Verses 1-4: Grace Does Not License Sin—Union with Christ Changes Everything

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ² May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

• Grace confronts sin rather than excusing it:

  Paul raises the question a hearer might ask—if grace increases where sin increases, should we continue sinning?—and answers with an emphatic denial. The theological point is that grace is not merely God’s willingness to overlook wrongdoing; it is God’s saving power that breaks sin’s claim over a person. Therefore, continuing in sin is a contradiction of the new reality God has created for those who are in Christ.

• Christian identity is grounded in participation in Christ:

  Paul ties the believer’s change directly to Christ’s death and resurrection. To be “baptized into Christ Jesus” is to be joined to him, so that his death and burial are not only events in his story but become decisive for ours. This means the believer’s relationship to sin is no longer defined by inevitability and bondage, but by a real transfer of allegiance and life—so that walking “in newness of life” is the intended shape of redeemed existence.

• The Father’s glory anchors the believer’s new life:

  Christ was raised “through the glory of the Father,” and that same divine power and purpose stands behind the believer’s calling. New life is not self-generated moral improvement; it is life grounded in God’s action in raising Jesus, and it is aimed at a transformed walk that corresponds to resurrection life.

Verses 5-11: Crucified and Raised with Christ—Freedom and a New Mindset

⁵ For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection; ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; ⁹ knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him! ¹⁰ For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Union with Christ establishes the pattern: death to sin, life to God:

  Paul presents a coherent salvation pattern: those united with Christ share in the likeness of his death and also in his resurrection. This is both promise and framework. The believer’s hope is not only future resurrection, but also a present participation in Christ’s risen life that reorients the person toward God.

• The “old man” is crucified so bondage can be broken:

  Paul teaches that “our old man was crucified with him,” with a stated purpose: “so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.” This highlights sanctification as liberation. Sin is not treated merely as a series of bad choices, but as a power that enslaves; the cross is presented as the decisive event that breaks sin’s rightful claim to mastery over the believer.

• Christ’s resurrection means death’s dominion is ended in him—and therefore hope is secure:

  Because Christ “dies no more” and “Death no longer has dominion over him,” his life is unending and God-directed: “the life that he lives, he lives to God.” The believer’s confidence rests on the permanence of Christ’s victory. Salvation is anchored in the once-for-all character of Christ’s death to sin and the ongoing character of his life to God.

• Faith includes a commanded reckoning—living from what God has done:

  Paul does not only describe what is true; he instructs believers how to think: “Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is a theological point about the Christian mind and conscience: believers are called to agree with God’s verdict about their new identity in Christ and to let that identity shape daily choices. The command implies real moral agency, while the phrase “in Christ Jesus our Lord” keeps that agency rooted in grace and union, not self-reliance.

Verses 12-14: Present Yourselves to God—Sin’s Dominion Is Not Inevitable

¹² Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

• Grace-driven holiness is a real command, not a mere ideal:

  “Don’t let sin reign” is an imperative addressed to believers, showing that Christian life involves active resistance to sin’s attempted rule in the body. The command assumes that, by grace, sin’s reign can be refused; it also assumes that believers must not be passive about desires (“lusts”) that seek obedience.

• Worship is bodily: your members become instruments for one master:

  Paul frames moral life in terms of presentation: the body and its capacities (“your members”) can be yielded as “instruments of unrighteousness” or “instruments of righteousness to God.” This teaches that sanctification is not only internal intention but embodied obedience—what we do with speech, hands, sexuality, time, and resources expresses who we are serving.

• “Not under law, but under grace” means a new realm with a new power:

  Paul’s conclusion is not that moral standards vanish, but that the believer’s governing principle has changed. “Under grace” indicates God’s favor and effective help that breaks sin’s dominion; “sin will not have dominion over you” is presented as a promise rooted in this new realm. The believer is therefore called to obey, not to earn acceptance, but because grace has transferred them into a new relationship where sin is no longer rightful king.

Verses 15-19: Two Slaveries—Obedience from the Heart and Sanctification

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. ¹⁸ Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.

• Grace does not remove accountability; it clarifies true allegiance:

  Paul repeats the question with a new angle—if we are under grace, can we sin?—and again rejects it. He then explains a moral-spiritual principle: obedience reveals servanthood. People become “servants of whomever you obey,” and Paul sets two paths: “sin to death” versus “obedience to righteousness.” Theologically, this presents human action as meaningful and revealing, while also showing that sin is never a harmless option; it carries a trajectory toward death.

• God’s saving work produces heartfelt obedience to apostolic teaching:

  Paul thanks God for a transformation that has occurred: those who were “bondservants of sin” “became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.” This holds together God’s initiative (the reason for thanksgiving) and the believer’s real response (obedience “from the heart”). It also emphasizes that Christian obedience is shaped by received teaching—faith is not invented privately but formed by the gospel pattern handed down.

• Freedom from sin is for service to righteousness, aiming at sanctification:

  “Being made free from sin” is immediately paired with a new belonging: “you became bondservants of righteousness.” Freedom here is not autonomy; it is liberation from a cruel master so one may serve the good and life-giving Lord. Paul’s pastoral aim is practical: just as believers once yielded themselves to escalating impurity, they are now to yield themselves to righteousness “for sanctification,” showing that sanctification is the intended outcome of this new servanthood.

Verses 20-23: Fruit, Ends, and the Two Outcomes—Death or Eternal Life

²⁰ For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. ²¹ What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Every way of life bears fruit and moves toward an end:

  Paul asks believers to evaluate their former life: what “fruit” did it produce? Shame now testifies that sin’s promises were false, and Paul states plainly: “the end of those things is death.” The theological point is that sin is not morally neutral; it yields outcomes consistent with its nature, culminating in death.

• Serving God yields sanctification now and eternal life as the result:

  In contrast to the old servitude, believers are “made free from sin” and “servants of God,” and this new relationship bears “fruit of sanctification” with “the result of eternal life.” This holds together present transformation and future consummation: sanctification is not optional ornamentation, but proper fruit of belonging to God, and eternal life is the fitting end of that path.

• Salvation is sheer gift, while sin’s payment is earned:

  Paul concludes with a stark contrast: “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Wages are earned and owed; gift is granted freely. This safeguards the gratuity of salvation—eternal life is God’s gift—while also affirming moral realism: sin truly pays out death. The phrase “in Christ Jesus our Lord” locates the gift personally and covenantally: eternal life is not an abstract reward but life given in union with the risen Lord.

Conclusion: Romans 6 teaches that the gospel of grace creates a decisive break with sin’s dominion through union with Christ in his death and resurrection, calling believers to reckon themselves alive to God and to present their whole lives as instruments of righteousness. It holds together God’s effective saving action and the believer’s real, responsible obedience, showing that sanctification is the proper fruit of belonging to God—and that the final contrast is ultimate: sin pays death, but God gives eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.