The GOSPEL TRUTH
ROMANS 6:

A PARAPHRASE

by Dennis Carroll

 

"LET US CONTINUE IN LAWLESSNESS, (IN NOT LOVING GOD SUPREMELY, IN MISSING THE MARK, IN WRATH-DESERVING REBELLION AGAINST GOD, WITH THE EXPRESS PURPOSE) TO MAKE GOD'S UNMERITED FAVOR INCREASE"

SHALL WE SAY THAT?

MAY IT NEVER BE. NEVER! MAY WE NEVER SAY THAT!

HOW SHALL WE--WE WHO DIED TO LAWLESSNESS--HOW SHALL WE STILL LIVE IN IT? HUUMMMMM?

OR, CAN IT POSSIBLY BE YOU DO NOT KNOW THAT ALL OF US WHO HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST JESUS, HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH?

OR, IS IT POSSIBLE, THAT ALL OF US HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO THE DEATH OF CHRIST WHEN WE WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST, AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW IT?

OR, OUR BAPTISM INTO CHRIST INCLUDED HIS DEATH, NOT JUST HIS LIFE, AND YOU DON'T KNOW IT.

4. THEREFORE, IT FOLLOWS, WE CONCLUDE, THIS "BAPTISM" INTO CHRIST INCLUDES A BEING BURIED IN HIS BURIAL--NOT BEING BURIED ALIVE, WE HAD ALREADY DIED WITH HIM--IN ORDER THAT, FOR THE PURPOSE THAT, JUST AS CHRIST DID NOT REMAIN DEAD AND BURIED, BUT THE GLORY OF THE FATHER RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD--IN AN EQUIVALENT SENSE WE WILL BE ABLE TO WALK IN A LIFE THAT IS NEW--SINCE HE DOES SO WALK, AND WE ARE STILL IN HIM BEYOND DEATH.

5. WHY? BECAUSE IT FOLLOWS THAT IF WE HAVE BECOME DEAD TO SIN (AND WE HAVE) LIKE HE HAD BECOME PHYSICALLY DEAD (AND HE DID)--THIS OCCURRED BY BEING IN HIM, BY BEING UNITED TO HIM IN THAT OPERATION--(THAT IS, WHERE HE WENT, WE WENT) -- IT IS SURE WE SHALL BE ALSO UNITED WITH HIM IN BEING RAISED FROM DEATH (BUT NOT BACK TO LIVE AGAIN IN SIN), IN A SIMILAR WAY AS HE WAS RESURRECTED.

AGAIN, IT IS SURE THAT OUR UNION WITH HIM WILL CARRY US WITH HIM PAST HIS DEATH, INTO HIS BURIAL, AND ON INTO HIS RESURRECTION, (THAT IS, HE WILL NOT LEAVE US BEHIND AT ANY ONE STATION OR POINT).

6. WE CONCLUDE THIS BECAUSE WE KNOW THE FOLLOWING: OUR OLD SELF WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM--WITH THE INTENDED RESULT THAT--OUR BODY OF SIN MIGHT MIGHT BE DONE AWAY WITH; WITH THE INTENDED FOLLOWING RESULT--WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE SLAVES TO SIN.

7. HOW CAN THIS RESULT IN FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY TO SIN? BECAUSE HE WHO HAS DIED IS FREED FROM SIN. SIN ONLY RULES IN THIS LIFE. IF YOU CAN DIE BUT COME BACK TO LIFE, YOU WOULD BE FREED FROM SIN. BUT YOUR DEATH CANNOT BE YOUR PENALTY FOR SIN, IT MUST BE ANOTHER DEATH, FOR FROM DEATH OF PENALTY OF SIN, YOU CAN NEVER COME BACK.

8. TO REGROUP AND SAY MORE: IF WE HAVE DIED WITH CHRIST, THEN WE BELIEVE THE RESULT IS WE WILL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM. WE HAVE DIED WITH CHRIST (BY BAPTISM INTO HIM) THEREFORE, WE LIVE WITH HIM, HERE, NOW, FREED FROM SIN.

9. WE BASE THAT ON THE CONTINUING KNOWLEDGE THAT CHRIST'S DEATH WAS A ONE-TIME EVENT, NEVER TO NEED REPEATING, DEATH WAS MASTER ONLY ONCE, NEVER AGAIN.

10. WHY? BECAUSE HIS EXPERIENCE OF DEATH IN RELATIONSHIP TO WHERE SIN REIGNS (IN THIS WORLD, THROUGH THESE BODIES), WAS ONE TIME FOR ALL TIME; HOWEVER, IN CONTRAST, THE NEW LIFE HE NOW LIVES IS NOT UNDER THE REIGN OF SIN AND DEATH, BUT IS TO GOD AS RULER, AND IS FOREVER, NOT A ONE TIME THING.

11. EVEN SO, JUST AS CHRIST CONSIDERS AND ACCOUNTS HIMSELF TO BE DEAD TO WHERE SIN REIGNS THROUGH DEATH, AND IS ALIVE TO GOD, SO YOURSELVES, BECAUSE YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, CONSIDER AND ACCOUNT YOURSELVES FREED TO SLAVERY UNDER SIN AND DEATH WHERE YOU USED TO LIVE, AND ALIVE UNTO GOD JUST AS HE (CHRIST) IS AND LIVES.

12. BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH THAT IN HIM YOU HAVE IN FACT DIED, BEEN BURIED, AND BEEN RESURRECTED FROM THE SINFUL LIFE YOU SLAVED IN, -- DO NOT LET SIN REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODIES WITH THE RESULTING EFFECTS THAT YOU AGAIN OBEY ITS DESIRES AND BECOME SLAVES AGAIN.

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