When God saved you, he united you to Christ. And you are so closely identified with Christ that his story has become your story. He died, and you died with him. He rose, and you rose with him. In Christ, we have died to sin. Our former life in bondage to sin is over, and our new life in service to God has begun. And now our responsibility and our privilege is to go and walk accordingly.

Can We Continue in Sin So That Grace May Abound?

In 1943, someone asked Martyn Lloyd-Jones when he was finally going to preach a series of expository sermons on the book of Romans. Without hesitating, he replied, “Whenever I have really understood chapter 6.”

So if you have ever struggled to understand this chapter, just know you’re not alone. Lloyd-Jones wrestled with these verses too, but he found the wrestling to be very rewarding. Years later, when he had finally arrived at what he described as a satisfactory understanding of these verses, he talked about how this new understanding of Romans 6 proved to be one of the most liberating experiences of his entire Christian life. And in just a few moments right now in which we can barely scratch the surface, let me try to show you why Lloyd-Jones would say that.

Romans 6 begins with a question. In verse 1, Paul asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?” Paul has just spent five chapters proclaiming the power of God’s grace over human sinfulness. Though sin would have ensnared us and condemned us forever, God has delivered us from sin’s penalty and sin’s power. In fact, Romans 5:20 says, “Wherever sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

So, salvation is all of grace, and therefore God gets all the glory. But that could lead someone to think, Well, if my sin serves to magnify the grace of God and therefore glorify God, can’t I keep on sinning so that grace can keep on abounding? And Paul’s answer is emphatic. In verse 2, he says, “By no means!” Absolutely not.

Now, the question is, Why not? And here in this chapter we see the answer is that we cannot continue in sin because we are united with Christ. Our union with Christ has so transformed our identity, our ability, and our destiny that willfully continuing in sin is illogical, inappropriate, and ultimately impossible.

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