Peter wrote that Paul's epistles contained things that were hard to understand and this is certainly true of this chapter about which much controversy exists.

I wonder to what extent the Christians in Rome understood Paul. I feel he could have been clearer and simpler. I have spent hours wading through my commentaries including Douglas Moo's massive tomb and I am still not confident I have entirely grasped Paul's meaning.

(B) The problem. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? v1.

Paul imagines someone reacting to his teaching that salvation is all of grace and righteousness is imputed to the believer by saying, "Well, then, there is no need for me to make any effort to be good. I don't have to change. I can carry on in the same old way. God's grace is sufficient to deal with whatever sins I commit."

This is like the attitude of a spendthrift son who presumes on the love of his father to pay all his debts. The son runs up one debt after another and counts on his father to deal with them all out of the generosity of his heart.

Many so called Christians have this sort of attitude. It may not be verbalised but it is an attitude of heart. The lives of these people are indistinguishable from the lives of non-Christians. Being a Christian makes little apparent difference to their conduct.

I am afraid that I am inclined to believe that Jesus' sacrificial death makes it safe for me to sin. Perhaps that is why I have such trouble with this chapter. It was certainly the prevailing attitude of the church members at Corinth many of whom made little attempt to please Jesus by the way they lived.

In this chapter Paul deals with the unfortunate attitude of some Christians that it does not matter how they live. He does not give practical advice on how to overcome temptation as he does in his first epistle to the Corinthians where, for example, he gives advice on how to deal with sexual desire by getting married and having sex regularly in marriage. See exposition on 1Cor7v1to16. Paul's intention in this section of his letter to the Romans is to dispel a mindset that works against sanctification - the believer's obligation to live in a way that pleases Jesus.

(C) How Paul addresses this wrong attitude.

He does not address it as I would! Jesus promises to give eternal life to all who believe in him as Saviour and Lord. The Christian trusts in Jesus' saving work on the cross for the forgiveness of his sins but also obeys and serves him. Jesus taught in John15v9and10 that those who love him keep his commandments, in particular, his new commandment to love one another.

Let us examine Paul's method:

(1) A Christian cedes control to Christ. We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer. v3.

'We died to sin,' is an unfortunate phrase! It suggests that we no longer sin on becoming a Christian. Such is far from the truth. There is something final about death and nor is it something we have control over. Yet Paul goes on to write as if we do have control: How can we live in it any longer.

Jesus puts it a bit more clearly than Paul! "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; .... . My Father will honour one who serves me." Jn12v25and26.

When a person becomes a Christian he dies to self in the sense that control is ceded to another - the Lord Jesus. If Jesus is in control of our lives we cannot go on behaving as we did before becoming Christians. This is incompatible with having a new master.

A large firm that takes over a smaller one will often introduce new working practices. The employees of the small firm will be expected to conform to the new practices introduced. If you carry on the same old way and do not share the ethos of the new owners you will soon cease to be part of the firm.

Jesus is the Christian's new owner - with his own blood he bought us! This does not mean that our sinful self cannot mount a comeback or even that every part of our life is wholey under Christ's control. The new owners of a firm that has been taken over will discover that there are persistent pockets of resistance to the desired change of ethos.

However, the sinful self is no longer king of a Christian's life; Jesus is king and he should assert increasing control as the years pass.

(2) Baptism symbolises what happens in a believer's life.

We must continue to bear in mind that Paul is dealing with the mistaken belief that there is no reason for a Christian to abandon his pre-conversion style of life.

The apostle considered that a believer baptised by immersion bears witness that:

(a) He is immersed in Christ. A Christian is joined to Jesus, belongs to Jesus and is part of him. This is what Jesus taught in his parable of the Vine. He said, "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit." John15v5.

(b) He dies like Christ. Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death. When a believer goes down into the water he testifies that he will die as Christ died. Jesus did not have to die. He didn't want to experience the ordeal of crucifixion. He died to self. The Saviour did not please himself but chose to please his heavenly father.

So when a Christian goes down into the water he is making a statement of intent to no longer please himself but God.

(c) He is buried with Christ. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death. v4.

Christ's burial marked the closure of his life in an earthly body. His life as a son of Adam ended. Consequently the submergence of a Christian beneath the waters marks the end of his life as a son of Adam.

(d) He is raised to new life. Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

As a person emerges from the water at baptism so a believer is raised to new life in Christ. This does not mean that baptism gives us new life in Christ. Baptism does not regenerate. Rather, coming up out of the water is a statement of the believer's new life in Christ Jesus. We receive new life by faith in God's gracious provision - the redemptive work of Jesus. Baptism is just a dramatic way of witnessing to what has happened.

The whole thrust of Paul's teaching about baptism in this passage is that the believer does not continue in the old life but starts a new one. Baptism is a witness to a changed life; a change from being a son of Adam to being a child of God.

(3) Believers are no longer slaves to sin. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. v6and7.

Jesus made his sacrifice for sin on the cross. It was there he provided the sinner the opportunity to escape from the tyranny of their old sinful selves. If we submit our lives to Jesus in faith we are forgiven, adopted into God's family and receive the Holy Spirit as our helper. We are provided with both the motivation and assistance to live for Jesus.

