What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
The question is whether to keep on sinning so that grace may increase, and the answer is an absolute forbidding of continuing in sin to gain more grace. Grace, mercy, pardon, love, forbearance, and Christ's death are never permission or excuse to keep sinning and break God's law, but call the sinner to cease transgression and take no presumptuous risks. To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into His death, buried with Him so that as He was raised the believer dies to sin and walks in newness of life, with the old man crucified, the body of sin destroyed, and death to sin issuing in resurrection life with Him. Those dead to sin cannot go on living in it, but reckon themselves dead indeed to sin and alive to God, letting sin no longer reign nor rule the members, for sin shall not have dominion over those under grace, and the master obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. True faith does not continue in sin, but awakened by love and gratitude works by love and purifies the soul in obedience, and pardon is given on condition of receiving Christ, confessing and repenting, and entering renewal in cooperation with Him until sin is forsaken and overcome.
Grace Forbids Continuing in Sin
The question is whether to keep on sinning so that grace may abound, and the answer is an absolute God forbid: continuing in sin to gain more grace is forbidden. Those who are dead to sin cannot keep living any longer in it. Being baptized into Jesus Christ means being baptized into His death and buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father believers also walk in newness of life and live no longer in sin. Those planted together in the likeness of His death will also share the likeness of His resurrection, because the old man is crucified with Him so the body of sin is destroyed and sin is no longer served, and he that is dead is freed from sin. Those dead with Christ will also live with Him, since Christ being raised dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, having died unto sin once and now living unto God.
Believers are therefore to reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, to let sin no longer reign in the mortal body nor obey its lusts, to yield no members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but to yield themselves unto God as those alive from the dead and their members as instruments of righteousness unto God, for sin shall not have dominion over those not under the law but under grace. The one obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The reign of grace through righteousness unto eternal life does not allow remaining in sin, for to be dead to sin is to have the life hid with Christ in God, and to be risen with Christ is to seek those things which are above, so one dead to sin cannot live the life of a sinner. This risen, new life is something to strive for, and the verse lays responsibility on believers to walk worthy of their high calling by earnestly obtaining help and grace from Christ to properly represent the faith.
Grace, mercy, pardon, love, forbearance, and Christ's death are not permission or excuse to keep sinning, transgress God's law, or persist in known sin; grace calls the sinner to cease transgression, avoid it, and take no presumptuous risks. Baptism is a solemn covenant to belong to God and marks death to sin, uniting those baptized into Christ with Him in His death and resurrection so the old life of sin is crucified and they live a new life rather than serve sin. That profession of union with Christ is to be honored by giving self to God, separating from worldly influences and customs, conforming to God's will through the Spirit's sanctifying work, and living as those made alive from the dead devoted to God without letting sin rule the body. When sinners recognize sin's offense and the cost of Christ's sacrifice to redeem them, love and gratitude awaken faith that works by love and purifies the soul, turning them from sin with humility and repentance rather than asking to continue transgressing God's law. God's mercy does not excuse continued transgression of His law, but sin calls for repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ the sinner's Advocate, with true conversion turning from breaking God's law toward obedience.
Sin is transgression of the law, for where no law is there is no transgression, and by the law is the knowledge of sin, while by deeds of the law no flesh is justified. When light has come, knowingly disregarding a commandment is sin whether or not the transgression harms another person. The law that exposes and condemns sin cannot pardon or cleanse it, while Christ saves the repentant sinner, and the law itself is not sin but holy and just and good. A person who asks forgiveness and then deliberately continues transgressing God's law shows no change of life, and repeated wrongdoing after pardon leads others astray and marks the person as a worker of iniquity. Deliberate violation of God's righteous law exposes a person to sin's penalty and to Satan's assaults, and repeated offenses cannot be treated lightly or expected to receive constant forgiveness while continued. God's patience and mercy do not prevent punishment of those who refuse obedience, Christ's death pardons sinners while affirming that God's law remains changeless, and grace turned into an excuse for transgression brings the lawbreaker's penalty.
