: do not let sin reign, and present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead.
Verses 12–23 apply the reality of union to daily choices. Because believers are "under grace" and not "under law," they are not free to sin but are free from sin's dominion. A master metaphor (vv. 16–18) pictures the transfer of allegiance: once enslaved to sin, they are now servants of righteousness. Paul acknowledges the weakness of the flesh (v. 19) and names the contrast — fruit leading to shame and death versus fruit leading to sanctification and eternal life (vv. 21–22). The chapter closes with the famous contrast: "the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (v. 23).
Context
The chapter note in the provided material reads "Dead to sin, alive to God," summarizing the chapter's central movement from death to life. The cross-references listed frame this movement: John 3:36, John 5:24, and John 6:40 place the gift of eternal life within Christ's saving work; Romans 5:12 anchors the problem of sin and death entering through one man. Several references (Ezekiel 18:4; Ezekiel 18:20; James 1:15) trace the principle that sin brings death. 2 Corinthians 5:17 names the resulting new creation, while Galatians 2:20 echoes the believer's identification with Christ's crucifixion. 1 Peter 2:16 and Galatians 5:13 caution that freedom is not license but service. Matthew 25:46 stands at the eschatological horizon where the two outcomes — punishment or eternal life — are finally fixed.
Within Romans itself, Romans 6 follows directly from Romans 5, in which Paul argues that grace abounds where sin abounded. Romans 6 confronts the possible abuse of that claim and grounds the answer in the believer's participation in Christ's death and resurrection through baptism. No information about Paul's historical setting, audience composition, or date is included in the provided material.
Key words in the original
- G0907 βαπτίζω (baptizō) appears in verse 3 with the sense of being brought into identification with Christ's death. The verb governs two occurrences of εἰς (eis, G1519) — 'into Christ Jesus' and 'into his death' — framing baptism as incorporation, not merely ritual washing.
- G2288 θάνατος (thanatos, death) occurs repeatedly in verses 3–10. The chapter uses the same word for Christ's death (into which believers are baptized, vv. 3–4) and for the believer's death to sin (vv. 7, 9), binding the two together as the single event that ends sin's dominion.
- G4916 συνθάπτω (syntaphē) in verse 4 is a compound of σύν ('with') and θάπτω ('bury'). It denotes co-burial with Christ. Its rarity elsewhere in the NT underscores how concentrated the burial imagery is here: burial implies completed death, not a process.
Related verses
- Romans 5:12 Provides the problem to which Romans 6 is the answer: sin and death entered through one man. Romans 6 responds that the remedy is co-participation in Christ's death, so that death's reign is broken.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 Echoes the chapter's outcome in a single verse: those in Christ are a new creation; the old has passed. Romans 6 traces the mechanism — crucifixion of the old man and rising to newness of life — that this verse declares as accomplished fact.
- Galatians 2:20 Personal counterpart to Romans 6. Where Romans 6 says the old man was crucified with Christ, Galatians 2:20 says 'I have been crucified with Christ.' Both texts tie identity with Christ to the ending of self-directed living.
Common questions
Does Romans 6 teach that sinless perfection is achievable in this life?
The chapter teaches that sin shall not have dominion (v. 14) and that believers are free from sin (v. 18), so sin is no longer the master. It also commands, 'Let not sin… reign in your mortal body' (v. 12), which presupposes that sin can still seek to reign. The provided text presents freedom from dominion, not the elimination of all inclination, in this life.
Is baptism here literal water baptism or a metaphor?
The provided text uses βαπτίζω (G0907) and βάπτισμα (G0908) without further clarification, and the chapter connects baptism with burial and rising (vv. 3–4). The provided cross-references and original-language definitions do not resolve whether the reference is to a ritual act or to spiritual incorporation, and scholars differ on the question.
What is the relationship between being 'under grace' and being 'under law'?
Verse 14 frames 'not under law' not as freedom from any rule but as the changed relationship in which sin has lost dominion. Verse 15 then restates the objection of verse 1 — and verse 16 explains that whoever yields as a servant becomes that servant's slave, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.