Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20071223.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Romans: Charter Of God's Salvation Grace
Part IV: The Sanctification Of The Justified By Faith Through Grace, Romans 6:1-8:39
B. Adjusting Our Attitudes To Apply The Doctrine Of Practical Sanctification
(Romans 6:5-23)
  1. Introduction
    1. After we believers have been justified, or pronounced "righteous" by God upon trusting Christ as Savior, we are put into a relational position with God where we are expected to live without sinning!
    2. However, many believers are not aware that they can live without sinning, or that they are expected by God to live this way, so they flounder in their lives, living unfulfilled lives out of fellowship with God.
    3. In Romans 6:5-23, the Apostle Paul presented three key commands with their explanations on how to adjust our attitudes to apply this doctrine well and live without committing acts of sin (as follows):
  2. Adjusting Our Attitudes To Apply The Doctrine Of Practical Sanctification, Romans 6:5-23.
    1. John A. Witmer's contribution in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, at page 462 notes "progressive sanctification," the process by which a believer grows in separating from sin in living, calls for "three attitudes of mind and action on a believer's part. These Paul discussed in [Romans] 6:5-23."
    2. The first attitude is to consider one's self as dead unto sin but alive unto God, Romans 6:5-11:
      1. Paul assumed the believer was already positionally identified with Christ in the likeness of His death, for, in Romans 6:5a, he used a "first class conditional" phrase (rendered "if" KJV) that is better viewed as "since", Ibid. He thus built his case that the believer is closely identified with Christ in His death and resurrection to where the believer's old sin nature is positionally defeated so that the believer is not to practice sin in his Christian life, Romans 6:5-6.
      2. Paul then noted that once one is dead, he is freed from sin in practice, Romans 6:7. That then makes the believer who is positionally identified with Christ in His death required to live free from sin, and to live righteously in keeping with his position in the risen Lord, Romans 6:8-10.
      3. Accordingly, the believer should "keep on counting" (the present imperative verb, logidzesthe) himself to be dead unto sin but alive unto God in Christ, Rom. 6:11; Ibid.; U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966, p. 543.
    3. The second attitude is to consider one's body is to be lived for God and not for sin, Romans 6:12-14:
      1. Based on the attitude of continually considering one's self to be dead to sin and alive to righteousness in his postition in Christ, the believer is to avoid letting sin "continue to reign" (present imperative) in his mortal body so that he should continue to heed its lusts, Romans 6:12; Ibid.
      2. He is to view the parts of his body as then not to be used for committing acts of sin, but for acts of righteousness unto God, for the believer is positionally free from sin's dominion under grace, 6:13-14.
    4. The third attitude is to consider one must serve God versus serving sin in his life, Romans 6:15-23:
      1. Anticipating his Judaistic critics' charge to his statement in Romans 6:14b that Paul asserted a believer could sin since he was no longer under the Law but under grace, Paul stated their view in the form of a question, and quickly denounced it with another strong negative, "God forbid," Rom. 6:15 (6:2a) KJV.
      2. He then told how sinning and righteous living are opposite, so believers are obliged to live righteously:
        1. Though an unbeliever is bound to commit sin as a slave to sin, a believer actually knows no such slavery to God as He does not hold his children in bondage, Ibid., Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 464.
        2. However, due to spiritual frailty in his reader's thinking, Paul sought to show how imperative it was that the believer live righteously and not in sin by comparing slavery to sin to being God's "slave," Romans 6:19. Thus, Romans 6:16-23 contrasts the bondage to sin the believer once knew before his justification with serving God in righteousness as a believer, that they are opposites from one another, and all to motivate his readers to consider their need to serve God versus serving sin!
Lesson: Since we believers have been pronounced righteous by God through faith in Christ, and have thus been positionally identified with Him in His death to sin and resurrection unto righteousness, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive unto a holy God, to consider our bodies to be used for righteous acts versus sinful ones, and to view ourselves as servants of God versus slaves to sin.

Application: Thus MINDED, may we LIVE righteous lives in the Holy Spirit's power, Romans 8:3-4!