Christ's bearing the guilt of transgression does not give license to keep violating God's law. Transgression made man a debtor to the law, and Christ Himself paid that debt by His own suffering. In human nature reaching to the depths of human wretchedness and identifying with the weaknesses and necessities of fallen man, while in divine nature grasping the Eternal, He reconciles man to God through His human nature and God to man through His divine nature. His trials and sufferings impress man with the greatness of breaking God's law to bring him to repentance and obedience to that law and thus to acceptance with God, and He imputes His righteousness to raise man in moral value with God so that efforts to keep the divine law are acceptable.
Buried and Risen with Christ
To be baptized into Jesus Christ is to be baptized into His death. Baptism is a solemn covenant to belong to God and marks death to sin. Those so baptized are buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father they also walk in newness of life and live no longer in sin. Continuing in sin to make grace abound is therefore forbidden, for those dead to sin cannot keep living in it.
Those planted together in the likeness of His death shall also share the likeness of His resurrection. The old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed and sin be served no longer. He that is dead is freed from sin. Those dead with Christ shall also live with Him, for Christ being raised dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, having died unto sin once and now living unto God.
To be dead to sin is to have the life hid with Christ in God, and to be risen with Christ is to seek those things which are above. A man dead to sin therefore cannot live the life of a sinner. This risen, new life is something to strive for.
Those dead to sin cannot live any longer therein, and are to reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They are to let sin no longer reign in the mortal body nor obey its lusts. They are to yield no members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but to yield themselves unto God as those alive from the dead and their members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Sin shall not have dominion over those who are not under the law but under grace. The one obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Faith Lives in Obedience
True faith in Christ does not continue in sin so that grace may abound, for grace calls the sinner to cease transgression rather than to seek permission to persist in it. When sinners recognize the offensiveness of sin and the cost of Christ's sacrifice to redeem them, love and gratitude awaken a faith that works by love and purifies the soul, turning them from sin with humility and repentance. The believer abhors sin because it caused Christ's suffering, casts it away, and wars against the inclinations of the natural heart. In Adam all are dead, sunk in corruption and condemnation, but Christ has purchased everlasting deliverance by an eternal sacrifice of perpetual power that fully satisfies divine justice forever for all who rely on it with firm, unshaken faith. Wherever such faith exists God Himself dwells, and wherever God dwells a zeal is awakened that urges and compels to good works. Faith is not merely an idea but is practical and bears the fruit of obedience in action, with Christ living in the believer by faith, learning to walk by faith, putting Christ first in everything, and doing all things for God's glory.
God gives no encouragement that a sinner is pardoned in order that he may continue in sin. Pardon is given on condition that the sinner receives Christ, confessing and repenting of sin and becoming renewed. Conversion means renovation, and the sinner must enter into the renovating process for himself by coming to Jesus, giving up wrong indulged habits, and bringing unsubdued, unchristlike tendencies under the control of Christ, without which he cannot be made a laborer together with God. Christ works and the sinner works in cooperation, the life of Christ becoming the life of the human agent. Through the renewing power of the divine Spirit man is fashioned into a perfect man in Christ, ceasing from sin and overcoming through cooperation with God.
The verse requires honoring the profession of union with Christ by giving self to God, separating from worldly influences and customs, and conforming to God's will through the Spirit's sanctifying work. It lays responsibility on believers to walk worthy of the high calling by earnestly obtaining help and grace from Christ to properly represent the faith. God forgives in order to bring sin to an end, so that the divine nature may take possession of the person and heaven's riches may fill mind and heart, which calls for self-denial and costly commitment, clinging to Christ, reforming ways, relying on the Saviour's strength, living a new and purer life, striving for the perfection of His character, and departing from iniquity to be sanctified. Truth must shape the life to convict and convert the soul, for God's love for sinners does not mean He receives people while they persist in what they know is sin. Believers must actively resist sin by earnest effort, watchfulness, and prayer rather than relying on Christ's work while doing nothing themselves, since Christ's death does not abolish God's law or make it possible to be saved while knowingly transgressing it. There is a limit to willful transgression, so the past sinful course must be forsaken for conversion to prepare for the inheritance of the saints in light, choosing to conform life and character to God's wise and true laws. Those young in the faith need not continue in sin but must stay awake and on guard against Satan's strategies, hold unwavering faith in the atoning sacrifice, and through prayer receive enabling grace to overcome.
