In Roman’s 6:1-2 Paul explains that grace isn’t the problem. Folks, “You can’t fight sin and the flesh by just saying NO, NO, NO!” In Rom. 2:4 Paul said “that the goodness of God leads you to repentance”. It’s knowing the “goodness” of God that enables you to say NO! Too many Christian live between “Good Friday” and “Resurrection Sunday” believing in the cross but never entering into the power of the resurrection, living in the wilderness somewhere between Egypt and the promised land
The word “continue in sin” speaks not of an infrequent action but a lifestyle of practicing sin like they did prior to knowing Jesus. Apparently there were those who believed that such a lifestyle of sin was not just for personal satisfaction it was for the glory of God. Paul’s immediate answer to this was an emphatic NO WAY! You can only say No because of who you KNOW!
In four words he explains why, “We died to sin!” The rest of this chapter is an explanation of those four words. “We died to sin”; doesn’t mean that “sin is dead in me!” As a Christian I have not reached a place (nor will I in this body) where I cannot sin. The word “died” is in the past tense, something that has already been done which means that Paul is not talking about a gradual change whereby we continue to die until we reach a place where we outgrow sin. Our once dead spirit has come alive by faith in Christ, but our souls and bodies have functioned for years under the control of sin. That means our habits; thoughts and actions have all been established under the wrong influence. But now in Christ our spirit is free from sin alive while our souls (the seat of our feeling thoughts and actions), along with its influence over our bodies have been wired incorrectly. Prior to this we had no choice and we did what sinners do, sin!