"Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"

How the Accuser tries to twist this question to keep people busy trying to keep the law to get right with God and thus, away from God's saving grace! See 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."

Believers, please beware of Christ-professing but unbelieving establishments and preachers. The spirit of the anti-Christ is not anti-God. In fact, God and sinlessness can be central to their teaching but Christ and His finished work of our salvation are usually not. You only find our Saviour in the "in Jesus name" at the end of each prayer point. YOU must do all the work required to be set free. There is no free indeed here, only a never-ending list of things to do and what not to do in order to be free from curses, receive from our heavenly Father who gives us all things FREELY with Christ (Romans 8:32) and in order to remain in right-standing with Him; a right-standing that Christ purchased for us with His blood (2 Corinthians 5:21).

These unbelieving Christ professors are the ones that usually try to twist Paul's question in Romans 6:1 "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" to make people continue to try to keep the law in order to get right with God. This is an effort in futility according to Romans 3:20; the way for sin to have dominion according to Romans 6:14; the way to get cut off from Christ and fall away from God's grace according to Galatians 5:4 and the way to produce "a harvest of sinful deeds that result in death" according to Romans 7:5.

These people, many of them agents of the Accuser, will never give you the background to Romans 6:1 that is the whole of Romans 1-5 where we see how we are made righteous in Christ apart from works; how God's righteousness is a gift to all who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ; how "much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." See 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."

In Christ, we get to reign over acts of sin, addictions, sickness, depression, lack and every earthly ill (symptoms of death.) Nothing to do with human effort at obedience. All because of God's saving Grace.

Paul's question "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" was a rhetorical one, asked in order make a point rather than to side with those who were fighting to be under law. He answers this question in Romans 6 and all through his letters to the church.

PAUL ASKED THIS QUESTION BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE FALSELY ACCUSING HIM OF PREACHING THAT IT IS OKAY TO CONTINUE IN SIN BECAUSE OF GRACE, just like their counterparts who try to pervert the gospel that is Grace are doing today. See Romans 3:7-8-

""But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights His truthfulness and brings Him more glory?” 8 And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned."

See the MSG version: “It’s simply perverse to say, “If my lies serve to show off God’s truth all the more gloriously, why blame me? I’m doing God a favor.” Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, “The more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it!” That’s pure slander, as I’m sure you’ll agree."

See the gospel that Paul preached and made people falsely accuse him of saying that it is okay to sin because of grace: Romans 3:

"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.

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

This is the gospel. This is Grace. Because some could not understand Christ's gift of righteousness which can never be earned by law-keeping or right-doing, they accused Paul of preaching that it is okay to sin because of grace.

In the question: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Paul was asking: “Do all these things I teach you, including the truth that we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law; that God’s grace super-abounds where sin increases; 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 through 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!

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 "WE ARE UNDER GRACE." Sounds familiar?

Paul's question was a prelude to explaining why we will not continue to live in sin since Christ's death has freed us from sin and made us slaves of Righteousness which we see in Romans 6-7. Under grace, you cannot continue to live in sin. According to Romans 7:4, grace will make you produce "a harvest of good deeds for God."

Trying to keep the Law to get right with God on the other hand will get one to produce "a harvest of sinful deeds that result in death."Romans 7:5.

Romans 6:14 tells us "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Try to obey the law to get right with God and sin will multiply. This is the logic of heaven. But many have this verse backwards. We see why in 1 Corinthians 1:18-21:

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God... 21 For since the world through all its [earthly] wisdom failed to recognize God, God in His wisdom was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached [regarding salvation] to save those who believe [in Christ and welcome Him as Savior]."

Human reasoning sees nothing illogical in "obey the law so sin will not have dominion." God says under law, sin has dominion.

Believers, we're under Grace not just so that we can go on sinning sprees. Under grace, we're married to our Saviour Jesus Christ so that we can can be righteous in God's sight and thus get to live a life of moral excellence. One that is sin-free. We see this in Romans 7:1-4. Grace is the Way out of sin.

God's grace is not a licence to sin. Never. Would you really give your own beloved child a gift that has a slight chance of killing him or give him the liberty to be rebellious? 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 are still wallowing in sin and saying it is okay because they are under Grace are under something else, definitely not grace. Yes there are some who try to replace the grace of our Lord with sheer license to sin. Notice "replace," not mix or use. These people are not under grace but under the control of the devil.

Jude spoke of these scoundrels in Jude 1 and described them as spots in our love feasts, greedy and rebellious. These people are not of Christ and their behaviour should not make pastors and leaders try to “help God” by introducing the Law to keep New Covenant believers in check. Sarah (GRACE) did not need Hagar (LAW) to raise Isaac (The Church). Grace is enough. Cast out the bondwoman and her son! See the analogy of "Hagar and Sarah" as "Law and Grace" Galatians 4:21-31.

See 1 Corinthians 3:16 "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

In Christ (Grace Personified,) we are the temple of God; a royal priesthood. In us is the real Ark of the Covenant - our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember "It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me."

Let's not be like Uzzah who tried to steady the Ark of God (the Ark is a picture of Christ: Grace personified) with his hand when the oxen stumbled. See what happened in 2 Samuel 6:6-7:

"But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God. 7 Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God."

For starters, the Ark of God should have been carried by the priests among the Israelites and not with an oxcart as was previously done by the Philistines who didn't know any better. In Christ, we are "a royal priesthood." We who believe get to have the real Ark of God - Christ - inside us.

Uzzah's action is a picture of people trying to "balance" the message of Christ (Grace) with some human effort/strength at obeying the Ten Commandments and doing good things to get right with God.

Uzzah is a picture of those who go about preaching that horrid mixture of part-law and part-grace that they call a "balanced message" which is not the gospel, even with good intentions; those that say "Yes you are saved by Grace but you still have to keep the Law and do good deeds in order to maintain your salvation and be eligible for the Rapture." This is the "neither cold nor hot" that Christ spoke of in Rev. 3. Believers, by God's grace, let's not be found here. We don't do good to get to Christ; we get Christ and then get to do good because of Christ in us. Never by human effort at law-keeping can the temple of God (believers) be righted. Only by Grace.

By the way, Uzzah means Strength. Sarah (GRACE) did not need Hagar (LAW) to raise Isaac (The Church). Grace is enough. Cast out the bondwoman and her son!

Pastors and leaders, there's no need to help the Holy Spirit to do His work of transforming believers to the image of the glory of the Lord by putting them under the Law again. This is death. Plus you can't. No human is that good a transformer:) 2 Corinthians 3:18 says the Spirit of the Lord transforms us to the image of His glory, from glory to glory; not the Law or you transforming people.

Point the people to God's Grace (unveil the love of Christ) and according to Titus 2, Grace (our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself) is the one that teaches us to shun ungodliness and worldly lusts, 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, not you or I. In Christ, Grace (Christ Himself) is our Teacher. His Spirit teaches us all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.