Romans 6:9-16

Rom 6:9 (KJV)
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Now a great resurrection fact, Christ was raised from the dead and that resurrection meant that death has no more right to claim Christ and has no more dominion over Him. When the true believers are resurrected on the last day, death will have no more dominion over them. As we are today, physical death can occur anytime in the life of a believer but when the last day comes, death will be abolished. (1 Cor 15:26 KJV) The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. We can also look at this verse that once the believer receives their resurrected soul at the time of salvation, their soul will never face death again because that soul within this sinful body has been raised to newness of life which is eternal.

 

Rom 6:10 (KJV)
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

(Heb 9:26 KJV) For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.  In this verse in Hebrews we see confirmation of a great truth that Christ died only once for the salvation of His people. This is in contrast to the Roman Catholic Mass where they perpetuate the death of Christ. Christ died once and after His death when He was raised from the dead, He now lives unto God. When Christ went to the cross, it was the first time in all eternity that He was separated from His Father but now He lives in unbroken fellowship with the Father for all eternity. Death no longer has any hold on the Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 8:34 KJV) Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Christ now sits at the right hand of God interceding for His Elect.

 

Rom 6:11 (KJV)
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The believer is now dead unto sin in that we do not need to succumb to or obey the lusts of temptation when it does come. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, we now have the power, through Jesus Christ, to shun sin. This does not mean that true believers will not sin but there is a vast difference in attitude between dressing up to sin and sinning by temporary weakness. No longer do we have to obey the dictates of sin. The word “dead” in this verse is “nekros” which carries the meaning of “lifeless” which is what the believer is toward sin. Sin no longer is the lifestyle of the believer but righteousness is.

 

Rom 6:12 (KJV)
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

From the thread of thoughts which have been given to us in the previous verses, we are now told that sin should not have any reign in the mortal body. Sin cannot touch the redeemed soul of the believer but sin does rest in the physical body which has not been redeemed. The word “reign” in the Greek carries with it the meaning of “having authority or ruling.” The word used here is a cognate of the word “basiliea” which means “kingdom” in the Greek. The warning here is that we are not to give any place to sin because it has the ability to set up a kingdom in our lives and rule. We normally would call reigning of sin in the body as “addiction.” A Christian who still smokes has allowed the sin of smoking to rule or have authority over them. The problem with having sin reigning in your mortal body is that you are attempting to serve two masters. (Mat 6:24 KJV) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. The Lord Jesus warned us that it is impossible to serve two masters, either you will love your sin and hate the Lord , or you will love the Lord and hate your sin, you cannot have it both ways. Whenever sin has authority in the life of any believer, we will almost automatically obey the lusts which it pumps up to the point of being impossible to shun it.

 

Rom 6:13 (KJV)
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Here Paul places the practical aspect of this situation on the believer. The word “yield” in both places carry with it the meaning of “present, offer or provide.” In the first part of this verse we are told that we should yield or present our members as instruments of unrighteousness. The word “member” directly points to our body parts such as limbs or any body part. Normally one of the first body parts which we yield to sin is our eyes as we look at things we should not look at and that begins to enflame the lusts in our flesh. The word “instruments” carries with it the meaning of “tool or weapon.” We must never allow our bodies to become tools of unrighteousness. In the second part of this verse, we are told to yield ourselves unto God as one who is alive from the dead. This is the essence of the Christian life. (Eph 2:1 KJV) And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: When we were unbelievers, we were dead in sins but now since we have become saved we have received our resurrected souls and we now have been raised from the dead in our soul essence. We saw in verse 4 that we should now walk in newness of life since we have experienced the first resurrection.

(Rev 20:5-6 KJV) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. {6} Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Here we read that blessed and holy are they which hath part in the first resurrection. Notice that in describing the first resurrection, it states that the second death has no power over that first resurrection. What does the second death have no power over? The answer is those who have become saved. You obtained the first resurrection when you became saved. Your soul was resurrected from the dead and now it is made alive unto God, as we read in Romans 6:13 above.

 

Rom 6:14 (KJV)
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

The words “dominion over you” carries with it the meaning of “lording over or ruling over.” Those who are under the law are still unsaved and therefore sin still rules them. Now when a person becomes saved, the sin nature is still present but because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the spirit rules over the flesh unless the believer allows sin to rule over them. We are told that we are not under the law but we are under grace, which means that we have been raised to newness of life through salvation and this is why sin need not rule over us because of the grace of God. Grace gives us the strength to reject sinning but the law gives no such strength.

 

Rom 6:15 (KJV)
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Since we are under the grace of God, should we continue to yield to sin just because we are no longer under the law of God? Christians must realize that just because we are under grace does not mean that consequences for sin have been abolished. The Christian who fornicates faces diseases. The Christian who drinks alcohol faces cirrhosis of the liver. The Christian who smokes faces lung cancer. We must never believe that we can sin with impunity. Christians who continue to sin also live a very miserable existence because they know that they should be living a pure life and since they are not, are torn between Heaven and Hell. Every time they obey their sinful passions, they are serving Satan and that brings a spiritual depression into their life. This is why so many seem to be lethargic in the Christian walk. I can almost guarantee that every Christian who is not involved in Christian work, will have exchanged the Christian walk for some type of self-serving sin. You can only serve one master and not two, and you can basically tell which one any Christian is serving.

 

Rom 6:16 (KJV)
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Here is the great dichotomy, either a person is a servant of sin which is unto death and in the case of the unbeliever, it is unto eternal death or a person is a servant of obedience unto righteousness. If a person is tied to the world system, they will be slaves of that system which means they will buy into everything it has to offer and that system leads only to death. If a person, and only the saved will, turn away from the world system, that will lead to obedience unto a righteous life. This verse is definitely addressing only the saved since we all came out of the world system and know what that system can lead to. God is reminding us that if we did not become saved, then we would suffer the same fate of eternal death as those who die under the world system.

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