Views, Visions and Values.: Set Free from Sin and it's power, Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Romans 6 ESV (UK) , Some thoughts on Atonement and Justification, The In-depth Series

Thursday 27 April 2017

Set Free from Sin and it's power, Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Romans 6 ESV (UK) , Some thoughts on Atonement and Justification, The In-depth Series

Romans 6 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 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. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,[c] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Redeemed, by the Blood of the Lamb, Fanny J Crosby

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child and forever I am.

Refrain

Redeemed, redeemed,

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed, redeemed,

His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,

No language my rapture can tell;

I know that the light of His presence

With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,

I think of Him all the day long:

I sing, for I cannot be silent;

His love is the theme of my song.

I know there’s a crown that is waiting,

In yonder bright mansion for me,

And soon, with the spirits made perfect,

At home with the Lord I shall be.

Reformation Study Bible

6:1–14 Paul’s insistence that the increase of sin is met by the increase of grace (5:20) leads to the question he now raises. So great was his emphasis on the freeness of God’s grace in the face of sin that his preaching had been accused of antinomian tendencies, or ignoring the ethical requirements of the law (3:8). Now he makes the point that to continue in sin would involve a contradiction of the Christian’s new identity in Christ. In view of this new identity (v. 11), Christians are to refuse to allow sin to usurp authority in their lives, and instead are to yield the whole of life to God (vv. 12, 13) in the assurance that since they are under grace, not law, as the means of their salvation, sin is no longer their master.

6:15–23 That the Christian is not under law but under grace might appear to provide license for moral carelessness. This Paul denies, since under the reign of grace Christians have become slaves of God. The freedom of grace is therefore freedom for obedience and service, not for license.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Verses 1-23

The apostle’s transition, which joins this discourse with the former, is observable: “What shall we say then? Rom. 6:1. What use shall we make of this sweet and comfortable doctrine? Shall we do evil that good may come, as some say we do? Rom. 3:8. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we hence take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? Isa. this a use to be made of it?” No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles at the thought of it (Rom. 6:2): “God forbid; far be it from us to think such a thought.” He entertains the objection as Christ did the devil’s blackest temptation (Matt. 4:10): Get thee hence, Satan. Those opinions that give any countenance to sin, or open a door to practical immoralities, how specious and plausible so ever they be rendered, by the pretension of advancing free grace, are to be rejected with the greatest abhorrence; for the truth as it is in Jesus is a truth according to godliness, Titus 1:1. The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness in this chapter, which may be reduced to two heads:—His exhortations to holiness, which show the nature of it; and his motives or arguments to enforce those exhortations, which show the necessity of it.

[2.] Our conformity to the resurrection of Christ obliges us to rise again to newness of life. This is the power of his resurrection which Paul was so desirous to know, Phil. 3:10. Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, that is, by the power of the Father. The power of God is his glory; it is glorious power, Col. 1:11. Now in baptism we are obliged to conform to that pattern, to be planted in the likeness of his resurrection (Rom. 6:5), to live with him, Rom. 6:8. See Col. 2:12. Conversion is the first resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; and this resurrection is conformable to Christ’s resurrection. This conformity of the saints to the resurrection of Christ seems to be intimated in the rising of so many of the bodies of the saints, which, though mentioned before by anticipation, is supposed to have been concomitant with Christ’s resurrection, Matt. 27:52. We have all risen with Christ. In two things we must conform to the resurrection of Christ:—First, He rose to die no more, Rom. 6:9. We read of many others that were raised from the dead, but they rose to die again.

