Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

In our bid to live a morally upright life after accepting Christ as our Saviour, many of us believers misunderstand God's grace and consequently Romans 6:1 - “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” We read this and start preaching the Ten Commandments as a measure of righteousness. This is usually because we somehow think that "other believers"  but "surely not us" will go berserk with sin we preach God's grace without adding the Ten Commandments to "put believers in check."

This thought has its root in the belief that God's work cannot succeed without our making it so by some forceful effort on our part, much like how "Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled." in 2 Samuel 6:6. Uzzah must have had only good intentions but he still died from his action.

Pastors and leaders, our bodies are the temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:17) in which the real Ark of the Covenant (our Saviour Jesus Christ) resides. Don't try to steady the ark of God like Uzzah by introducing human effort (law-keeping to attain righteousness) at righting the Ark of God (Christ our Shepherd) in us. You do this when you introduce the law to God's grace in a bid to keep believers "in check." By strength shall no man prevail. Uzzah's name means "Strength!"

Would you really give your own child a gift that has a slight chance of killing him? How much more our loving Saviour in whom "we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence," Ephesians 1:7-8 here tells us His grace is showered on us with wisdom and prudence, not just anyhow that we could misuse it.

Those who misunderstand and quote this verse to us “grace people” also seem to believe that all we want to do is sin when the exact opposite is the case (only by God's grace are we this way!) Like our heavenly Father, we “grace people” hate sin with a passion!

So why did Paul ask this question“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”  in Romans 6:1? Paul made some statements in the preceding chapter (Romans 5) which led to his asking this particular question. Before we address these, let’s bear the following verses in mind (Sorry, this could be a little long:))

Romans 3:20 says “For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” Law-keeping can never make one right with God or earn them a commendation. Rather, it will bring condemnation, the curse and judgment.

Galatians 3:10 says “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” Those who are trying to keep the Ten Commandments in order to get right with God are under the curse!

Galatians 5:4 says “For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.” This means that if you believe that it is your law-keeping/what you do or don’t do that makes you right with God, you can call on the name of Jesus all you want but it will be an effort in futility. You can’t mix law and grace; the Law did not come through Jesus Christ. Grace and Truth did. And this Truth is not the Ten Commandments. Christ Himself is the Truth.

Back to Romans 6:1 - “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” The “What shall we say then?” tells us that Paul was questioning something he said in the preceding chapter (Romans 5) and he said a lot of our salvation in Christ in Romans 5!

In Romans 5:19, Paul says: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Here, Paul tells us that Adam’s disobedience is what made everybody sinners. Our sins do not make us sinners. We sin because we are sinners through Adam’s disobedience, not the other way round. Whether you do good or do bad, without Christ, as long as you are Adam’s seed, you are a sinner. In this state, even if you spend your entire life in a bubble doing “righteous things,” and not thinking a single, slightly mean thought, which no one can, in God’s eyes, you would still be a sinner and in the same boat of unrighteousness as paedophiles and murderers. The good things we do here can never make us righteous in God’s eyes.

By the same token, Christ’s obedience makes everyone who believes and receives His gift of righteousness 100% righteous in the sight of God. This blood-bought righteousness is the only one that “cuts it’ with our heavenly Father. The bad things we do cannot make us lose this righteousness, just as the good things we did before we became born-again could not change our sinner status. In Christ, we are 100% righteous because God put our sins on Jesus so that we can be righteous in Him according to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21-

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Verse 19 in NLT version says “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

How is it that we do not question the result of one man's disobedience (eternal condemnation) yet question that of one Man’s obedience (eternal Righteousness?)

Verse 20-21, the last verses before Paul’s question “What then shall we say?” go on to say:

“Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

In essence, Paul tells us in verse 20 that the law was given so that people could see how sinful they were (“that the offense might abound.”) But as the people sinned more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant (“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”) Verse 21 tells us that just as sin ruled over the people and brought them to death (“so that as sin reigned in death,”) now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (“even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”)

Believers, this is the crux of the gospel that Paul preached, THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Paul preached that Christ’s obedience is what makes us righteous in the eyes of our heavenly Father, and not our law-keeping/what we do or do not do. Paul preached righteousness by faith, not by works or keeping the law in order to be made right with God.

Paul preached that Sarah (Grace) does not need Hagar (the Law) to raise Isaac (the church.) Grace is more than enough!

And the religious leaders of his day were enraged!

They wanted their Law that they could not even live by because it made them look better than the tax collectors and sinners! They persecuted Paul, just as today, preachers of God's undeserved, unmerited favour, the same gospel that Paul preached, are falsely accused of preaching that it is okay to sin because "we have grace!"