This does not mean self is entirely vanquished. Jesus may be our new Lord but old king Sin refuses to be permanently exiled.

It might help us to understand what is happening by considering the case of a heavy smoker. When a man is addicted to nicotine then old king Nick rules. The smoker has a darling little daughter. His heart is full of that daughter. So when she asks her daddy to stop smoking for her sake the loving father gives up his cigarettes. This does not mean king Nick goes quietly. He will fight back! It may take a long time for his influence to finally subside.

Paul is trying to change a bad attitude, a similar attitude to that of a man who presumes on the love of his wife. Some husbands think they are so loved that their wives will forgive them anything. What does this say about the love of the husband? If he genuinely loves his wife he will not continue to put her love to the test. We should not regularly put God's love to the test!

(4) If we live like Jesus we shall share in his glory. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. v5. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die agan; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. v8and9.

Jesus did what pleased his father and died to self whereupon God raised him from the dead. Jesus has conquered death. Death no longer has a hold upon him. Jesus had to die once to deal with sin but now he lives to God for evermore.

If we die to our sinful selves by enthroning Jesus in our hearts; if we own him as Saviour and Lord; if we live to please him, we shall always be alive to God in Christ Jesus. The believer will never perish.

If we carry on pleasing ourselves, making little attempt to serve Jesus, there must be serious doubt about our allegiance to him. We are hardly his obedient subjects. But if Jesus is the driving influence in our lives we will share in his victory over death and will live with him for evermore. This is the incentive Christians have to render to Jesus their reasonable service.

(D) An appeal to the will.

Verses 11 to 14 make it clear that Christians have to take responsibility for carrying out the will of God - which is to serve and obey Jesus. Paul makes three statements to this effect:

(1) Resist evil desires. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

Paul acknowledges here that when we become Christians evil desires do no automatically cease. They will occur and they must be resisted. The time has gone when we just gave into these desires. We have to demonstrate our allegiance to Jesus by obeying him and resisting the temptation to sin.

Evil desires include more than the lusts and appetites of the body. Christians also have to resist the desires of mind and will: the desire to have our own way, the desire to possess what others have, the desire to be in the right and the desire to pay others back for hurting us.

R. David Reynolds writes about his struggle with jealousy in a sermon on Rom5v12to21 on SermonCentral. His jealousy which was very evident at school and college carried through into his preaching ministry. He was livid when a friend or acquaintance got a better appointment than he did. Envy and jealousy were destroying him spiritually and adversely affecting his relationship with his family and Jesus.

Gradually with help from the Holy Spirit and by working with pastors whose success he had once detested, R.David Reynolds began to change. He grew to love and respect the men he formerly envied and resented. Perhaps they, too, gave him what he needed! Anyway David can now testify that he is no longer obsessed by success. He can be happy if Jesus wants him to succeed for him or fail for him.

(2) Natural capacities, abilities and resources should not be in the service of sin. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness. v13.

It is a tragedy when a man employs all his time and energy to feed his greed and get rich. Others can spend a life time out manoeuvring rivals by fair means or foul to achieve multiple promotions. Sadly there are men and women who live to satisfy their addictions. Our tongues can be used to put others down, to humiliate, to discourage, to gossip, to boast and to monopolise a conversation. So I could go on! This is not the way a son of God should live.

(3) Offer yourselves as instruments of righteousness. But rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

We can offer our:

• Minds to God in all sorts of ways: composing music, writing poetry or prose, preparing sermons, translating the Scriptures.

• Tongues to God by encouraging, complimenting, praying, advising and consoling.

• Ears to God - by just being prepared to listen.

• Hands to God by performing a whole range of practical tasks: Preparing a meal, arranging flowers, cleaning, gardening and caring for the elderly.

• Aptitudes to God. I was able to put my love of games and sport to good use as the sports organiser for a Christian camp.

(E) Conclusion.

For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law, but under grace. v14.

If we adopt a legalistic attitude to Christianity and make it all about keeping a series of rules and regulations we shall fail. A legalistic approach highlights the mastery of sin. Philip Yancey writes about Leon Tolstoy, the great Russian author, who tried desperately to live according to the Sermon on the Mount. There was a cold legalism in his heart. He failed and because he did not have the spirit of generosity, forgiveness and fraternity in his heart Tolstoy was a far from loveable figure.

If we are under grace this means we love Jesus and try to please him. When we slip up and fail he is there to pick us up and forgive us. Our failings and failures are never sufficient to outweigh the grace of God.

Christians need balance in their lives. We can never be holy entirely through our own efforts. If we have a legalistic, joyless attitude to the Sermon on the Mount we shall fail just like Tolstoy.

Nonetheless Christians are responsible for living in a way that pleases Jesus. It is not true that God does it all when it comes to our personal holiness. Jesus saves us from our sin but he also saves us to please and serve him. That is our responsibility. However, on those occasions when I fail Jesus, my constant plea will be, "Here in the grace of God I stand."