ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
KNOWING THIS: touto ginoskontes (PAPMPN):
literally "this knowing"
Knowing (1097)
(ginosko) means to acquire information by whatever means,
but often with the implication of personal involvement or experience. In
Ro 6:9
Paul uses the verb eido which speaks of intuitive
knowledge whereas ginosko suggests experimental
“You should be well aware
(by what you have been experiencing),” he was saying, “that in Christ you are
not the same people you were before salvation. You have a new life, a new
heart, a new spiritual strength, a new hope, and countless other new
things that had no part in your former life.”
THAT OUR OLD SELF WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM: hoti ho palaios emon anthropos
sunestaurothe (3SAPI): (Gal 2:20; 5:24; 6:14; Eph 4:22; Col
3:5 Col 3:9-10)
“Our old
man, our old state, as out of Christ and under Adam’s headship, under
guilt and in moral bondage, was crucified with Christ” (Moule's
paraphrase)
"our old [unregenerate] self was crucified once for all with Him"
(Wuest)
"the person we used to be was crucified with Him" (GWT)
"Our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him" (Amplified)
In the table below note that the
KJV has a misleading translation of the verbs in Romans 6:6-8.
Comparison of the verbs (highlighted in
red)
shows that the
KJV translates each verb with a present tense meaning (is, is, be)
whereas the NASB more accurately reflects the aorist tense which conveys
the clear sense of a past completed action in each case.
|
KING
JAMES TRANSLATION
IS MISLEADING IN ROMANS 6:6-8 |
| |
KJV |
NASB |
|
v6 |
our old man is crucified |
our old self was crucified |
|
v7 |
he that is dead |
he who has died |
|
v8 |
if we be dead with Christ |
we have died with Christ |
Old (3820)
(palaios from pálai = in the past, long ago) antique, not
recent , old in the sense of worn out and decrepit. (see discussion of
old self = old man)
There are two words for old,
and Paul chooses palaios which means old in point of use
instead of archaios (744)
which is old in point of time and refers primarily to chronological age.
Paul is describing this "man" as one who is completely
worn out , useless, fit only for the scrap heap! For all practical
purposes it is destroyed.
In other words, our new life as
Christians is not a made-over old life but a new divinely-bestowed life
that is Christ’s very own.
Old self is the unregenerate,
in Adam (1Cor 15:22 Ro 5:12,18,19) man described in Romans 5, the person
who is apart from divine redemption and the new life it brings.
Self (444)
(anthropos) means a human being, a man or woman, an
individual of the human race or a person.
Crucified with (4957)
(sustauroo from
sun
= together with [click
here for discussion of significance] + stauróo
= to crucify <> from stauros = a cross which was an
instrument of capital punishment = an upright pointed stake often with a
crossbeam above it or intersected by a crossbeam) means to crucify
together with. The preposition "sun"
speaks of the believer's intimate spiritual union and identification
with Christ. This union is sometimes referred to as a spiritual or
"mystical" union but is no less a very real union in God's eyes.
Literally,
“our old man was crucified together”. Note that "in Him"
is not in the Greek but is added. The aorist tense depicts a
historical event, one which has been completed in the past. As discussed
above the reading of the KJV might mislead someone to interpret the
crucifixion as a present tense or ongoing event. KJV read "our old man
is crucified with Him".
Sustauroo
is passive voice defining the action as performed on the
subject by an outside source. The old man does not crucify
himself. The crucifixion is performed by God.
Dear reader, a practical
application of the truth expressed in this verse is to honestly and
soberly ask yourself the following question given in the form of a
hymn...
WERE YOU THERE?
African-American spiritual
Were you there when they
crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Beloved if you in fact were there
when they crucified my Lord, then something has happened to your
old self and you can never live like you did before you were
there. You are loosed so go forth and live in newness of life!
"Old self"
or "Old man" identifies the unsaved person dominated by the totally depraved nature
and "under sin", not "righteous", "helpless", "sinners" and "enemies" of
God. The "old man" is therefore all that we were in Adam before
we were saved and placed in Christ. (Click
related topic
old self -old man)
|
THE OLD
SELF
IN ROMANS |
|
"all
under sin" |
Romans 3:9 |
|
"none
righteous" |
Romans 3:10 |
|
"still
helpless" |
Romans 5:6 |
|
"yet
sinners" |
Romans 5:8 |
|
"enemies"
|
Romans 5:10 |
Note that this Biblical description of the "old self" is
only a partial list of what each of us was spiritually in Adam before
God co-crucified us with Christ.
John Piper
says that the
"old self"
is the me that was... rebellious against God and insubordinate to God's
law and blind to God's glory and unbelieving toward His promises."
