No More Sin

Readings:
Ezra 5
Romans 6:1-4

Focus:
Romans 6:1-2a: "What are we to say, then? Shall we persist in sin, so that there may be all the more grace? Certainly not!"

Paul has just been arguing that because of Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection, we no longer need obey the law in order to gain salvation. Instead, we only need to accept what Jesus has done for us, give our lives to God, and receive God's free grace.

The next logical question that might be asked is that, if our sin causes God to respond with grace, then should we sin more in order to receive more grace?

Paul has an answer to this: definitely not! Once we have turned our lives over to God, we have become identified with Christ. We are symbolically buried with him, and, just as he is raised from the dead, we also start a new life. In this new life, we do not commit sin on purpose. Instead, we flee from it as much as we are able.

And indeed, the more we know him, the less we want to sin. It does not make us happy any more.

I know someone who is a recovering alcoholic. Before she gave up drinking, she thought life would be boring without it. Then she starting going to AA, and became sober. Now she realizes how much better life is. She just didn't know, when she was drinking, how great, how much better, drink-free life was! So it is with sin. We think it's fun, but we just don't know how much more fun, how much happier, sin-avoiding life is.