Throughout his letter to the Romans, Paul consistently communicates his primary premise in writing his letter to the Roman Christians; that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (3:23), even the Jews; and that all, both Jews and Gentiles, are subsequently in need of justification by faith and both, Jews and Gentiles are declared righteous as a gift of God’s grace (3:24); and that the power to be made righteous has been revealed in the gospel message from long ago to the Jews first by faith and then now to the Gentiles by faith (1:17).
This premise is established throughout the first 11 chapters, and can be succinctly summarized in two specific passages: 9:22-24 and 11:28-31.
“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?” (9:22-24)
"As regards the gospel, they (Jews) are enemies for your (Gentiles) sake. But as regards election, they (Jews) are beloved for the sake of their (Jewish) forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you (Gentiles) were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their (Jewish) disobedience, so they (Gentiles) too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you (Gentiles) they (Jews) also may now receive mercy.” (11:28-31)
Then in 11:32 comes the pinnacle statement that encapsulates all of what Paul wants to explain to the Romans;
“God has consigned all (both Jews and Gentiles) to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”
Paul’s intense desire to communicate this message to the Romans is seen in his many thwarted efforts to reach them face to face. There seems to be great need and great concern for Paul to communicate this premise to the Roman Christians, as he mentions to them at the beginning and again at the end of his letter that he intended many times (πολλάκις) to visit them in order to strengthen them and encourage them, but had been hindered each time (1:11-13, & 15:22).
Not only does he have a burning desire within him to communicate face to face, once he sits down to write them, this letter, his burning desire spreads onto the pages of each of the first 11 chapters. Paul steadily builds his premise as he moves from chapter to chapter. He becomes increasingly emotionally invested in his topic using 10 specific rhetorical questions[1] throughout as bait for his readers to consume. Each of the 10 rhetorical questions is punctuated with a very emphatic emotional outburst “By No Means”/”Absolutely Not”/”May it Never Be”/”Let it Not Happen," "No, No, No, No, No.” And each is meant to support Paul’s premise,
“God has consigned all (both Jews and Gentiles) to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”
Not only does Paul punctuate his letter with these emotional outbursts, once he reaches the pinnacle statement of his letter at the end of chapter 11, he is so enthused with God that he lets loose with yet another outburst of joy and praise for God's inscrutable plan…
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor#” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."(11:34-36)
Now, as Paul builds his premise, making his way to his pinnacle statement in chapter 11, as we have already seen, he has explained in chapter 5 that “as sin increased" among the Jews first, in light of his premise, and in the context of 1:16ff, and then among Gentiles, grace also abounded all the more (5:13), so that, as "sin reigned in death from Adam to Moses" and beyond (5:14), grace also might reign through righteousness, among the Jews first, and then among Gentiles through the death and resurrection of Jesus.”
In chapters six and seven now, Paul confronts objections to his premise by way of an explanation of grace versus law. It seems that Paul’s readers wanted to play word games with him in an effort to dodge their responsibility for 'The name of God being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of them.”
Instead of heeding his rebuke for their unrighteous passionate behavior which he discusses in 1:18ff, they were attempting to theologically wiggle their way out of their responsibility and even attempt to justify their behavior so they can continue in it.
Paul's readers pose 4 rhetorical questions (two in chapter 6 and two in chapter 7) in rebuttal to his rebuke. Paul has used this question and answer response three other times, earlier in his letter to emphasize man’s faithlessness and God’s faithfulness. He will use it five other times later in this letter as a means of emphasis. Ten times in total.
Since the forgiveness of sin and the declaration of righteousness is the favored blessing gained through God’s grace (4:7-8), the logical question to ask at this point then is, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound (6:1)?” It makes sense to ask such a question. For, if indeed God’s grace increases at the increase of sin, then, in order to receive more of God’s grace, sin must also increase.
However, Paul is quick to confront this question on two fronts. The first front (6:1-11) is to answer directly by saying, “By No means” It is implausible, even incredible to suggest something that is dead can live. In fact, it is unnatural. It is natural for dead things to remain dead.