The believer does
not have two competing natures, the old and the new; but one new nature
that is still incarcerated in unredeemed flesh. The body of sin refers
to the body as an instrument of sin and is to be used as an instrument
of righteousness.
John MacArthur has some clarifying thoughts on an area that can
be easily misunderstood and which can have negative consequences:
"The dualistic view that a Christian has
two natures uses unbiblical
terminology and can lead to perception that is extremely destructive of
holy living. Some who hold such views go to the perverted extreme of the
Gnostics in Paul’s day, claiming that because the evil self cannot be
controlled or changed and because it is going to be destroyed in the
future anyway, it does not much matter what you let it do. It is only
“spiritual” things, such as your thoughts and intentions, that are of
significance. It is not surprising that in congregations where such a
philosophy reigns, immoral conduct among the membership as well as the
leadership is common and church discipline is usually nonexistent.
In a somewhat parallel passage in Colossians, Paul clearly states that a
believer’s putting off the old self is a fair accompli, something that
has already and irreversibly been accomplished. “Do not lie to one
another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and
have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge
according to the image of the One who created him” (Col 3:9-10). It was
not that every Colossian believer was fully mature and had managed to
gain complete mastery over the residual old self. Paul was saying rather
that every believer, at any level of maturity, can claim that his
old
self already has been laid aside “with its evil practices.” (Ed
note: when we
were justified by faith & were initially sanctified or set aside). In
exactly the same way, his new self in Christ is already “being renewed”
into conformity with the very image of the God who has recreated him
(Ed note: process of sanctification).
(MacArthur,
J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, applied
the truth in this verse as an exhortation
“Do not go on living as if you were still that old man, because that old
man has died. Do not go on living as if he was still there”
Paul wrote
of spiritual crucifixion of saints several times in Galatians...
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up
for me." (Gal 2:20)
"Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with
its passions and desires." (Gal 5:24)
"But may it never be that I
should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 6:14)
THAT OUR BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DONE AWAY WITH: hina katargege (3SAPS) to
soma tes hamartias:
(Ro 7:24; 8:3,13; Col 2:11,12)
That (2443)
(hina) could be translated "in order that" and marks
purpose, in this case Paul is explaining the purpose and effect of the
co-crucifixion of our "old self" with Christ.
Body (4983)
(soma) defines the body as an organized whole made up of
parts and members.
Sin (266)
(hamartia) originally conveyed the idea of missing the
mark as when hunting with a bow, shooting the arrow and missing. The
idea is of falling short of any goal, standard, or purpose. As
discussed below "sin" in Romans 6 represents a moral principle or force
personified as evil in character. (Click
related discussion of
sin)
Body of sin refers to the our physical body as
the vehicle or instrument through which sin expresses itself. Remember
that in Romans 6 "sin" (see notes on
"the Sin") always has the definite article
preceding it which speaks of sin
as an organized power, acting through the members of the physical body.
in (Ro 6:12) Sin is personified as a king that seeks to "reign in your
mortal body". In (Ro 6:14) Paul personifies sin as a "slave
master"
writing that "sin shall not be master over you". In sum, the
"body of sin" is the physical body "sin" seeks to rule over or be master
over.
Might be done away with
(2673)
(katargeo from kata = intensifies meaning + argeo = be idle
from argos = ineffective, idle, inactive from a = without
+ érgon = work) (Click
for word study on
katargeo)
literally means to reduce to inactivity. The idea is to make the power
or force of something ineffective and so to render powerless, reduce to
inactivity. To do away with. To put out of use. To cause to be idle or
useless. To render entirely idle, inoperative or ineffective. Cause
something to come to an end or cause it to cease to happen. To abolish
or cause not to function. To free or release from an earlier obligation
or relationship. To no longer take place.
Might be in the NAS is not intended to convey the possibility of doubt as if
the body of sin might or might not be done away with. This phraseology is
simply an idiomatic way of stating an already existing fact. In other
words, our historical death to sin at the cross in Christ results in our
sin being done away with.
Katargeo
always denotes a nonphysical destruction by means of a superior force
coming in to replace the force previously in effect, as e.g. light
destroys darkness. Another example is recorded by John who writes that
"the
one who practices (present
tense = their habitual practice, as their
lifestyle) sin is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the
beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might
destroy the works of the devil." (1Jn 3:18)
One of best examples of Christ's
"rendering powerless" the devil's works is found in Hebrews where we
read that...
"Since then the
children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of
the same, that through death He might render powerless
(katargeo) him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Heb 2:14)
Vine
explains that katargeo...
never means “to annihilate.” (= to
destroy utterly and completely and thus cause to cease to exist) The
general idea in the word is that of depriving a thing of the use for
which it is intended. (Vine,
W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson
)
Someone has written that
katargeo is pictured by our well known English phrases like
"to
pull the teeth out of," or "to declaw."
