Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Romans 6:1 - 6:2
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Sanctification as a Fruit of Justification.
Justification does not lead to indulgence of sin:
v. 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
v. 2. God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
The apostle has concluded his exposition of the doctrine of justification, bringing out, throughout the argument, that salvation is full and free. He now feels constrained to meet the most common, the most plausible, and yet the most unfounded objection to the doctrine of justification by faith, namely, that it permits men to live in sin, to continue doing evil, in order that grace might abound. What shall we then say? What inference shall we draw from the doctrine of grace? Shall we remain with sin, in sin, in order that grace may abound? This conclusion has ever been advanced by the enemies of Christ, from the early period of the Church down to the most recent times; the argument that the doctrine of justification by grace through faith furthered sin and undermined true morality. But Paul rejects the very insinuation with horror: By no means! Only one that knows nothing whatever of grace will speak and argue thus. Any one that has the faintest idea of the glory and beauty of grace will always hate and abhor sin and will bring out his appreciation of God's mercy in his entire life. How should we, how could we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Because the believers have tasted the richness of God's mercy, because they have died unto sin, have given up all communion with sin, therefore they can no longer live in sin. Death and life are opposites, they exclude each other. We turned our backs definitely upon sin when we received Christ as our Savior. It is therefore a contradiction in terms to say that free justification is a license to sin. The very fact that we died to sin, and are therefore free from sin, no longer under its dominion and in its power, must result in our hating sin, in shunning every transgression of the holy will of God. God delivered us from the bondage of sin, and this fact is the foundation of Christian sanctification. The state of a Christian is a state of freedom from sin.