Understanding "...Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound?"

Believer, beware of those who twist or misinterpret Paul's  "...Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound" to place an additional burden of keeping the Law in order to live a godly life on you. Such do not have the Father's love in them, not yet- that is why they can comprehend or imagine sinning wilfully against Someone who loves you so much that He gave up His own Son to die for your sins. Such are yet to experience the Father's love. Peter spoke of such in 2 Peter 3 -

15 "And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction."

"Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound?"- is a favourite of those who try to twist the Gospel to mean that we who are saved by Grace have to rely on human effort at suppressing sins/keeping the Law in order to be godly/saved from sin and death. Such say things like: 

“Yes we are saved by Grace but we still have to keep the Law, not to be justified, but as a guiding principle for morality so that we do not fall from grace.” 

This is the antithesis of the Gospel of Christ that Paul preached! He called the Galatians believers "foolish" and "bewitched" for believing this false doctrine in Galatians 3:

"Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?"

Romans 7:1-6 describes this false doctrine as ADULTERY. This is a doctrine of salvation by “part-Law and part-Grace” and thus, not salvation. This horrid mixture that is neither Law nor Grace is the “neither cold nor hot” that Christ speaks of in Revelation 3. 

Those who try to twist Romans 6:1 - "....Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound?"- out of its context will never tell you the background that is Romans 1-5 which tells us that we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law or futile efforts at “not sinning” in order to be godly or morally upright before God. As believers under Grace, sin is abhorrent to us and we overcome not by human effort (arm of flesh) at suppressing sin but by the power of Christ who gave His life to free us from every kind of sin:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds." Titus 2:14.

Paul preached "righteousness by faith" to the extent that religious people who erroneously thought they could keep the Law twisted the Gospel and falsely accused him of preaching that it is okay to sin because of Grace (Romans 3:7-8,) just as many are accusing true believers today when they twist  "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound" out of the context that Paul wrote it. By this question, Paul was asking:

Do all these things that I wrote in Romans 1-5 mean that we can just go and be sinning anyhow? It is akin to asking:  Shall we go and get cancer and be wallowing in cancer because a cure is now available?" And what are the things that Paul wrote in Romans 1-5? Here is one. Romans 5:19 - found in the chapter right before the often misinterpreted Romans 6:1-  tells us:

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." 

From the above verse, we see that committing acts of sin is not what makes a person a sinner. Adam's disobedience made all of his descendants - all mankind - sinners. Even if a person lived his life doing good things and trying to keep the Law, as long as the sin//old nature inherited from Adam by all mankind is intact, he is still a sinner "continuing in sin." Sinners will produce sins just as a teacher will teach. The teacher might also bake, do charity work and drive after work but this does not make her any less of a teacher. Doing one's best to keep the Law and avoid sin cannot change this sinner status that is brought about by the sin/old nature inherited from Adam.

The sin nature is characterized by dependence on human effort at attaining godliness. Such are not a new creation in Christ.  They reject God's gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have or say that Grace is not sufficient for our salvation so you have to add our none-existent human effort or will-power to it. 

Such also to twist "Faith without works is dead" to mean we who believe must do certain things to PROVE that we are saved; this is the same way Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness with "If you are the Son of God...." Believer, good works are not CONDITIONS for salvation. They are EVIDENCES, much like how a child whose father has a bushy beard will grow one when he comes of age. But these false doctrine preachers tell a five-year-old that he is not his father's child because he has no beard!

Christ says in John 15:5 -  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

You can't be in Christ and not bear "much fruit." Our bearing much fruit is all because we are in Christ and not because we the branches did our best to produce fruit by human effort. The same Vine life in Christ flows in us and causes us to bear fruit. Apart from Christ, we cannot. 

Remember "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." 

Just as sinners (having the sin nature) produce sin and "continue in sin" no matter how much they try to keep the law, a believer in Christ cannot continue to live in sin because we believe that Christ's obedience has made us righteous. The thing that made us sinners (sin nature inherited from Adam) and made us produce sins was excised by Christ when we believed: see Colossians 2:11-

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead."

Just as the one with the sin nature will produce sins and continue in sin, we who believe that we are made righteous and escape God's wrath by Christ's obedience GET TO produce righteousness and cannot continue to live in sin. We did not make ourselves dead to sin. Christ did. He removed from us that sin nature that made us sinners. Hence Paul's response to his own rhetorical question: 

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 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."

