A LOOK AT ROMANS 6 – How are We to Live?

In Romans 6 the question is asked: How are we to live, now that we have died to sin? 

In accepting the sacrifice of Messiah for our sin, we accept his death as if it were our own. We died to sin through his death, we were separated from the world through his burial, and we were raised with him…to LIFE! Our new (or renewed) life doesn’t begin in heaven…it begins right here on earth! 

Continuing in Romans 6, we read that our response to this new life, to this second chance…is to ACT! We can never be reconciled to God, be declared righteous, on our own merit. Never. But once we are redeemed through His Salvation (His Yeshua) we most surely are to leave behind our old life and live this new life in obedience to Him. It is to be a life marked by right living in God’s ways. We are NOT to let sin (our will, desire, and understanding) rule in our life, as we are no longer owned by sin. If we do not live in God’s ways in our new life, we mock the sacrifice of Christ, and that is a serious thing. 

So how, in a practical way, do we act now? How are we to resist temptation to turn to what seems good? How do we respond to stress or difficulties which tempt us to turn to our own ways of providing solutions?

In James 4:7, we learn to first, draw near to God and second, resist the devil. And you know what? He will flee from you.

To draw near to God means to read and study the gift He has provided you…the gift of the Scripture (Old Testament) in which He has revealed His ways, as well as the gospels and letters (New Testament) which amplify and confirm the right ways of God; and, with your whole heart, to act in humility and joyful obedience on what you learn. As you draw near to God and resist the devil, you will find it gets easier over time, as your demonstrated trust in God matures. 

In Romans 6: 14 we read that a believer is ‘not under law, but under grace’. Some (including some churches) say this means that we are no longer to obey the ‘Law’ of the Old Testament, which is where the Law (instruction) of God is found. But nothing could be further from the truth, and as you continue to read and study the Scripture you will find this too. Nowhere does God say we are ever to consider His Law wrong, minimized, fulfilled, replaced or done away with. 

Yeshua (Jesus) clearly confirms this in Matthew 5: 17-19. You can read much about the perfection of God’s Law (His instruction, His ways) in Psalm 119. And God doesn't change!
In obeying God’s ways in our new life, we see and become aware of the wonderful peace we have with Him through the sacrifice of Yeshua, who is our salvation, our righteousness. God said in Genesis 2:17 that if Adam and Eve disobeyed His Law, if they chose another way other than His, they would die. In God’s ways there is life. Apart from Him there is death. The curse of disobeying (turning away from) God’s ways (His Law) is death. The curse of the Law is death. Any way other than His leads to death. 

But if we have received new life, we are to turn to His ways. And His ways never change. When Adam and Eve and you and I, turned away from Life, we came under the curse of the Law (death). Since we have been given the grace of new life in Christ, through trust, we are NO LONGER UNDER THE CURSE OF THE LAW! Isn’t that amazing? We are now under grace! We are a new creation in Messiah! But we must continue in grace. 

Romans 6:15-23 explains this beautifully. You were a slave to sin…which led to death. You were under the curse of the Law, which meant you were set apart eternally from God, you were sold out to sin and its consequence of death. You have now been put under grace. If you present yourself to God as His obedient slave (that is your choice) then you will be a slave not of sin, but of rightness! And there is nothing on heaven or earth that can take that righteousness away from you! As you were formerly a slave of darkness, death and evil, present yourself today to be a slave of rightness, of light and of life. 

What did that former life of sin get you? What was the fruit, the result of sin in your life? 

The life that comes from righteousness and obedience to God, is able to face any kind of trouble, any kind of temptation with the peace that is beyond understanding, in the power of His Spirit working alongside us. The result of life lived by God’s Law is peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness (trust in God), love, joy and self control (Galatians 5:13-25). There is NO death in this Law!