In chapters 5-8 Paul deals with the business of living the Christian life. In our passage for study Paul makes the point that "newness of life" (right living) is a natural consequence that flows from a person's right-standing before God. A believer, by faith, is "in Christ"; our old life of sin is hid with Christ in his death such that we are no longer "enslaved to sin." On the other hand, again through our identification with Christ, we are risen with Christ, "alive to God in Christ Jesus", such that through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ we begin to "walk in newness of life."

v1. Paul, using his own words, outlines a criticism raised by law-bound believers who felt that his teaching on justification (of an eternal right-standing before God which rests on the faithfulness of Christ, apart from the law) inevitably leads to libertarianism. They argued that his teaching devalued the sanctifying power of the law and thus promoted sin. In fact, when the logic of Paul's position is extended it implies that sin is good because God's grace in forgiveness is activated in proportion to the sin.

v2. "Rubbish", says Paul. There is no way that Paul is going to accept that his teaching on justification promotes libertarianism - an anything-goes form of Christian living. "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Paul goes on to explain how a believer has "died to sin" apart from the law.

v3-4. Our justification identifies us with Christ's death and resurrection. In his death we die, we die to sin; in his resurrection we live, we live to God, we begin to live a new moral life for God. Paul is using the word "baptism" in the sense of "immersed" to illustrate identification with Christ.

v5. Paul again restates the point he is making, using the word "united with" - grafted together. Given that believers are united with Jesus in his sacrificial death on their behalf, there is a sense where believers are also united with him in his resurrection.

v6-7. The consequence of dying with Christ involves a death to sin, "freed from sin", that "we might no longer be enslaved to sin." A believer is, in Christ, freely released from the condemnation of sin, not so that we can go on sinning, or even be more sinful, but rather that we might no longer live a sinful life.

v8-10. The consequence of rising with Christ involves a life lived to God. Christ is alive, never to die again, and "the life he lives, he lives to God"; sin is dead to him. Since we are identified with Christ in his resurrection, alive with him, we too will live to God. Paul will later explain that it is through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ that a believer possesses the potential to live for God rather than self.

v11. Paul now refocuses on his readers, probably with an eye to his law-bound readers - "you must identify yourselves with Christ's death and resurrection." It is essential for a believer to rest in faith on: i] Christ's death with its legal consequences - we are free from condemnation; ii] Christ's resurrection with its moral consequences - the potential of a life "lived to God", rather than self, and this through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ.

v12-13. This being the case, Paul calls on his readers to yield themselves to God as his obedient slaves, free from sin's dominion.

v14. A believer is quite able to do this because we "are not under law, but under grace." Whereas the law prompts rebellion, the indwelling compelling of the Spirit of Christ prompts love.

In this passage Paul states that sin no longer has a claim on the Christian. We have "died to sin", v2, 7, 11. "Set free from sin", in v18 & 22, has a similar meaning. There are two ways of understanding in what sense sin is a dead thing in our lives.

We are no longer under the legal claim of sin, ie. we no longer stand under condemnation. God doesn't see our sin anymore because it has been put to death with Christ on the cross. We are dead to its legal claims. This is the ground for our release into a life of holiness.

The problem is that it is hard to explain why being freed from condemnation, in a legal sense, should result in a life free from sin. The Reformers handled the problem this way. "For someone who knows this doctrine and uses it properly, even evil will have to cooperate for good. For when his flesh impels him to sin, he is aroused and incited to seek forgiveness of sins through Christ and to embrace righteousness of faith, which we would otherwise not have regarded as so important or yearned for with such intensity. And so it is very beneficial if we sometimes become aware of the evil of our nature and our flesh, because in this way we are aroused and stirred up to have faith and to call upon Christ." Luther, "Lectures on Galatians", 1535.

A number of elements work together to free us from sins power.

First, through our identification with Christ in his resurrection, his resurrection life (a life lived to God, pleasing to God) is imaged in us through the renewing power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. "Christ in us" becomes life to our fleshly bodies, Gal.2:20, 3:14, 5:16. His indwelling-compelling-love shapes us.

Second, because we are no longer under the law we are freed from its tendency to accentuate sinfulness, Rom.5:20, Gal.3:23-25. Of course, we must remember that free from the power of sin does not mean free from sin. "We acknowledge that regeneration is so effected in us that, until we slough off this mortal body, there remains always in us much imperfection and infirmity, so that we always remain poor and wretched sinners in the presence of God." The Geneva Confession. Always beware of the heresy of "perfectionism (the "victorious" or "higher life" movement).

1. Why doesn't "free from sin" mean we are actually free from sin, ie. a sinless Christian?

2. Why isn't "lead us not into temptation" a prayer to take away temptation and therefore promote a sinless life?