Lifestyle Righteousness

Paul dealt with Justification in Romans 4-5, how God rescues us from eternal destruction to eternal life – God has removed the guilt of our sin. Now as we study Romans 6-8, we learn that this forgiveness and justification should have a major impact on our life.  Paul will help us to understand how God expects spiritual Sanctification to be the defining quality of our daily life.  So, are we “holy”?  That is not a trick question, but it can be a challenge to give a thorough answer.

A short review:  From the Bible, we learn that God is intrinsically (look it up) holy – not only devoid of any form of sin or wrongdoing, but also not able to do wrong and even further, not able to be in the presence of wrongdoing.  God’s holiness requires Him to be completely separate from sin.  It also causes Him to require a judgment on every person who fails to be sinless which results in a penalty (eternal separation from Him) be paid by any of His created beings who choose sinfulness.  Because of this essential character of God, Adam and Eve were judged for their sin and banished from the Garden where they had been enjoying close daily fellowship with their Creator.  From that moment to this day, man has been hopelessly lost in sin, totally incapable of pleasing God or being in His presence, bent on selfish rebellion against the One True God.  Our rescue from that hopeless condition can only happen by placing our faith in the death of Christ as payment for our sin penalty, accepting Jesus to be our Savior (a “once and for all” decision).  When that decision is made, God can regenerate our soul and baptizes us into His Son – we are “born again” into God’s family!  Then, miraculously, God looks at us and sees His Son’s righteousness – amazing!  I trust you do know Christ as your Savior, but if you don’t, please click on this link to learn more about becoming a Christian.

So, we’re Christians, right?  But, are we holy?  Who… me?  Paul has explained our standing before God as being “declared righteous” because we are in Christ (Romans 6:1-14).  Now Paul makes a very important point in his teaching:   This great spiritual truth (God has declared us righteous) should have practical and clearly visible results in our life.  Note the question that he begins with in v15.  Similar to his question in v1, but this question is different.  In v1,  he asked whether we should “continue is sin”, that is, keep acting in ways that “get us more grace” – his immediate answer “of course not!”  Now in v15, his question turns around to ask “shall we go on sinning” since we are now under God’s grace and no longer accountable to the Law?  His response (again) is “No way!”, don’t dare think that way!  This last half of Romans 6 takes the principles given in 6:1-14 summarized by 6:13 (being an instrument of righteousness) and now he  “puts it in human terms” (6:19 NAS).  As a result of properly understanding “how Grace works” (the overarching theme of Romans 6-8) we begin to demonstrate, according to verse 22, the “results of sanctification”.  Yes, you!

Justification and Sanctification

There is a distinction in the Bible between justification and sanctification.  Here are the basics:

• Justification is our standing before God, declared to be righteous.
  • Sanctification is the process, our state of becoming a godly saint, moving towards living righteously.
• Justification is an act that God does on His own as Judge, declaring our debt to be paid by Christ.
  • Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Justification is a one-time spiritual baptism into Christ (Rom. 6:1) by the Holy Spirit.
  • Sanctification is an ongoing transformation by the Spirit (Rom. 12:1-2) into Christlikeness.

In Romans 6, Paul gives us four major points of action that the Christian needs to live by:

• Know:  the facts of our union and identification with Christ in His death and resurrection (6:3, 6, 9).  Knowing is a fundamental, essential exercise for the Christian.  You don’t just “float along” in the Christian life, you must be on an insatiable quest to know all you can about God and what He has revealed to you in His Word.
• Reckon:  count these facts to be true concerning ourselves (6:11).  We must lock it in and make it the foundation of everything we do.
• Yield: present ourselves once for all as alive from the dead for God’s possession and use (6:13, 16, 19; also 12:1-2).  This is a matter of humility and surrender, being submitted to God’s priority.
• Obey: in the realization that sanctification can proceed only as we are obedient to the will of God as revealed in His Word (6:16-17).  We don’t toy with our Christianity, we model it to others.
  (These four points are provided from the New Scofield Study Bible.)

The New You

So many of us ask “Yeah, but, how do I even get close to living a righteous life in this ungodly world?”  Those four key words above form a crucial four-layer plan to guide you in your Christian life.  The simple truth is that the Christian should live in the spiritual reality of displacing sin by living righteously, although it doesn’t happen easily because the pull of the world is so strong.  Sin isn’t going to be eradicated from the world until the end of time (Rev. 20:10-15), but it is unnecessary and unacceptable for us to continue giving in to it.  There are many places in the epistles where we are reminded that we aren’t going to be perfect, but our goal should be to live righteously.

• In Rom. 6:6, we are told that based on our receiving Christ as Savior and as a result being placed “into Christ”, God sees us as having died on the Cross with Christ.  We are “buried with Christ” and risen with Him (1 Cor. 6:17; 10:2; Gal. 3:27; 1 Pet. 3:21; 1 Jn. 1:3).
• Paul teaches us about the “old man”, the old sinful nature we’ve been living with since we were born (Rom. 4:22 and Col. 3:9).  Our new “state” is that we are declared righteous – our new “standing” deals with our ongoing life demonstrating our new state.  Our “state” is accomplished by God alone and He maintains it, and it will never  change.  Our “standing” is how we demonstrate our state in the world – that’s up to us to maintain, but thankfully we are guided and enabled by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)
• As Paul goes to chapter 7, he is going to talk through a real life experience of dealing with our old sinful nature and our new spiritual natures.  Before we go to Rom. 7, we need to be sure we understand these guiding principles and are ready to apply them.
• In 1 Cor. 9:25-27, Paul gives us clear guidance about how godly living develops in us – it is by having a clear goal (Rom. 6, Christlikeness).  This requires determination, self-control that insists we walk in tune with God.

Warning:  Study Questions Follow!  Be prepared with Bible Study Journal and ready to make notes!

1. 1. 1. 1. When Paul asks rhetorical questions, he usually comes right back with the expected answer.  What answers does he provide in 6:1 & 15, and how are they different?
         2.  We have died to sin (Rom. 6:1-14), we are not under the Law – so is sin no longer “an issue”?  How does 6:16-18 answer that?  Hint: From 6:2, we died to sin, but sin didn’t die.
         3.  What does obedience refer to in Rom. 6:16? What does it result in?  In v17, what kind of obedience is needed? What type of teaching is needed?
         4.  Because v16 refers to us having been slaves to sin, so v18 seems to make sense suggesting the serious Christian should be a “slave to righteousness”.  But how do we do that?
         5.  Romans 6 is summarized by four action verbs for us to apply – in 6:6, 11, 13, 19.  Find them, write them down, and use your own words to explain how they need to show in your life.
         6.  Romans 6:23 is a key verse for the “Romans Road” plan of salvation.  What does this verse emphasize to the unsaved sinner?
         7.  How is Rom. 6:23 an effective concluding point for this passage emphasizing living righteously?
         8.  What do Gal. 2:20; Col. 2:12 and 3:1 have to say about what Paul is teaching in Rom. 6?
         9.  It is suggested that there is no more important chapter in all the Bible than Romans 6.  We could suggest any number of other important chapters (start with Gen. 1).  However Romans is our major text explaining our Christian faith and how we should live it.  Now, Romans 6 is seen to rise to the top as the most strategic teaching in the book.  Look back over Rom. 6 and write down the key truths you see in the chapter that are essential to your Christ faith.