Chapter 2: What comes after salvation? (Rom. 6:8-14)

Chapter 2
What Comes After Salvation?
Romans 6:8–14

INTRODUCTION:
In the first chapter of most books, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, the author introduces the problem. If it is fiction, he will introduce the main characters in the story; the murder or crime will happen in the first chapter, etc. If the book is non-fiction, he will introduce the problem that he will then spend the rest of the book resolving.

So the “second chapter” suggests what comes next….

Historically speaking, members of the church have given the plan of salvation as:

1) Hear
2) Believe
3) Repent
4) Confess
5) Be baptized
6) Remain faithful

Those points are not found in the New Testament just in that form, but they are all in the NT and they all, largely, have to be followed in that order. Incidentally, the first preacher to summarize the plan of salvation in this way was Walter Scott (1796-1861). Except Scott actually had six “fingers” - he summarized the plan as: Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the corresponding gifts from God: remission of sins, gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.

Be that as it may, when it comes to Romans 6, Paul talks about the importance of baptism (6:1-7), which we might call “Chapter 1.” Then, beginning in verse 8, he moves into “Chapter 2.” What comes after salvation?

Sanctification is the progressive process of God making us more like his Son, a process that we can open ourselves up to or hinder through sin.

We can offer ourselves up to God, allowing him to graciously sanctify us.

THE CENTRAL TENSION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE:
This passage captures the central tension of the Christian life on earth: we have died to sin (ver. 7), but we still sin. Why do we still sin if we have “died with Christ” and “also live with him” (v. 8)? Imagine a small country that has been ruled by a foreign power for many years. When the rightful rulers return and take over, the central identity of the country is restored. The invaders have no ultimate claim over the nation. But that doesn’t mean that every one of the invaders has physically left the country. They might remain, working to reinstate their illegitimate reign. The country’s identity remains its rightful one, but there are still battles being fought over specific areas of land and power.

Paul talks about the separation that happens between us and sin and what it means to raise with Christ (6:8-9).

One important way that we open ourselves up to God’s sanctifying work in us is through spiritual disciplines. There are many examples of historical Christian spiritual disciplines, but a few are prayer, meditation, fasting, and Scripture memorization. These disciplines are “meant to be not chores but invitations—opportunities to ‘progressively and systematically rearrange’ the habits of my life in order to delight in God—and to increasingly learn how much God delights in me” (Carolyn Arends). 

GARDENING YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE - 6:10-11:
There’s one type of image that pops up in Scripture repeatedly when describing the growth of Christians—farming or gardening. Perhaps we should think of our spiritual lives like gardening. “All farmers know that there is always more work to be done than there is time to do it; nevertheless, these same farmers also understand that much of what happens to the crops is beyond their control. There is much for the farmer to do, but the farmer cannot make the seed sprout, the sun shine or the rain fall. In fact, it is only because the farmer trusts that these good gifts will continue to be given that the challenging and risk-filled enterprise of farming is undertaken at all” (Philip Kenneson). The same is true of our spiritual growth: there is much for us to do, but there is even more that is out of our control.

PRESENTING OUR BODIES AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - 6:12-14:
Even though we have been baptized into Christ, as with Simon in Acts 8, our sinful desires and inclinations are not necessarily ended at baptism. So, there is still work to do. Notice that Paul says we cannot allow sin to reign, to have its control, over our mortal bodies and obey its lusts.

Verse 13 gives us good language for describing the part we play in our own sanctification, a process that is just as much a product of unearned grace as our salvation is. It says not to “offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.”

“In particular, we should not use our natural capacities (our faculties, not only our limbs) to commit sin. Positively, we should ‘present’ or ‘offer’ ourselves to God, and our ‘members’ (eyes [representing what we look at], ears [what we listen to], mouths [what we say], hands [what we do], feet [where we go], hearts [what we love], minds [what we think about], wills [the decisions we make], etc.) as His tools (‘instruments’) to fulfill His will” (Thomas Constable).

Verse 14 provides an important reminder that should shape our understanding of sanctification: “You are not under the law, but under grace.” Of course, here, Paul is referring to the Law of Moses. He is not saying that we are without “law” entirely since in many other passages, such as in 8:2, it refers to the commandments of Christ. The Greek word for “law” is found 194 times. In most of its uses, it refers to the Law of Moses, but in a few, it refers to the Law of Christ: Rom 8:2; 1 Cor. 9:21; James 1:25; 2:8, 12.

As a response to the unfathomable grace of God, we do everything in our power to open ourselves up to God’s work, to give ourselves to him as instruments for his use. How he makes us more and more conformed to the image of Christ is his work.

Take home message: Chapter 2 in your Christian life is to do your best to live a “sanctified” life.