Justification & Sanctification

Lesson 23 6:1-11 Justification & Sanctification

Monday, June 17, 2019

10:34 PM

I invite your attention to Romans 6

We are beginning a new Chapter in Romans tonight - we are in Romans 6!!!

I will be honest - while there is so much you can get lost in throughout the book of Romans -

these next three chapters 6-8 have had me the most worried. There has been so much confusion especially among holiness circles as to what Paul is trying to say.

I will do my best to study as best I know how but more than anything I want to rightly divide the Word of God under the Anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Now a little review before we go any further.

Romans 1:18-3:20 deals with the downward spiral of sin and its judgment. The malady of sin.

Jews and Gentile alike Paul proves are accountable to God for sin. 2:1-3:8 Paul beginning at 3:21 explains the solution to the malady of sin. So far he has been explaining justification by faith alone.

We talked about Justification in its most simplistic form is "being made right or accounted in right standing with God" He illustrates that Justification or being accounted in right standing with God is only appropriated by faith in the atoning work of Christ - by Abraham. Romans 5 - Paul contrasts the two Representative Heads of Man showing us that even though the first Adam brought terrible sin and death - Christ will bring total victory over it. So far Paul has been talking about the "legal act of being put in right standing with God." or justification. In chapter 6 Paul is going to add to this the work of justification - sanctification.

Justification takes care of the condemnation and penalty that was upon us due to sin

Sanctification brings the actual behavioral change in us

By the term sanctification I am using it in its biblical sense.

Sometimes especially at least in the area where I grew up - the word sanctification was largely restricted to the "work of grace subsequent to regeneration whereby our hearts were made pure by faith." While it is certainly proper and biblical to use the term to mean that - but it is not biblical or proper to use it exclusively in that way.

This is why, I believe that Romans was so confusing to me, especially these three chapters. I couldn't always distinguish what was being spoken about I would every time Paul spoke about dying to sin, or the such would immediately assume he was talking about entire sanctification - this is not the case. Paul makes it clear - and we will look at it closer when we get to it - that there is a death in salvation. We are sanctified (sanctification begun or initial sanctification) in the sense of change the moment we are justified they are two sides of the same coin - you can't have one without the other. Logically as we study the Bible you will find justification preceding sanctification (regeneration)

In experience you receive them both the moment of the new birth.

So with that in mind lets read Roman's 6:1-11 - I will only deal tonight with verses 1-2 but want to read the rest for context.

Romans 6:1-11 (KJV)

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Reality of Freedom From Sin / Principles of Sanctification

Paul begins this section with a question:

What shall we say then? Paul is probably referring back to 5:20 "Where sin abounded grace did much more abound." Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now whether or not people actually taught this, or Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit points it out I am not sure. But Paul is trying to circumvent a distortion of the truth.

It is amazing-- in reality heresy is a twisted or distorted truth. This heresy can be summed up like this: "The more I sin the greater grace I will experience." The sad thing is this has actually been taught before -

The theological term is "antinomianism" which basically disregards any moral or behavioral aspect to Christianity.

Packer defines "antinomianism" as 'Anti-law' We are warned of the "Nicolaitans" in Rev. 2:6 who practiced a form of antinomianism. Another group had a very serious heretical maxim, "Give to the flesh the things of the flesh and to the spirit the things of the spirit" John Fletcher wrote a large treatise on the "Checks to Antinomianism" that helped the early Methodist church guard against this dangerous doctrine. While there are several forms of Antinomianism this seems to come from philosophical and unscriptural dualism.

By dualism I am not referring to the separation of Body and Spirit as I do believe in that dualism.

But rather that God saves the spirit but the body is left untouched. The body can do whatever it wants and God's grace is greater. There is even a form of this that I have heard taught from the story in the Gospels where the woman comes into Simon's feast and anoints Jesus feet. Jesus makes a statement to Simon that says in essence, "He that is forgiven much loves most"

This doesn't mean that the wild and wooly sinner will love Jesus more when he gets saved than I a third generation church boy can. John Wesley warned in one of his letters, "I have found that even the precious doctrine of salvation by faith has need to be guarded with the utmost care, or those who hear it will slight both inward and outward holiness" (Letters, V, 83). Paul answers his own question, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

But Paul's answer is not just a simple NO! but in the English KJV - "God Forbid!"

This is more than just an emphatic NO! - Adam Clarke writes of the choice of words, [It is] not properly rendered by our God forbid! for, though this may express the same thing, yet it is not proper to make the sacred Name So familiar on such occasions.

Romans 6:2 (NKJV) Certainly not! Romans 6:2 (NASB) May it never be! Romans 6:2 (ESV) By no means! Romans 6:2 (NIV) By no means! Romans 6:2 (NET1) Absolutely not! Romans 6:2 (NLT2) Of course not! Romans 6:2 (MSG) I should hope not!

The Greek words for "God Forbid" is according t John MacArthur, literally and accurately translated May it never be,

it was the strongest idiom of repudiation in New Testament Greek. It is used some fourteen times in Paul's letters alone.

The apostle has already used it three times in chapter 3 of Romans (vv. 4, 6, 31) and will use it another six times before he concludes (see 6:15; 7:7, 13; 9:14; 11:1, 11). It carries the sense of outrage that an idea of this kind could ever be thought of as true. The very suggestion that sin could in any conceivable way please and glorify God was abhorrent to Paul.

Along with Paul's answer he gives us another aspect of salvation that he hasn't talked about in this letter before -

He introduces it with a question - "How can we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Here Paul is showing us that Justification imputed right standing with God, it was done for us. Now he is showing us that simultaneously or right alongside justification comes "Sanctification" an IMPARTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. A change IN US! Paul is trying to make the statement and make it clearly that "If you are born again you cannot continue in deliberate willful known sin"

If you only talk about the pardon - the justification without the sanctification (regeneration) you end up with a sinning religion.

We are unfortunately surrounded by those today. I have to leave them with God - but the idea that we have to sin in word thought and deed every day is not only a slap in the face of the work accomplished on the Cross of Calvary - it is tearing out chapters 6-8 and many other passages from the Word of God. Sinning religion is a heresy a dangerous one. Don't fall into its trap! So how does this happen? How is it that we are set free from the power of sin?

Paul introduces a new concept here in verse 2 - How are we that are dad to sin live any longer therein?

What does it mean to be dead to sin? or to be Dead with Christ?

Paul illustrates this in two ways -

His burial His Resurrection.

Now due to time constraints I will leave the "baptisim" aspect until next week - but I do want to briefly deal with these illustrations. Dead to sin (or with Christ) as illustrated by burial or death

Paul is saying - when you came to faith in Christ you as it were participated in the death and burial of Christ.

You died to sin - continuing in sin is an impossibility to a dead man. Just as Christ is said to be buried so in relation to sin are you buried. In our death with Christ the power of sin is broken.

Later Paul talks about the old man of sin - he is referring to the person you were before you were saved. It's crucified, put to death with Christ when you get saved. The illustration of His Resurrection.

We have risen with newness of life.

A power over sin, death, hell, temptation Verse 4 as Christ was raised from the dead!!!