For this grace gospel that he preached, Paul was imprisoned, scourged, stoned and left for dead and murdered on the orders of the religious leaders of his day who were dogged about keeping the Law that Christ has delivered us from, just like their counterparts today who preach that our law-keeping and self-righteousness is what makes us right with God, even though Christ has fulfilled all of the Law's righteous demands for us! Even though trying to be justified by the law is the way to get cut off from Christ!

For this gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that Paul preached (justification by faith and not by law-keeping,) He was falsely accused by the religious leaders of his day of preaching that it is okay to sin because of grace.

THIS IS WHY PAUL ASKED THE QUESTION IN ROMANS 6:1 “WHAT SHALL WE SAY THEN? SHALL WE CONTINUE IN SIN THAT GRACE MAY ABOUND?”

HE WAS ASKING THE QUESTION:

“Do all these things I have said, including the truth that God’s grace super-abounds when sins increase; that we are made righteous by “one Man’s obedience” and not our law-keeping; that we are made right with God because of His free gift even though we are guilty of many sins; do these things that I said mean that believers can just go and be sinning anyhow?”

Believers, this is why Paul asked this question. He didn’t ask it in the context in which many people bandy the verse about today – usually as a reason to go back under the law that Christ has already fulfilled for us with his death! He asked because he wanted to clarify that the gospel that he preached - righteousness by faith and not by law-keeping - is not a license to sin but the key to right living!

No wonder he said “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…”

What he preached – justification by faith and not by works of the law or keeping the Ten Commandments - was considered shameful by the Pharisees and scribes who held on to laws that they could never keep for their own righteousness, the same laws (the Ten Commandments) that those who misunderstand Romans 6:1 struggle and fail to keep even today, shunning the grace and gift of righteousness that God freely gives to us in Christ.

If you are a pastor and you have not been misunderstood and accused of preaching "easy grace" by anyone like Paul was, please ask God to show you the Truth. There is a double curse in Galatians 3 for anyone that preaches a different gospel than Paul did, specifically those who preach that believers still need to keep the Law in order to be right with God or do such and such before God will bless or help them. This is the Law and "we are not under Law but under Grace." This is the burden that Christ came to lift from our shoulders - the Law. Why do we try so hard to put the church under the spirit of bondage again to fear? Romans 8:15 says of those of us in Christ -

"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “Abba! Father!”"

Now to Paul’s response to his Romans 6:1 question “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Romans 6:2 "Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Believers, Paul’s response here simply means that we have moved from the country of Sin to the country of Grace where we have God’s Righteousness as gift. Just as we could produce only sinful deeds before Christ delivered us from the consequences of Adam’s disobedience, as the righteousness of God in Christ, believing in His righteousness that we receive as a gift and not that which is from our law-keeping, we will produce righteousness.

Verses 15-17 say even more: 15 "Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.”

A slave will do his master’s bidding. Slaves of God’s Righteousness (the gift, not of works) will live right. Slaves of sin will continue to sin.

But how is one a slave to sin? 1 Corinthians 15:56 says “…, and the power of sin is the law.” The Law gives sin its power over man. Anyone who is trying to keep the Law in order to get right with God is a slave to sin!

Also, notice that “choose to obey God" in v.16 is not obeying the Law but obeying Paul’s teaching: RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH AND NOT BY WORKS.

Those who struggle under the weight of laws that they cannot keep reap a harvest of sinful deeds as it is written in Romans 7:5-

5 “When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

What law-keeping does is arouse evil desires that produce a harvest of sinful deeds. "Old nature" here refers to the sin nature that all acquired as a result of Adam's disobedience.

Verse 6 tells of the experience of us who are the righteousness of God in Christ: "But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”

The difference between us "grace people" and believers who still fight to keep the Law in order to get right with God or receive from Him is that by His grace, we know we are already 100% right with Him because of what Christ did for us and that He gives us all things freely with Christ according to Romans 8:32, and not because we fasted or went to some mountain to neglect our bodies. We do not have to struggle to live right by our own effort. The Holy Spirit transforms us to the image of our Lord’s glory (2 Corinthians 3:18,) ridding us of the desire to sin and causing us to do God's will. We also are not cut off from Christ as those who try to get right with God by keeping the law are, according to Galatians 5:4 -

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Pastors and leaders, stop worrying about what other people will "use God's grace to do" and preach it. Don't try to steady the ark of God like Uzzah did. Don't add the Ten Commandments to righteousness by faith. The law is not of faith. Titus 2 tells us that Grace is our Teacher, not you or I. Tell people about God's grace and let Grace, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, do the rest!

Believers, ask our Lord God to lead you on the path of righteousness. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things!

Believe Right and you will Live Right."