In totality of use, Paul seems to use this rhetorical question-answer style to emphasize his premise that sin leads to death for everyone; even the Jews, contrary to Jewish expectations, just as grace leads to life for everyone including the Gentiles, contrary to Jewish expectations. Sin and grace are attributed to both Jews and Gentiles. similarly death and life are rewards for both Jews and Gentiles. The emphasis that Paul desires his readers to catch, especially in his later chapters, is that the apparent disinterest God may currently have with the Jewish nation, in light of the grace-inclusion of the Gentiles, is explained as all part of God’s magnificent plan that no one can understand 15:33-36.
As previously mentioned, so grand is this plan, that after Paul explains it to his readers, he cannot contain himself, so in a burst of praise for God’s glorious wisdom and knowledge. he writes,
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Paul’s emphatic point to make in chapter 6 is this…just as Jesus died, was buried and rose to life, these Jewish believers now also should consider themselves to have died with Christ through baptism; to have buried the sin in which they once participated; and to have been raised from the baptismal waters to live a new life. So, Paul says these Jewish believers must consider themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
By no means is it possible for a something dead to live. It is contrary to nature; it is unnatural. It is actually blasphemous (2:24)! As their lives attest.
Paul concludes this section by saying,
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.” (6:12)
It is this conclusion to the first section which becomes the second front upon which Paul argues to confront this next question. This question in 6:1 now becomes the hinge upon which Paul swings back to the behavior of the Roman Christians that he discusses in the first chapter.
As we have seen above, in 6:12 Paul encourages the believers to “not let sin reign in their body” because they mistakenly think that if they do, then God’s grace will increase and abound all the more. In Paul’s argument, he encourages them “not to let sin reign in their bodies” because he knows that sin has a tendency to make people “obey their passions.”
It was these “passions’ that Paul wants to emphasize here in 6:12. Paul has already specifically accused these Romans, in 1:16, of suppressing the truth by their "shameless and unrighteous acts."
As a result, Paul, by way of double emphasis, says twice that God gave them up because of their shameless and unrighteous acts;
“God gave them up to dishonorable lusts and passions, to the dishonoring of their own bodies” (1:24-26).
In chapter 1, Paul uses the word “lust” and “passion” interchangeably (1:24, 26, 27) to refer to the Christians’ behavior. The same word is used in 6:12 and in chapter 1:24 (επιθυμιαις). Twice Paul uses those words tethered to the word “dishonor.”
In the first instance, Paul says that “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves” (1:24). Notice here that Pauls says it was a dishonoring of their bodies… among themselves. A very specific reference to the sexual relationship issues he is addressing at hand in Rome.
Notice the similarities between 6:12 and 1:24. First of all, as we’ve mentioned above, Paul uses the same word (επιθυμιαις) in both passages drawing attention to the connection between the two passages. But even more interestingly, these passages seem to be connected by the fact that both passages suggest that these passions cannot be fulfilled or they cannot be obeyed unless believers are “presenting their members as instruments for unrighteousness (with one another) to sin and dishonoring their bodies…among themselves.”
Six times in chapter 6 Paul uses the phrase “presenting yourselves,” perhaps again as an emphatic and perhaps euphemistic way of referring to the behavior that he mentions in chapter 1. It seems fairly clear that Paul has these particular sins in mind from the first chapter of Romans as he is writing this 6th chapter.
Paul’s final admonition in confronting this question for his readers is to “no longer present themselves to one another as instruments in sin, but to present themselves to God as instruments in righteousness” (6:14).
In addition, is Paul attempting a play on words here to help connect these two passages (1:24 & 6:12) as well? Does Paul attempt to connect his comments of males with males and females with females unnaturally uniting in chapter 1 with his comments here about believers uniting with Jesus in his death and uniting with him in his resurrection? Is he trying to point out that if there is any uniting to be done, spiritually speaking, it should be with Jesus Christ, and not physically with fellow males or fellow females?
