October 24, 2019
READING TIME: 2 MINUTES
What does Paul mean in Romans 6:14 when he wrote that sin will not have dominion, especially since in the lives of most believers, sin does quite often have dominion?
When Paul tells his readers that “sin will not have dominion over you” (Romans 6:14), many Reformed theologians conclude that this means that sanctification inevitably follows from justification. But is it not obvious that this victory is conditioned on what he has just said? Sin will not have dominion in the future if we do what Paul says we should do— reckon and yield right now. This is a promise of success if we apply the God-appointed means, and not a statement of reality irrespective of those means.
The text does not say that sin does not have dominion. It says sin will not have dominion if we reckon and yield. If a believer does not reckon and yield, then sin can have dominion in his life. The fact that believers have died to sin does not automatically mean they will reckon and yield. It means that, if they do reckon and yield, they will be successful.
Paul continues, “For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (6:19). It is true that they “became obedient from the heart” (6:17), but now they must continually make choices regarding which master they will serve, whether sin or Christ. The victory is that they no longer have to obey sin, and if they choose not to, they will be successful. But if they do not so choose, they will not be successful, and sin will have dominion over them.
Paul is refuting a logical argument against grace. It logically follows, the objector says, that we should continue to sin to make more grace abound. Paul says this is illogical, but not impossible. He asks, “Do you not know?” He appeals to an intellectually apprehensible fact of the divine reckoning. It is illogical because grace not only includes (1) the forgiveness of sin but also (2) the removal of sin’s legal dominion and (3) the impartation of life.
Any gospel that breaks a person from sin’s power and gives him new life, the divine enablement to resist sin and motivation not to sin is not subject to the charge that it logically results in a license to sin, even if an individual Christian resists the positive influences of grace.
Source Used
Dillow, Joseph. Final Destiny: The Future Reign of The Servant Kings: Fourth Revised Edition. Grace Theology Press, chapter 26.