The body of sin's power has been once
and for all made
ineffective, rendered powerless (do you believe that beloved?) and deprived of its force.
Note that both the NAS (done away with) and the KJV (“destroyed”)
readings can at first glance suggest that our body of sin
is completely eradicated, which is not what this verse is teaching. Paul
is not saying that that the power of sin is destroyed or
annihilated. Sin is still resident in every believer's physical body and
this truth explains the
ongoing struggle every believer experiences with sin.
In former times the indolence, appetites, necessities, and dangers of
the body ruled us with an influence we could not resist; and led us into
sin. We were born with or into a body of sin. But, now that our old self
has been nailed to the cross of Christ, the power of sin over our body
has been rendered inoperative. Sin in now a choice.
But katargeo (done away
with) literally means “to render inoperative or invalid,” to make
something ineffective by removing its power of control. That meaning is
seen clearly in the term’s rendering in such other passages in Romans as
3:3, 31 (“nullify”), Ro 4:14 (“nullified”), Ro 7:2 (“released from”).
As every mature Christian learns, the more he grows in Christ, the more
he becomes aware of sin in his life. In many places, Paul uses the terms
body and flesh to refer to sinful propensities that are intertwined with
physical weaknesses and pleasures (see, e.g., Ro 8:10-11, 13, 23). New
birth in Christ brings death to the sinful self, but it does not bring
death to the temporal flesh and its corrupted inclinations until the
future glorification.
As Paul explains more fully in chap7 of this letter, a believer’s
unredeemed humanness-of which he uses his own as example-remains with
him until he is transformed to heavenly glory. And, as both Scripture
and experience clearly teach, the remaining humanness somehow retains
certain weaknesses and propensities to sin. The tyranny and penalty of
sin both in and over the Christians life have been broken, but sires
potential for expression in his life has not yet been fully removed. His
human weaknesses and instincts make him capable of succumbing to Satan’s
temptations when he lives apart from the Spirit’s Word and power. He is
a new, redeemed, holy creation incarcerated in unredeemed flesh.
THAT WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE SLAVES TO SIN: tou meketi (no more) douleuein (PAN) emas te
hamartia: (Ro
6:12,22; 7:25; 8:4; 2Ki 5:17; Isa 26:13; Jn 8:34-36)
We should no
longer continually, habitually render a slave’s
obedience to the sinful nature.
Be
slaves (1398)
(douleuo) (Click
related word "bondservant" =
doulos) means to fulfill the duties of a slave, for whom
there was no choice either as to the kind or length of his service.
A
slave does what the master (sin) tells him to do. Believers are no longer slaves of
sin. It is a "mechanical" impossibility because of the
work of Christ on the Cross. Paul does not teach that a Christian is no longer
capable of committing sin but that he no longer is under the compulsion
and tyranny of sin, nor will he dutifully and habitually obey sin as he
formerly did before he was saved by grace through faith.
The third great truth Paul gives in v6 about the old and new natures is
that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Again, the translation leaves
the meaning somewhat ambiguous. But as the apostle makes unequivocal a
few verses later, “Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin,
you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you
were committed, having been freed from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness” (Ro 6:17-18). All the verbs in those two verses make clear
that a believer’s slavery under sin has already been broken by Christ
and is henceforth a thing of the past. Several verses later, Paul
reiterates the truth that the believer’s new enslavement to
righteousness is made possible because he is now enslaved to God (v22).
In other words, the immediate context of should no longer be slaves of
sin carries the more precise-and extremely significant-meaning that
believers can no longer be slaves of sin. As already noted, Paul does
not teach that a Christian is no longer capable of committing sin but
that he no longer is under the compulsion and tyranny of sin, nor will
he dutifully and solely obey sin as he formerly did. For all genuine
Christians, slavery to sin no longer exists.
The reason, of course, is that he who has died is freed from sin.
Because the old life has died, what characterized the old life has died
with it, most importantly slavery to sin, from which all the redeemed in
Christ are once and forever freed.(V7)
In the next chapter of this epistle Paul will illustrate from his own
life how difficult it is for a Christian to realize experientially that
he is free from sin’s bondage. As we look honestly at our lives after
salvation, it is more than obvious that sin’s contamination is still
very much with us. No matter how radical our outer transformation at the
time of salvation may have been for the better, it is difficult to
comprehend that we no longer have the fallen sin nature and that our new
nature is actually divine. It is hard to realize that we are actually
indwelt by the Holy Spirit and that God now calls us His children and
deems us fit to live eternally with Him in His heaven.