In Paul’s second usage of the term “passions” in chapter 1, Paul says that “God gave them up to dishonorable passions,” again in the context of sexual relations “contrary to nature, being consumed with passion for one another,” similar to the idea of “dishonoring of their bodies…among themselves.”
So, it seems that Paul’s reference to “passions” in 6:12 is an attempt to once again bring to the forefront of the readers attention this behavior of chapter 1, as if to say, just as it is unnatural that something dead could be alive, and just as unnatural as their current sexual relationships are, so it is just as unnatural that they should continue in those relationships, living out something dead, practicing and promoting and even encouraging those relationships to continue (1:32). By No Means should that be the case! It's unnatural.
What’s more, it’s as if Paul’s readers are like discontented adolescents not satisfied with his answer because they want to continue to indulge in the actions just forbidden by Paul, so they continue their barrage him with yet another question in 6:15….“Well, well then what, what about this….?
“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Again, Paul’s answer is BY NO MEANS.” His logic is, obedience needs a master. The master is either going to be sin or Jesus. If one chooses to be obedient to sin, then the law is in place to point out sin (5:20), and death is the law’s prescribed reward of that sin, because “the wages of sin is death.” If one chooses to be obedient to Jesus, then they have been set free from sin, and life is the prescribed reward of righteousness, because “the free gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).
Paul closes the sixth chapter by turning a question back onto his readers by asking them in reference to their behavior he describes in the first chapter. He asks,
“What fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed (“shameless acts” 1;27)? For the end of those things is death. (6:21)
It seems that Paul is saying, By No Means keep on sinning because it’s fruitless. As a matter of fact, sinning does produce fruit, but not a fruit one desires. The fruit of in is death, not grace. You’ve misunderstood grace Paul says, if you want to continue in sin!
So, Paul is emphatic in this chapter in his correction to his readers’ understanding of grace and law. Sin does not promote grace, but grace can abound where sin exists. Grace does not excuse sin, but sin does not give man excuse where the law does not exist. By No Means!
In chapter 7, Paul continues his rhetorical question-answer style of writing to emphasize his thesis that sin leads to death for everyone; even the Jews contrary to Jewish expectations, just as grace leads to life for everyone including the Gentiles, contrary to Jewish expectations. Sin and grace are attributed to both Jews and Gentiles. Death and life are rewards for both Jews and Gentiles. Judgment and righteousness are available to all, both Jews and Gentiles, contrary to Jewish expectations.
The objections that Paul confronts in chapter 7 involve the goodness of the law which is holy, and righteous and good, as it promises life (7:10), yet the counter argument is that in reality, with the law, sin comes alive and promotes death.
So, the question is “Is the law sinful?” “Does the law bring death?” emphatically Paul answers “BY NO MEANS” in each case because with the law, comes the reality of sin, and with the reality of sin comes death, and with the reality of death, comes forgiveness and the free gift, and with the free gift come righteousness as…
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
All along Paul has been promoting the recognition of sin for the Jew first and then for the Gentile in order for them to receive forgiveness and being declared righteous by faith.
All along Paul has been promoting the premise that…
“God has consigned all (both Jews and Gentiles) to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”
Therefore, Paul no longer suffers the mental anguish of the warring sin within. (7:13-25) He is content with Gods intent to let the law do its work in bringing sin alive in order that we might see our need to die with Christ and so receive the forgiveness he offers through his death and resurrection. He is thankful instead,
“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (7:25)
Paul understands that the law of God is to consign all (both Jews and Gentiles) to disobedience as his passions are aroused through the law in order that forgiveness might be sought and offered by faith because of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Paul next discusses the release of guilt and condemnation from being declared righteous by faith instead of by the law.
In my next blog, we will discuss how it is that man is no longer condemned for their sin. We will see that Paul continues to address the idea of Sin In Man vs Man In Sin.
[1] 3:4, 3:6, 3:31; 6:2, 6:15; 7:7, 7:13; 9:14; 11:1, 11:11.
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