What is the meaning of Romans 6:1? What then shall we say? Paul pauses after unfolding the lavish scope of God’s grace (Romans 5:20-21) and asks a rhetorical question. He is inviting readers to draw a responsible conclusion, not permitting speculation. • The phrase mirrors his earlier “What shall we say then?” in Romans 3:5-9, where he immediately rejects misuse of God’s truth. • By framing it this way, Paul signals that the gospel’s freedom demands a careful, obedient response, echoing his call in Romans 12:1 to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. • It underscores accountability: every believer must reflect on grace and decide whether to serve righteousness (Romans 6:17). Shall we continue in sin Here the apostle targets a wrong inference—that ongoing, willful sin could be acceptable once we are under grace. • “Continue” points to habitual practice, not isolated failures (compare 1 John 3:6-9). • Paul has already declared that believers died to sin in Christ (Romans 6:2), so living in it would contradict their new identity, just as light and darkness cannot coexist (Ephesians 5:8). • The question exposes a heart issue: treating sin casually reveals a misunderstanding of salvation’s power (Titus 2:11-12). so that grace may increase? Some might twist the truth that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20) into a license for immorality. Paul challenges that distortion. • Grace abounds to conquer sin, not to excuse it—similar to Jude 4’s warning against turning grace into “license for immorality.” • God’s goal is transformation: by grace we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10), not to magnify rebellion. • Living righteously puts God’s grace on display (Matthew 5:16), proving its sanctifying power, whereas deliberate sin slanders grace (Hebrews 10:29). summary Romans 6:1 confronts any notion that divine grace permits ongoing, intentional sin. Paul’s layered question insists that the gospel leading up to this verse must never be twisted into moral laxity. Because believers have died with Christ and live in Him, continuing in sin would violate their new nature and dishonor the very grace that saved them. |
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