The question is whether to keep on sinning so that grace may increase, and the answer is an absolute forbidding of continuing in sin to gain more grace. Grace, mercy, pardon, love, forbearance, and Christ's death are never permission or excuse to keep sinning and break God's law, but call the sinner to cease transgression and take no presumptuous risks. To be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into His death, buried with Him so that as He was raised the believer dies to sin and walks in newness of life, with the old man crucified, the body of sin destroyed, and death to sin issuing in resurrection life with Him. Those dead to sin cannot go on living in it, but reckon themselves dead indeed to sin and alive to God, letting sin no longer reign nor rule the members, for sin shall not have dominion over those under grace, and the master obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. True faith does not continue in sin, but awakened by love and gratitude works by love and purifies the soul in obedience, and pardon is given on condition of receiving Christ, confessing and repenting, and entering renewal in cooperation with Him until sin is forsaken and overcome.
Grace Forbids Continuing in Sin
The question is whether to keep on sinning so that grace may abound, and the answer is an absolute God forbid: continuing in sin to gain more grace is forbidden. Those who are dead to sin cannot keep living any longer in it. Being baptized into Jesus Christ means being baptized into His death and buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father believers also walk in newness of life and live no longer in sin. Those planted together in the likeness of His death will also share the likeness of His resurrection, because the old man is crucified with Him so the body of sin is destroyed and sin is no longer served, and he that is dead is freed from sin. Those dead with Christ will also live with Him, since Christ being raised dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, having died unto sin once and now living unto God.
Believers are therefore to reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, to let sin no longer reign in the mortal body nor obey its lusts, to yield no members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but to yield themselves unto God as those alive from the dead and their members as instruments of righteousness unto God, for sin shall not have dominion over those not under the law but under grace. The one obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The reign of grace through righteousness unto eternal life does not allow remaining in sin, for to be dead to sin is to have the life hid with Christ in God, and to be risen with Christ is to seek those things which are above, so one dead to sin cannot live the life of a sinner. This risen, new life is something to strive for, and the verse lays responsibility on believers to walk worthy of their high calling by earnestly obtaining help and grace from Christ to properly represent the faith.
Grace, mercy, pardon, love, forbearance, and Christ's death are not permission or excuse to keep sinning, transgress God's law, or persist in known sin; grace calls the sinner to cease transgression, avoid it, and take no presumptuous risks. Baptism is a solemn covenant to belong to God and marks death to sin, uniting those baptized into Christ with Him in His death and resurrection so the old life of sin is crucified and they live a new life rather than serve sin. That profession of union with Christ is to be honored by giving self to God, separating from worldly influences and customs, conforming to God's will through the Spirit's sanctifying work, and living as those made alive from the dead devoted to God without letting sin rule the body. When sinners recognize sin's offense and the cost of Christ's sacrifice to redeem them, love and gratitude awaken faith that works by love and purifies the soul, turning them from sin with humility and repentance rather than asking to continue transgressing God's law. God's mercy does not excuse continued transgression of His law, but sin calls for repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ the sinner's Advocate, with true conversion turning from breaking God's law toward obedience.
Sin is transgression of the law, for where no law is there is no transgression, and by the law is the knowledge of sin, while by deeds of the law no flesh is justified. When light has come, knowingly disregarding a commandment is sin whether or not the transgression harms another person. The law that exposes and condemns sin cannot pardon or cleanse it, while Christ saves the repentant sinner, and the law itself is not sin but holy and just and good. A person who asks forgiveness and then deliberately continues transgressing God's law shows no change of life, and repeated wrongdoing after pardon leads others astray and marks the person as a worker of iniquity. Deliberate violation of God's righteous law exposes a person to sin's penalty and to Satan's assaults, and repeated offenses cannot be treated lightly or expected to receive constant forgiveness while continued. God's patience and mercy do not prevent punishment of those who refuse obedience, Christ's death pardons sinners while affirming that God's law remains changeless, and grace turned into an excuse for transgression brings the lawbreaker's penalty.