But, when Christ rose, he rose to die no more; therefore he left his grave-clothes behind him, whereas Lazarus, who was to die again, brought them out with him, as one that should have occasion to use them again: but over Christ death has no more dominion; he was dead indeed, but he is alive, and so alive that he lives for evermore, Rev. 1:18. Thus we must rise from the grave of sin never again to return to it, nor to have any more fellowship with the works of darkness, having quitted that grave, that land of darkness as darkness itself. Secondly, He rose to live unto God (Rom. 6:10), to live a heavenly life, to receive that glory which was set before him. Others that were raised from the dead returned to the same life in every respect which they had before lived; but so did not Christ: he rose again to leave the world. Now I am no more in the world, John 13:1; 17:11. He rose to live to God, that is, to intercede and rule, and all to the glory of the Father. Thus must we rise to live to God: this is what he calls newness of life (Rom. 6:4), to live from other principles, by other rules, with other aims, than we have done. A life devoted to God is a new life; before, self was the chief and highest end, but now God. To live indeed is to live to God, with our eyes ever towards him, making him the centre of all our actions.

The Bible Panorama

Romans 6

V 1–4: CONTINUE SINNING? Paul picks on the objections of some by asking if we are already justified, shall we sin more to show how great that justification is? He exclaims dogmatically, ‘Certainly not!’ Spiritually we were buried into Christ in His death. His resurrection life has become ours. If we are truly born again, we will want to walk in newness of life. Baptism echoes that meaning.

V 5–7: CRUCIFIED SELF Just as we share in Christ’s resurrection, we share in His crucifixion. Our position, as those risen with Christ, is therefore that our ‘old man’ (our unsaved self) is crucified with Christ. I cannot claim the one without the other.

V 8–14: CALCULATED SEQUENCE We are to reckon ourselves to be ‘dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord’. That reckoning is based upon the knowledge that we are both crucified with Christ and also risen with Him in our status before God. God never asks us to make false calculations! This reckoning results in the sequence of logic and holiness that if we are dead to sin and alive to Christ we must not let sin reign in our bodies, but we must present our bodies as alive from the dead to be instruments of righteousness to God. We are no longer under the dominion of sin and death caused by the law, but we are under God’s grace.

V 15–19: CONSECRATED SLAVES We are not now the slaves of the broken law, fearing judgement and death, but we present ourselves as slaves of ‘righteousness for holiness’ having been set free from one tyrannical master, and become the willing slaves of another Master who is gracious.

V 20–23: CHRIST’S SALVATION Previously, we faced death and produced fruit of which we were ashamed. Now we have God’s gift of ‘eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ and, as joyfully consecrated slaves, seek to produce holy fruit for our loving Master who has saved us.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

6617 atonement, in NT

In dying for the sins of the world, Jesus Christ fulfilled and replaced the OT sacrificial system, so that all who believe in him are restored to fellowship with God. Christ is the true high priest, who finally liberates his people from the guilt of sin, by offering himself as the supreme sacrifice.

The atoning purpose of Jesus Christ’s death

Jesus Christ’s death on behalf of others Jn 10:11 See also Jn 10:14-18; 2Co 5:15; Heb 2:9; 1Jn 3:16

Jesus Christ’s atoning death for sin 1Co 15:3 See also Ro 4:25; Ro 8:3; Gal 1:4; 1Pe 3:18

The atoning significance of Jesus Christ’s death is expressed by references to his blood Ro 5:9; Rev 5:9 See also Eph 2:13; 1Pe 1:18-19; 1Jn 1:7; Rev 7:14

Jesus Christ’s atoning death is commemorated in the Lord’s Supper 1Co 11:23-25 See also Mt 26:26-28 pp Mk 14:22-24 pp Lk 22:19-20

Explanations of the atonement

Jesus Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice Ro 3:25 See also 1Co 5:7; Eph 5:2; 1Jn 4:10; Rev 5:6

Jesus Christ’s atoning death as redemption Mk 10:45 pp Mt 20:28 See also Ac 20:28; Gal 3:13-14; Eph 1:7; Col 1:13-14

The atonement is effective because of Jesus Christ’s sinlessness

2Co 5:21 See also Heb 4:15; 1Pe 2:22-24; 1Jn 3:5

Jesus Christ’s death fulfils and replaces the Day of Atonement

Jesus Christ makes atonement as the new high priest Heb 7:26-28

Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new and better covenant Heb 8:6-7; Heb 9:15

