Romans 6:11-14 “Better”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹¹In the same way, you (pl.) also [should] be considering yourselves (on the one hand) [to be] dead ones to the sin, but (on the other hand) living ones to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹²Therefore, the sin shall not be ruling in your (pl.) mortal body, that [you are] obeying the strong desires of it. ¹³No longer be presenting your members [as] tools of unrighteousness to the sin, but present yourselves to God as ones living out of dead ones and your members [as] tools of righteousness to God, ¹⁴for sin will not rule over you (pl.), for you (pl.) are not under law but under grace.

Verse 11 should be recognized as significantly pivotal in the logical flow of this book. After five and a half chapters of profound doctrine, this verse is the first imperative, the first actual command in the entire book. For five and a half chapters, Paul has explained the Gospel, the real truth of what is our problem and the amazing solution the Lord provided for us through Jesus—the doctrine of grace. Here in verse 11, for the first time, he turns to you and me and says, “In the same way, you…” As usual, I have underlined the “you” because it is in fact emphatic in the Greek. Paul is making no bones about it. The Gospel, the doctrine of grace is amazing, but it comes down to you. It is God’s great work through Jesus, but it is absolutely not some hypothetical theory to be debated. It impacts you and me personally.

The antagonists are saying this doctrine of grace will just give people license to plunge themselves gleefully into sin. Although we all know that isn’t valid, yet Paul needs to assert that quite the opposite is true. Because you and I are still living in these “mortal” bodies, we each do have to be (constantly) reminded and reminding ourselves that this grace we enjoy, when properly received, is intended to and must and will change us.

The first thing I want to note is the “In the same way.” In what “same way”? In verses 9&10, we just read, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead…death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin…the life He lives He lives to God.” Now it says, “In the same way…” Why is that? Not surprisingly, grace means you and I become like Jesus! In verse 9 we read, “Death no longer has mastery over Him,” then v.12 says, “therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body…” In verse 10 we read, “The life He lives, He lives to God,” then v.13 says, “Offer yourselves to God…” Far from “gleefully plunging into sin,” grace makes us become like Jesus!

Another thing I want to note is that v.13 calls us to “offer yourselves to God.” Particularly note the “yourselves.” The verse starts by urging us not to offer “the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness,” then ends urging us to instead “offer the members of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.” However, notice that, in between comes the “offer yourselves to God.” This is grace, not law. It’s not just a matter of stopping doing “bad things,” and starting doing “good things.” No. It’s about offering yourself to God. It’s about a personal relationship. The real truth is all the Lord wants from you is you. To give Him any less is, in the end, to give Him nothing at all. We’re not just “dead to sin.” In v.11, we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Then I believe it is helpful to note what exactly is our problem. Verse 12 tells us “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” This is precisely our problem. I was born a child of Adam. That said, I was born with a body and its accompanying spirit that is completely rotten. It’s called “mortal” because it is a dying body. God had warned Adam, “In the day you eat thereof, in dying you shall die.” The wages of sin is death. This body I was born in is literally a “body of death.” Part of its dying and its death are to be found in “its evil desires.” Its spirit has what I’ve called before a “broken wanter.” Its “wants” are evil.

This is what the New Testament calls our “flesh.” In general parlance, the word “flesh” obviously can refer simply to the material body itself, whether human or animal. However, when the Bible refers to our “flesh,” it is speaking of this rotten Adamic body we were born in, but note that body includes “evil desires.” The spirit it came with (my natural spirit) is itself rotten. Again, herein is our problem: I still live in this body. I still have the same rotten spirit.  My natural “wanter” is still broken. We will get to this in chapter 8, but what has changed under grace is not that I’ve resolved to “do better.” What’s changed is that I am now indwelt by the very Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity! There is another Spirit inside of me which can be my spirit. But therein is the battle. Which spirit will I allow to rule my life?

Also, let us understand that is precisely why we must die physically. This body we were born in, with its rotten wanter, actually needs to physically die. When I die, that old rotten wanter dies too. Death, though it be “the king of terrors,” becomes a merciful judgment. Under grace, death becomes our final ticket to freedom! However, in the meantime this “flesh” lives on…or should I say, dies on. In my Adamic body, I live dying. However, the indwelling Holy Spirit is to me a spirit of life.

We now possess within us the power to conquer ourselves, but not just to “do better.” Not just to somehow stop doing bad things and start doing good, but to actually be different. Herein I believe is what Paul is referring to in v.14 when he says, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Law is completely external. It’s the rules. Do this. Don’t do that. If that is all there is, you and me are doomed. We will find that sin is still our master. My broken wanter will constantly make the wrong choices. But grace is something so much better. It is a me allowing the Holy Spirit to be my spirit, to change me, to make me want what God wants. As Gal. 5:23 says, “Against such things, there is no law.”

And so, beginning at v.11, the book of Romans has shifted gears from explaining grace to now addressing the wonderful privilege you and I enjoy—living out that grace. It is still a struggle, in fact a mortal struggle, but a blessed struggle at that, precisely because it is all about a real, personal love relationship with God, a daily experience of becoming more like Jesus, of knowing that I really am different, but not because I “do better,” but because the Spirit of Christ within me actually helps me be better.