But many just pick one half of a verse - "...Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound..."- and twist it out of context to mean that human effort is involved in the story of our Salvation. 

True believers do not want to commit sin but unlike many churchgoers today and Peter before he denied Christ, we know that the only reason why we are not committing particular sins is because God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:12-13.) 

But people who quote "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound" out of context think that they can overcome sin by human effort. This is the height of foolishness and pride according to the order of Peter before he denied Christ. There is something about the arm of flesh (dependence on human effort at obedience) that wants to be relevant in the story of our salvation. That something is Pride. God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) is powerless, will fail and cannot: Romans 7:18- 

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

Human effort at being godly (law-keeping) and Grace don't mix. There is nothing good in us of ourselves. We can do no good of ourselves says God's word! But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort) that will fail says - 

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and not sin by my will-power," 

- just like Peter when Christ told him about his then upcoming denials. He knew 100% that he would die for Jesus, until Satan sifted him like wheat. Then he saw how empty of good he was. Many churchgoers are yet to see this- the evidence is in the very verse that many misinterpret: "Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound?" Such who use this verse in the wrong context are saying that they have some good in them and so can use the Law to keep sin in check in their lives - same position Peter was in when he just knew that he would never deny Christ. The result is sin has dominion. Grace cannot operate here. Grace only works in the lives of those who, by Grace, see how helpless they are against sin.

Like Peter who boasted in his own strength and ended up breaking the Law, many wrongly believe that they have the will-power to do what is right and keep the law, until their eyes are opened after Satan sifts them like wheat as he did Peter and sin has dominion:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14.

Those who think they can keep the Law and use that twisted interpretation of what Paul meant when he wrote "Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound" as evidence of their law-keeping prowess have no idea about the severity of the Law. The letter kills and gives sin dominion. The Law does not take backstories or good intentions into consideration when condemning the one who has done wrong. 

Many believe that we "Grace children" just want an excuse to sin and live lawlessly. But can you imagine feeling great guilt and condemnation because you responded with 12 o'clock when it was really 12.02? Let's not talk about anticipating punishment for sins for saying something like: "You spilled water all over the floor" when the water did not cover the entire floor:) This is how much we "Grace people" want to sin. We got so exhausted trying get right with God by keeping the Law that the PURPOSE of the law was fulfilled in our lives:

Galatians 3:19 - "Why then was the law given? It was meant to be an intermediary agreement added after God gave the promise of the coming One! It was given to show men how guilty they are, and it remained in force until the Seed was born to fulfill the promises given to Abraham."

Also Romans 3:19-20- "Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 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."

Also Romans 5:20- "The law was given so that sin would increase. But where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more."

See the TPT: "So then, the law was introduced into God’s plan to bring the reality of human sinfulness out of hiding. And yet, wherever sin increased, there was more than enough of God’s grace to triumph all the more!"

Believer, let's be for the Law for the purpose for which it was given: to show everyone up as guilty and make us see our need for God's saving grace. I'm yet to hear anyone who is advocating for keeping the Law in a bid to be godly preach these verses, especially Romans 5:20- "The law was given so that sin would increase." The Law is what makes sin have dominion over one.

Plus the verse "...where sin increased, God’s grace increased even more" is not so that we should continue to wallow in sins because of God's super-abounding Grace. With every sin, there is more than enough grace to help us overcome- akin to quenching a lit matchstick (sin) with the power of a zillion fire extinguishers (Grace.) God's super-abounding Grace is what transformed "Christ-denying Simon" into "pillar of the church-Peter."

Those who think they can keep the Law have no idea about its severity. It condemns all who try. But Grace saves from sins.

The arm of flesh will fail. Only by God's grace do we live in triumph over sin and death - Romans 5:17:

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Salvation is not behaviour modification by human effort aka the arm of flesh that will fail. Sin has dominion over those who are trying to keep the Law in order to be godly (Romans 6:14.)   Salvation in Christ is all about hearts' transformation by the Holy Spirit. In Christ (under Grace,) we desire to and GET TO live lives of moral excellence, yet not us but Christ in us. 

Right believing always produces right living.