Jesus Christ has made atonement in the true heavenly sanctuary Heb 8:1-2; Heb 9:24

Jesus Christ’s atoning blood brings effective cleansing Heb 9:12-14

Jesus Christ’s single sacrifice replaces the many required under the old covenant Heb 10:11-14

Access to the heavenly sanctuary is now open Heb 10:19-20

By dying with Christ, believers are released from this age into the life of the age to come

Ro 6:1-7 See also Ro 7:4-6; Gal 2:19-20; Gal 6:14; Eph 2:6-7; Col 2:11-13

God the Father and the atoning death of his Son

God’s sending of his Son to make atonement 1Jn 4:14 See also Jn 3:16; Ro 8:32; 2Co 5:18; Gal 4:4-5

God’s grace displayed in making atonement for the ungodly Eph 2:4-5 See also Ro 5:6-8; Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:4-5

The worldwide scope of Jesus Christ’s atoning death

1Jn 2:2 See also Jn 1:29; 2Co 5:19; 1Ti 2:5

The appropriate response to the atonement

The response of repentance Ac 3:19 See also Ac 2:38; Ac 17:30; Ac 20:21

The response of faith Ac 10:43 See also Jn 3:14-15; Ac 16:31; Ro 3:22; Gal 2:16

The response of baptism Ac 22:16 See also Ac 2:38; 1Pe 3:21

The atoning purpose of Jesus Christ’s death

1. Jesus Christ’s death on behalf of others

Romans 4:24-25 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

2. Jesus Christ’s atoning death for sin

1 Peter 3:18 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

18 For Christ also suffered[a] once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

Explanations of the atonement

3. Jesus Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice

1 John 4:9-15 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

4. Jesus Christ’s atoning death as redemption

Galatians 3:10-14English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”[a] 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[b] through faith.

5. The atonement is effective because of Jesus Christ’s sinlessness

2 Corinthians 5:21English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 2:22-25English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 John 3:5English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

5 You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

Some thoughts on Atonement from Christian Answers,

By the atonement of Christ, we generally mean his work by which he expiated our sins. But, in the Bible, the word denotes the reconciliation itself, and not the means by which it is effected. When speaking of Christ’s saving work, the word “satisfaction,” the word used by the theologians of the Reformation, is to be preferred to the word “atonement.” Christ’s satisfaction is all he did in the room and in behalf of sinners to satisfy the demands of the law and justice of God. Christ’s work consisted of suffering and obedience, and these were vicarious, i.e., were not merely for our benefit, but were in our stead, as the suffering and obedience of our vicar, or substitute. Our guilt is expiated by the punishment which our vicar bore, and thus God is rendered propitious, i.e., it is now consistent with his justice to manifest his love to transgressors. Expiation has been made for sin, i.e., it is covered.

The means by which it is covered is vicarious satisfaction, and the result of its being covered is atonement or reconciliation. To make atonement is to do that by virtue of which alienation ceases and reconciliation is brought about. Christ’s mediatorial work and sufferings are the ground or efficient cause of reconciliation with God. They rectify the disturbed relations between God and man, taking away the obstacles interposed by sin to their fellowship and concord. The reconciliation is mutual, i.e., it is not only that of sinners toward God, but also and preeminently that of God toward sinners, effected by the sin-offering he himself provided, so that consistently with the other attributes of his character his love might flow forth in all its fullness of blessing to men.

The primary idea presented to us in different forms throughout the Scripture is that the death of Christ is a satisfaction of infinite worth rendered to the law and justice of God (q.v.), and accepted by him in room of the very penalty man had incurred.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Justification

a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom. 5:1-10).

It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8).

The sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a "condition," not because it possesses any merit, but only because it is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:25, 26; 4:20, 22; Phil. 3:8-11; Gal. 2:16).

