Can We Continue in Sin So That Grace May Abound?
In 1943, someone asked Martyn Lloyd-Jones when he was finally going to preach a series of expository sermons on the book of Romans. Without hesitating, he replied, “Whenever I have really understood chapter 6.”
So if you have ever struggled to understand this chapter, just know you’re not alone. Lloyd-Jones wrestled with these verses too, but he found the wrestling to be very rewarding. Years later, when he had finally arrived at what he described as a satisfactory understanding of these verses, he talked about how this new understanding of Romans 6 proved to be one of the most liberating experiences of his entire Christian life. And in just a few moments right now in which we can barely scratch the surface, let me try to show you why Lloyd-Jones would say that.
Romans 6 begins with a question. In verse 1, Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?” Paul has just spent five chapters proclaiming the power of God’s grace over human sinfulness. Though sin would have ensnared us and condemned us forever, God has delivered us from sin’s penalty and sin’s power. In fact, Romans 5:20 says, “Wherever sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
In this encouraging book, Brad Wetherell explores Scripture to show how union with Christ offers true freedom—helping believers fight sin, rest in grace, and live with lasting hope.
So, salvation is all of grace, and therefore God gets all the glory. But that could lead someone to think, Well, if my sin serves to magnify the grace of God and therefore glorify God, can’t I keep on sinning so that grace can keep on abounding? And Paul’s answer is emphatic. In verse 2, he says, “By no means!” Absolutely not.
Now, the question is, Why not? And here in this chapter we see the answer is that we cannot continue in sin because we are united with Christ. Our union with Christ has so transformed our identity, our ability, and our destiny that willfully continuing in sin is illogical, inappropriate, and ultimately impossible.
Dead to Sin, Alive to Christ
Look at verses 2 through 4. Paul says, “How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Paul is saying to every believer to remember you’re not the person you used to be. When God saved you, he united you to Christ. And you are so closely identified with Christ that his story has become your story. He died, and you died with him. He rose, and you rose with him. In Christ, we have died to sin. Our former life in bondage to sin is over, and our new life in service to God has begun. And now our responsibility and our privilege is to go and walk accordingly.
Our former life in bondage to sin is over, and our new life in service to God has begun.
That is New Testament motivation for sanctification. It is not a call to become something we’re not. It is a call to become who we truly are. And Romans 6:11 says, “You must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Consider this, ponder this, believe this, and then live in response.
And what does that look like? Well, it involves fighting sin. Look at verse 12: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”
Yes, you are still in this mortal body. Yes, sin still stirs up all kinds of passions in you and things that tempt you. But sin does not reign over you. So don’t act as if it does. Don’t act like sin is still your lord. Instead, give yourself in service to Christ the Lord. Strive for holiness and pursue righteousness.
Look at verse 13: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”
You won’t do this perfectly. Not in this life. But you can do this genuinely and increasingly. Romans 6:14 says, “Sin will have no dominion over you.”
And this is the liberating power of union with Christ. In Christ, we have died to sin and we now live to God. And though in many ways we fumble and falter our way through this life, we have the strong assurance that our union with Christ is never going to end. Verse 23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Friend, believe that truth with all your heart and then fight sin and pursue holiness with all your might. That’s the message of Romans 6.
Brad Wetherell is the author of Saved to Sin No More: How Union with Christ Empowers a Life of Holiness.
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