Do you have a bank account? Do you have a debit card linked to that account? With our debit cards we buy groceries, gas, food… ps3’s. You know. The essentials. I believe as Christians we sometimes have the tendency to use a card. But it’s not a debit card. It’s not a MasterCard. And it’s not a Visa Card. It’s a little thing we sometimes carry around in our back pocket. I like to call it the Grace Card.
We have a warped mindset by thinking that we can do whatever we want because our sins are forgiven. When we cheat on a test. Swipe the grace card and all is forgiven. Lie to our parents. Swipe the grace card. Have lustful thoughts. Swipe the grace card. Paul addresses this issue in Romans 6:1 by saying “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” (NASB)
The issue is not “Are we forgiven when we sin?” because we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). Praise God there IS grace when we stumble and fall! And believe me we WILL stumble. The truth is that grace WILL increase as Paul makes mention of in Rom 6:1. However, the issue really comes down to a simple truth. No one can be both dead and alive at the same time. Of course, we can be and are called to be dead to sin but alive in Christ, but we are fools if we think we can be dead to sin and still be alive and living IN sin.
In verse 1 Paul is asking if we should just continue in sin knowing that we’ll be forgiven. He adamantly responds in verse 2 with “NO WAY!” because he understands and is trying to convey to us the concept of being dead to sin and alive in Christ.
People who have passed from this life no longer do the things people who are alive do. Likewise, we who are alive in Christ should no longer do the things that those who are still dead in their sins do. We are dead to sin. How can we possibly live in it?
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