5 Dollar Nachos

Romans 7
Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law [a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

To be free from the law, is freedom from sin. The law shows us where we fall short. When we are in Christ Jesus and born again, we no longer fall short according to the law.

So in chapter 6 Paul explains being dead to sin.
Now Paul explains being released from the law. Both of these events happen because we are in Christ Jesus and we died to our old self.

Romans 6
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit [g]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the [h]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What fruit did you have before you were saved? What was the benefit?
I believe if people answered this question honestly they would not like their answer.

When I got serious about serving the Lord my life improved. It wasn’t that my problems disappeared, but the problems I created DID disappear. I can be honest and tell you that most of my problems were all created by myself.

Romans 6
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were [e]delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

From my bible commentary:
Whatever you present yourself to obey, you become its slave. For example, if I obey my appetite constantly, I am a slave to it. So we have a choice in our slavery: sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness.

It is interesting that while we are free to choose, we are not free. We will be a slave to whatever choice we make. Paul’s choice of words here is very interesting.

Matthew 6:24 says something very similar:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Romans 6
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness [f]for holiness.

Romans 6
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as [d]instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Dominion: sovereignty or control.

Sin shall not have control over you.

It doesn’t say that “sin will not be present in us,” because that will only be fulfilled when we are resurrected in glory. But it does promise that sin will not have dominion over us because of the great work Jesus did in us when we were born again.

Romans 6
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

From Christian Apologetics:
When the Bible says that someone has died to sin, it means that the Christian has died “with Christ.” It is not that we have actually died physically, but that we are, by faith, joined to the death of Christ on the cross.

This doesn’t mean that you no longer sin. This also doesn’t mean you are immune to sin. It only means that you have accepted Christ as your savior and have chosen Him to be the master of your life.
In this, you choose to walk away from the life of sin you used to live.
When we die to sin, it is a symbolic reference that we accept what Christ did for us and we choose to walk His path of salvation.

Paul is saying, if you accept Christ do not keep on sinning. Choose to sin no more. Choose to pursue God’s holy character.

Romans 6
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, [c]reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What does “dead to sin” mean?
This is called “repentance,” or changing your mind toward sin. It means you were once the lord of your own life, but from this point forward, you are going to do an about-face and follow Jesus as the Lord of your life.
Excerpt from: https://jdgreear.com/blog/two-ways-dead-sin/

We have chosen a new path, and a new Lord over our life. One that leads towards peace, joy and love. We are not bound by bitterness or hate. We show compassion and rely on our Savior for all the abundance necessary to live as conquerors.

Romans 6
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

When you are dead and raised to life, it should impact how you live. It should impact how you act.
You are not the same person. You are a new glorified person living through Christ.

Walk in this new life. Walk in your victory and freedom.

Romans 6
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

In the early part of the 20th century the Russian monk Gregory Rasputin taught and lived the idea of salvation through repeated experiences of sin and repentance. He believed that because those who sin the most require the most forgiveness, therefore a sinner who continues to sin without restraint enjoys more of God’s grace (when he repents for the moment) than the ordinary sinner. Therefore, Rasputin lived in notorious sin and taught that this was the way to salvation. This is an extreme example of the idea behind Paul’s question “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

Romans 5
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary:
a. The law entered that the offense might abound: Paul has shown us that the law does not justify us. Now he shows that in itself, the law doesn’t even make us sinners – Adam did that. Then what purpose does the law serve? There is a clear purpose for the law and part of it is so that the offense might abound. The law makes man’s sin clearer and greater by clearly contrasting it with God’s holy standard.

i. The flaws in a precious stone abound when contrasted with a perfect stone or when put against a contrasting backdrop. God’s perfect law exposes our flaws, and makes our sin abound.

It is interesting that Paul clearly points out that we were made sinners, and THEN the law came about.

Romans 5
18 Therefore, as through [h]one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one[i] Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Because of Adam we are all sinners, whether you like it or not.

However, because of Jesus’ sacrifice we now have the opportunity to accept the free gift of salvation and allow Jesus’ to represent us.
We must accept the gift.
There are some that don’t believe you have to accept the gift.

From the commentary:

The idea that all men are saved by the work of Jesus whether they know it or not is known as universalism. “If the doctrine of universalism is being taught here, Paul would be contradicting himself, for he has already pictured men as perishing because of sin.” (Harrison)

The Doctrine of Universalism:
Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be “saved” and restored to a right relationship with God.

Choose to accept the gift from Christ.