Romans #31

In chapters 3-5 Paul has explained the amazing truth that God justifies ungodly people by grace alone. Sinners can be justified by God by grace alone through faith alone—not by doing anything but by trusting Jesus Christ as Lord; receiving Him by turning away from sin & entrusting themselves to Him in faith.

This truth, this reality, that God saves sinners solely on the basis of His grace is so radical, so unlike any other religious teaching, that many people see it as scandalous.

"You mean to tell me that a person doesn't have to do anything in order for God to save Him, to accept Him into His kingdom? Won't that kind of teaching encourage people not to care about living obedient lives."

Paul understands that concern—that objection to justification by grace alone through faith alone—and he addresses it directly in Romans 6. In v. 1 he states the concern in stark terms and then in v. 2 gives a stark, summary answer with a rhetorical question. Starting in v. 3, Paul elaborates the reason that God's way of saving sinners by grace does not—indeed cannot—lead to a life of sin and disobedience. It is because of the spiritual reality—the fact—that when God saves someone, He unites that person to Christ.