Commentary on Romans 6:1b-11

As a preacher, considering the other options you could choose from in the lectionary, this passage from Romans may not initially appeal to you. The 11 verses focus on sin and on how our baptism in Christ means that we have died with Christ, so we are dead to sin. The language can feel a bit repetitive at times, and understanding Paul’s rhetorical background, we know he is probably trying to address his interlocutors.¹ Listening in on someone else’s conversation is not always the most inspiring for us personally.

But how many times in your ministry do you preach about sin generally? I am guessing not very often. What if you took the next four weeks to do a sermon series on theological understandings of sin, based on the lectionary passages from Romans?

In this commentary and the following three, we will look at sin in relationship to other ideas. This commentary on Romans 6:1b–11 will look at sin’s relationship to baptism; the commentary covering the rest of chapter 6 will examine sin in relationship to slavery and death; the commentary on Romans 7:15–25a will cover sin and self-deception; and a commentary on Romans 8:1–11 will address sin and the flesh.

Preaching on sin may not be a popular series for your congregation, but done well, it can educate your congregants on this theological theme that is central to the Christian faith, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the hope and grace given to us in Christ.

Paul has been writing to the church in Rome, consisting of both Jews and gentiles, in order to clarify some of the conflicts and disputes within the young congregation. The first few chapters lay out his theological argument that God’s plan to save humanity began first with the Jews, followed by a gracious expansion to include gentiles as well. Because gentiles in the early church worried that they needed to become Jewish to fully realize this salvation, Paul explains that the law was meant for the Jews, and through it God has worked salvation, whereas gentiles have been offered another way: not through circumcision or following the laws of Torah, but through faith in Christ.²

The passage for this Sunday is a continuation of this argument on the implications of the gospel for the gentiles. While Paul says the gentiles do not need to observe the law, neither does Paul want to encourage gentiles to wantonly avoid obeying the law. Even though there is grace, we should not continue to sin now that we know we can live new lives, sanctified through Christ, living righteously.

The mark of this new life begins with baptism.

Why does Paul connect baptism with sin, or to be more specific, how does baptism represent our death to sin?

Two moments help us see more clearly the connection between baptism and the forgiveness of sins: Jesus’s baptism and Pentecost. Jews had already associated water purification rituals with cleansing from impurities, such as menstruation or touching a corpse. The prophet Elisha advises Naaman to wash in the River Jordan in order to be healed and purified from his leprosy (2 Kings 5:10).

With John the Baptist, we hear that baptism is associated with the confession of sins and the coming of the Holy Spirit (see Mark 1:4–5, 8).³ John came “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).

Later, in Acts at Pentecost, when the crowd is convicted by Peter’s sermon and asks him what to do, he advises them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven” (Acts 2:38).

Going into the water began as a real way to wash one’s body and to observe the law in terms of purity rites. With John the Baptist and the early followers of Jesus, immersion into water as baptism or the sprinkling of water evoked more specifically the forgiveness of sins beyond ritual purity. While there have been debates throughout Christian history about baptism by sprinkling versus full immersion, or baptizing infants versus believers, at heart is the image of water that a person feels physically, which represents their forgiveness from sin and their new identity in Christ.

When we baptize infants, it is hard to imagine them having any “sin” to speak of, let alone sins needing to be forgiven and cleansed through baptism. Why, then, do we baptize infants?

Long ago, people feared their babies would die before receiving their baptisms, and they believed that without baptism, their children would die apart from God.

That is no longer the reason we baptize infants! Today, we proclaim the providence of God as holding these precious, vulnerable babies long before they can choose God for themselves. This may be a good time to remember your own denomination’s views on infant baptism and to share them with your congregation.

But if baptism is ultimately about death to sin, how might we communicate that more at the time of baptism?

And what do we mean by sin affecting such young persons, who may not have the capacity to choose God, but who also seem not to have the capacity to “sin” as we might imagine sinning?

This is where we get to dive deeper into our theologies of sin—what we mean by “sin” and how we talk about it.

You may want to consult your congregation about their own understandings of sin: What do they think of when they hear the word? What images are conjured for them? The next three commentaries on the Romans texts from the lectionary will unpack some possible suggestions.

Notes

1. Romans 6:1–23 footnote, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, 2017), 297.
2. Jimmy Hoke, “The Letter of Paul to the Romans: Reading Guide,” The Westminster Study Bible, NRSVue (Westminster John Knox, 2024).
3. Mark 1:4 commentary footnote, The Jewish Annotated New Testament, 69, 71.