LETTER FOR AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1994
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Dear Friends,

This month I would like to share with you some thoughts on Romans chapter six. They may at first perhaps seem difficult to grasp, but please persevere, because Romans 6 is a very important chapter, and to understand it will mean a great strength in our lives.

In Romans chapter 6 the Apostle Paul is concerned to present to us the wonder of what happens to us when we believe in Jesus as Saviour. He seeks to do it in such a way that we may want to reach out for the new life and blessing in Christ which Jesus has won for us, and live it more and more.

In the first half of the chapter, verses 1 to 14, Paul speaks about what happened to us when we became Christians. In the second half to the end of the chapter, Paul seeks to win our affections, desires and mind to run after this new life by showing us how much better it is than the old pre-Christian situation and life.

Obviously I cannot explain the whole chapter in this letter. What I want to do is deal with one aspect of it, which I believe holds the key to our understanding and appreciation of all the Apostle is saying.

The aspect I would highlight is the meaning of the word "Sin" as Paul uses it in this chapter. We shall be totally confused by this chapter unless we have got the meaning of this word right.

This confusion is illustrated by the NIV translation of verse 6 where the translation of part of the verse is "that the body of sin might be rendered powerless". This is an attempt to make the meaning clear and not an accurate translation. The literal translation is "in order that the body of sin might be destroyed".

The NIV translation suggests that, after we become Christians, the "body of sin" continues to exist but loses its power to cause us to desire wrong things. But we know that this is not true. After we believe in Jesus still there are sinful desires in us which are very very strong. The NIV has assumed that "body of sin" means the sinful desires in our nature, that is the sinful desires which we know are part of this earthly bodily life because we belong to the fallen human race.

The NIV has chosen their translation in verse 6 because it was assumed that sin was the same as our sinful nature which has a bias to evil. Assuming this the literal translation that the body of sin is destroyed becomes hopelessly unexplainable, because we still know sin after conversion.

We shall only find this chapter makes sense when we understand and see that the word "sin" in this chapter is spoken of almost like a person. "Sin" in this chapter rules and dominates, binds and has us under its authority. In other words the Apostle is using the word "sin" almost to mean Satan. It is the authority which rules in the kingdom of this world over every human being born into this world. Unless we become Christians as Paul describes becoming a Christian, we are ruled and dominated by this authority - sin.

In this chapter Paul tells us that when we believed in Jesus as Saviour we were joined to Jesus and became his people. He tells us that what has happened is that the person we were as a human being born into this world has died. Death has ended that life.

When we ask how have we died, the Apostle tells us that we have died with Christ. Verse 6 again - "The old self was crucified with Christ". It is true that we are still alive in the flesh, but as far as that authority - sin - which rules over everyone in this earthly life is concerned, we are no more. So the Body of sin, that is the body that sin had authority over has been destroyed. It does not exist. So Sin has lost a subject - verse 7 "we are freed from sin". We are freed from that rule and authority. It has no more authority over us and can not claim us.

What we have is this. Every person who is born into this world is first, because of being human, born under the authority of "sin" in the kingdom of this world. The only means of freedom is to die and leave that world. When we died with Jesus, we were therefore released from the authority which dominates every part of secular life. But we have more than that. We were raised with Christ. We were re-born into the Kingdom of God, and placed under the authority of Christ, or as it is put in verse 14 we are place under the authority of the kingdom of grace.

We are not left without a rule and authority, but we are freed from the authority of sin, and placed under a new and blessed authority. Paul calls it in verse 18 the authority of righteousness - we become slaves of righteousness, and in verse 22 it is the authority of God - we have become slaves of God.

When we see this and understand this, the whole chapter makes sense, and we can appreciate what Paul means when he urges us to live differently.

Space does not allow me to say any more about all that, but I would like to close by showing you how this understanding of "sin" as a ruler opens up the challenge of what Paul is saying in the second half of this chapter.

In these verses Paul contrasts the two authorities, sin on the one hand, and God on the other.

In verse 20 and 21 Paul asks us to consider what we knew when under the authority of "Sin". Firstly we were free from the authority of righteousness - that is God was not our God and had nothing to do with us. Secondly there was not fruit or benefit. We can see this plainly when people give themselves up to ways of life like pursuit of pleasure, to sex or drugs. There is nothing at the end but loss, in spite of the temporary excitement. But it is also true if we give ourselves to success in the world. We may become rich or important, but we still have nothing of any lasting value. We retire and lose it all, and then die. Thirdly there is the end of it all which is death - separated from God and all that is good for ever.

The difference in the authority of God and righteousness is so marked. In verses 22 firstly we have benefit or fruit that results. It is holiness. This is that we enjoy the character of God, that love which is in God and flows from God, which fills our experience and life with all that we were created for. We are enriched with life which does not depend on our earthly circumstances, and which is always growing. Secondly we have eternal life, now and for the future. We are progressing towards the life which we were created for, and the life where we live with Jesus and his love.

The Apostle sums it up so powerfully in the last verse. He contrasts the two kingdoms and authorities. Sin gives wages. The wages are awful. The wages are death, that is the lose of all things that make life worth living. That is the deception of this authority. It seems to promise so much, but behind it all its purpose is to take away everything and leave us with nothing for all eternity.

The authority of God and righteousness does not pay wages. This authority gives. The Gift is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the receiving freely of everything that makes life worth living and enriches it and gives it purpose.

This is why the Apostle says offer yourselves freely to the authority of God.

Your servant for Christ's sake,