The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness (Rom. 6:2-7). Good works, while not the ground, are the certain consequence of justification (6:14; 7:6)

Encyclopedia of The Bible

JUSTIFICATION (δικαίωσις, G1470, justification; δικαιοῦν, to justify). In Christian theology justification is that act of God by which the sinner, who is responsible for his guilt and is under condemnation but believes in Christ, is pronounced just and righteous, or acquitted, by God the judge (Rom 3:28; 4:25; 5:16, 18; 8:28-34). In the Scriptures God justifies by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.

4. Justification and the righteousness of God. In the broader concept of justification in both OT and NT, the idea of the righteousness of God (dikaiosyne theou) is closely related to God’s judicial act of salvation. At times the terms justification by faith and righteousness of God can be used interchangeably. Paul speaks of this righteousness in Romans 3:21, “Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, namely the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” The revelation of God’s wrath in the first part of Romans (1:18) is answered by the revelation of God’s saving righteousness in Romans 3. The word for righteousness in Paul is dikaiosyne which is a derivative of dikaio, “to justify.”

The well-known phrase “righteousness of God” as Paul uses it in 1:17, however, is not an attribute of God but the activity of God in saving man. The term is found again and again in the OT where God’s salvation in Christ is “witnessed by the law and the prophets” (3:21). Especially in the Psalms and in Isaiah the term pictures God’s grace in rescuing and delivering His people from sin and the oppressor. Psalm 98:2 (KJV), for example, has this message: “The Lord hath made known his salvation; his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen.” In Isaiah 56:1, the words occur: “Thus says the Lord: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed.” Paul teaches that this righteous activity of God, this saving act of God, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God saves men through the atonement of Christ and His merit earned on the cross is appropriated by faith. To have this righteousness is to be justified. The teaching is clear in Romans 3:22-26, esp. in the passage “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ,” and in the words “Whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” All human righteousness and justification are excluded. God’s righteousness revealed in the Gospel is that act of grace by which He cancels the condemnation of His wrath upon man. It is not the attribute of God’s divine justice or holiness, but that righteousness which is the justification of man in Christ, by which He bestows salvation upon man, for Christ’s sake, through faith. Therefore, it is also faith-righteousness since it is God’s righteousness. Faith receives the righteous saving act of God and renounces and looks away from self to find its all-in-all in Christ.

5. Justification and the atonement of Christ. If God’s righteousness is the saving act of God in Christ for man’s salvation, then justification is closely related to our Lord’s atonement. In fact, Christ’s atonement is the grounds for justification. Christ’s person and activity is the justification or reconciliation with God and the basis of all individual justification. It is the only basis upon which God can and does justify the sinner (Rom 3:24; 8:1; 2 Cor 5:18-21). The atonement of Christ answers the question: “How can a just God acquit a sinner; yes, one who remains sinful even after he is justified?” Justification does not mean God “overlooks sin” or acts as if man were not a sinner. The sentimental view which conceives of God as a gracious old “grandfather” who winks at the sins of His “children,” denies the integrity of the true God and destroys any concept of justification. God’s justice and holiness demand payment for sin, and this penalty Christ paid in the atonement on the cross. Thus in justification God devised a plan whereby both His attributes of justice and His love manifested in grace for salvation of sinners are given full meaning.

By making Christ a substitute for man, God preserves His own justice and the same time achieves salvation for the sinner (Rom 3:26). It is un-Biblical, therefore, to speculate whether God could or does forgive without Christ. Sinful men “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth as an expiation by His blood.”

God is involved in the justification-atonement syndrome in three ways: (1) He is the Initiator, who first loved man. (2) He is the Instrument or Means, who gave Himself in the incarnate Christ as the once-for-all sacrifice for man’s sin. (3) He is also the Object of His saving work, who satisfied His wrath and justice over sin through Christ’s all-atoning sacrifice. At one and the same time God satisfies Himself and forgives the sinner. Therefore, only in Christ does God justify the sinner by imputing Christ’s perfect righteousness to the sinner who has none of his own (2 Cor 5:21). The Scriptures teach plainly that the wrath of God is visited upon by sinful man or else the Son of God must die for them. Either man dies or Christ dies. But God “shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).