Romans 6:1–14 develops the argument of death to sin. Then verse 14 says, ‘You are not under the law’. Is this not a surprising sequel to verses 1–13?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ’ (1994).

Yes. The passage, Romans 6:1–14 is, of course, very famous, and famous for the many different opinions that have been held of it. In particular the exhortation that we are to reckon ourselves indeed to be dead unto sin but alive unto God. And many have felt that it means that, when sin knocks at the door, so to speak, we should say, 'I'm dead to that, I'm dead to that, I'm dead to that', and ignore the knocking of sin upon the door, and if we do that long enough, sin will give up and go away. Now, that may be in a practical sense a very good piece of advice: that when sin tempts us, don't parley with it, just ignore it, and say, 'I'm dead to that', and get on with something else, and positively present yourself to Christ. That is not perhaps what it means. First of all, there is the model given to us in the context. Look at verses 9–11: 'Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon you also yourselves dead unto sin'. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin in the same sense as Christ died to sin.

So we first have to decide in what sense did Christ die to sin? Was it that he was assailed by sin, like we are every day of the week, and had to keep on saying, 'No, no, no', until mercifully, he died on the cross and wasn't assailed by sin any more? Is that what it means? Surely not. He died to sin—does that mean he was once upon a time alive to it and mercifully the cross came and cut his life short so he died to it? Surely not. In Christ's case, what it means is that legally he died, bearing the penalty of sin, and having died in that sense he doesn't need to die again. Death has no more dominion over him. That's very important because when he died to sin in that legal sense, he was dying for our sins. Now that he's in glory, it doesn't happen that one afternoon he sees us sinning and says, 'Oh, dear me, I didn't die for that sin, I'd better go and die again.' He died to sin once. That once was enough to cover the whole lot. He never needs to die again. The whole thing is legal in its conception. You see Romans 6:7: 'He that has died is justified from sin'; if you have committed murder in a country that executes murderers, capital punishment, and you were convicted of one murder and been executed, and after they have executed you they find you've done several other murders as well, they don't normally raise you from the dead and execute you again. It's enough that you died once, and you pass out from under the jurisdiction of the law.

So we, if we died with Christ, have died like he died. He died once, and that's the finish of it. You should never have to die again. For, because we died when he died, his death is counted ours. We have passed out of the jurisdiction of the law. And to be sure, if you could go up to the great accounting rooms in heaven, where the record books are kept, I wonder whose name you'd look up first. You'd say, 'I'd be interested to know about that preacher who came around, he made out he was such a tough guy spiritually. I wonder what the record says about him.' Well, if you should open the book to the place where it is kept, you'll find an enormous screed of page after page in brilliant red of the things that I've done. You would then see it all stroked through, with the comment, 'Case closed. The accused has been executed.' You say, 'That's odd. I saw him walking about here the other afternoon.' So you may have done, but as far as God's law is concerned, when Christ died, I died, and God's law is satisfied: the penalty has been paid, and that's the end of it. It is in that legal sense that chapter 6 starts off.

Now, many folks are a little bit unwilling to accept that, and I'll tell you why. It's for the very best of motives. They want to be holy, and what they want is not all this talk about legal things. They want some practical rules that help them on the aforesaid Monday morning, when sin comes around assailing them. 'If only it meant that this is good tactics when sin assails me on Monday. I say, "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead", and reckon myself dead, then presently I shall die, or sin will go away or something. Now that is saying something helpful, whereas this legal stuff doesn't help.' But wait a moment, we mustn't be so impatient. There's plenty in these chapters about the practical side, and when you come to Romans 8, it will be more than just saying, 'I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead'. It will be the tremendous divine power of the Holy Spirit working within you. But this legal matter is important. Well, at least it is for people like me. I suspect for you as well. You were forgiven, you're justified, and you say, 'That's lovely, now I'm going to be holy.'

By all means, do go about it with all your heart and soul. How long do you propose to take about it? Are you proposing to be holy all at once?' You say, 'What's that got to do with it?' Well, it's a very important practical point. If you're going to be one hundred per cent holy tomorrow, that's okay, you needn't worry. But if you're going to take some time about it, in the process of your endeavouring to perfect holiness in the fear of God, you are going, in all realism, to make mistakes, come short, sin, blot your copybook, and all those other things. I must ask you, does it matter when, as a believer, you come short, and don't achieve total holiness all at once? Are you going to say your sins as a believer don't matter? Well, of course, they matter. Now we're back where we started, aren't we? What about the guilt of sin and the fact that it matters? If you were under law, that would be you finished. You'd only have to do one sin and that would spoil the lot. You would be finished. The law would clamour for your execution. It is because God is so practically minded and realistic in the course of holiness he sets before you, in which you are unfortunately going to make many mistakes and fall, and come short very often, that God has first to provide a solid, legal background so that he can continue with you in spite of the mistakes.

And the answer is, he's foreseen all the sins right to the last day, and Christ's one death has paid the whole expense. That shouldn't encourage us to abuse his grace and go on sinning. At the same time, it means that when, in the course of holiness I fail and come short, it's not the end and sin doesn't thus keep me down. I'm legally free to get up and, to put it crudely, have another go. That's why the legal side of it in Romans, the first half, is so tremendously important. It's God facing our struggles to be holy in a realistic fashion, and putting the whole business on a proper legal basis.