The Great Exchange

Sierra Sanchez

Central Truth

We did not sign a contract for our salvation; we exchanged lives with a Redeemer. Grace does not give you permission to be disobedient. Grace should motivate you to be obedient!

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self^{1

6:6
Greek man} was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Footnotes

[1] 6:6 Greek man

Have you exchanged an item at a store before? I assume you walked out with a new item. That is what Jesus did on the cross. He took our sin, and, in exchange, He gave us grace. Paul explains how this should impact our life.

"Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more . . . ." (Romans 5:20) Paul knew that we like to find loopholes. He knew there would be people who would twist his words, so he asked, “What shall we say then?” (Romans 6:1a) Paul presents a question directed to what he said about God's grace two verses before. How should we respond to this grace?

“Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1b) Should we keep sinning because it is already forgiven? “By no means!” (Romans 6:2a) Paul is direct, and I like it. If we have to ask that question, it reveals our motives. We don’t really want God, we just want salvation. I will challenge you, though, to ask yourself whether that salvation is yours to take for granted when one effect of salvation is a transformed life?

I heard it said this way before: We did not sign a contract for our salvation; we exchanged lives with a Redeemer. Let’s think about that. Jesus suffered in our place and took on our punishment. Grace comes to us not as a concept, but as a person named Jesus. That sacrifice should never be taken advantage of, and we certainly can never be comfortable with sin.

"How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2) It is a rhetorical question that makes a statement. We can't live in sin if we died to it. That is his answer to his original question. Notice that Paul does not say you have to be perfect and never sin, but rather that you can’t "live in it." We can’t go on with an unchanged pattern of sin in our lives. Ultimately, it matters how you live.

Grace doesn’t give you permission to be disobedient. Grace should motivate you to be obedient!

This month's memory verse

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

– Romans 5:3–5

1. Do you view your salvation simply as a contract that will guarantee you a pleasant eternity?

2. Are you currently justifying any sin because God is full of grace? If so, why?

3. We have risen spiritually to walk in newness of life, and one day "we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like His." (Romans 6:5b) The old has passed away. The new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Our job is to walk in newness of life. We must believe we are dead to sin and alive to God. Are you living the resurrected life?