Christ's bearing the guilt of transgression does not give license to keep violating God's law. Transgression made man a debtor to the law, and Christ Himself paid that debt by His own suffering. In human nature reaching to the depths of human wretchedness and identifying with the weaknesses and necessities of fallen man, while in divine nature grasping the Eternal, He reconciles man to God through His human nature and God to man through His divine nature. His trials and sufferings impress man with the greatness of breaking God's law to bring him to repentance and obedience to that law and thus to acceptance with God, and He imputes His righteousness to raise man in moral value with God so that efforts to keep the divine law are acceptable.
Buried and Risen with Christ
To be baptized into Jesus Christ is to be baptized into His death. Baptism is a solemn covenant to belong to God and marks death to sin. Those so baptized are buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father they also walk in newness of life and live no longer in sin. Continuing in sin to make grace abound is therefore forbidden, for those dead to sin cannot keep living in it.
Those planted together in the likeness of His death shall also share the likeness of His resurrection. The old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed and sin be served no longer. He that is dead is freed from sin. Those dead with Christ shall also live with Him, for Christ being raised dies no more and death has no more dominion over Him, having died unto sin once and now living unto God.
To be dead to sin is to have the life hid with Christ in God, and to be risen with Christ is to seek those things which are above. A man dead to sin therefore cannot live the life of a sinner. This risen, new life is something to strive for.
Those dead to sin cannot live any longer therein, and are to reckon themselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. They are to let sin no longer reign in the mortal body nor obey its lusts. They are to yield no members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but to yield themselves unto God as those alive from the dead and their members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Sin shall not have dominion over those who are not under the law but under grace. The one obeyed is the master served, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness, for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Faith Lives in Obedience
True faith in Christ does not continue in sin so that grace may abound, for grace calls the sinner to cease transgression rather than to seek permission to persist in it. When sinners recognize the offensiveness of sin and the cost of Christ's sacrifice to redeem them, love and gratitude awaken a faith that works by love and purifies the soul, turning them from sin with humility and repentance. The believer abhors sin because it caused Christ's suffering, casts it away, and wars against the inclinations of the natural heart. In Adam all are dead, sunk in corruption and condemnation, but Christ has purchased everlasting deliverance by an eternal sacrifice of perpetual power that fully satisfies divine justice forever for all who rely on it with firm, unshaken faith. Wherever such faith exists God Himself dwells, and wherever God dwells a zeal is awakened that urges and compels to good works. Faith is not merely an idea but is practical and bears the fruit of obedience in action, with Christ living in the believer by faith, learning to walk by faith, putting Christ first in everything, and doing all things for God's glory.
God gives no encouragement that a sinner is pardoned in order that he may continue in sin. Pardon is given on condition that the sinner receives Christ, confessing and repenting of sin and becoming renewed. Conversion means renovation, and the sinner must enter into the renovating process for himself by coming to Jesus, giving up wrong indulged habits, and bringing unsubdued, unchristlike tendencies under the control of Christ, without which he cannot be made a laborer together with God. Christ works and the sinner works in cooperation, the life of Christ becoming the life of the human agent. Through the renewing power of the divine Spirit man is fashioned into a perfect man in Christ, ceasing from sin and overcoming through cooperation with God.
The verse requires honoring the profession of union with Christ by giving self to God, separating from worldly influences and customs, and conforming to God's will through the Spirit's sanctifying work. It lays responsibility on believers to walk worthy of the high calling by earnestly obtaining help and grace from Christ to properly represent the faith. God forgives in order to bring sin to an end, so that the divine nature may take possession of the person and heaven's riches may fill mind and heart, which calls for self-denial and costly commitment, clinging to Christ, reforming ways, relying on the Saviour's strength, living a new and purer life, striving for the perfection of His character, and departing from iniquity to be sanctified. Truth must shape the life to convict and convert the soul, for God's love for sinners does not mean He receives people while they persist in what they know is sin. Believers must actively resist sin by earnest effort, watchfulness, and prayer rather than relying on Christ's work while doing nothing themselves, since Christ's death does not abolish God's law or make it possible to be saved while knowingly transgressing it. There is a limit to willful transgression, so the past sinful course must be forsaken for conversion to prepare for the inheritance of the saints in light, choosing to conform life and character to God's wise and true laws. Those young in the faith need not continue in sin but must stay awake and on guard against Satan's strategies, hold unwavering faith in the atoning sacrifice, and through prayer receive enabling grace to overcome.