Romans 6 (CJB)

6 So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”? ² Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it?

Sha’ul (Paul) identifies the human predicament of sin. He refers to sin sixty-four times in the New Covenant (testament), and three-fourths of them are found in the book of Romans! 6:1–2 How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it?

Faith in the Messiah pertains to every sphere of life (James 2:12–26). Despite this truth and the fact that the love of God is linked to obedience (1 John 5:3), many believers in recent years have been influenced by the false teaching of antinomianism (anti-Torah). Some hold that believers are no longer obligated to follow even the moral laws of the Torah in light of Yeshua’s work of grace.

In Romans 6:1–2; John 14:15, and 1 John 5:3, Sha’ul (Paul) answers his critics—Jews who felt that his message of grace abolished the need to observe the Torah. This misconception assumes that he advocated an antinomian worldview. Meaning the Torah was now a relic of the past or had been abolished. Sha’ul retorts with the Hebraic idiom, “Heaven Forbid,” or Chalilah (“A curse be upon it!”). Sha’ul reminds his followers that true believers have died to sin by being united with the Messiah (Rom. 6:3–6). Although the penalty was paid on Messiah’s execution stake (v. 6), this is not a license to violate the Torah, meaning transgress it (sin). From such a strong defense, it is impossible to conclude that Torah observance has been revoked. What Sha’ul is speaking against is a legalistic observance of Torah commands, something G-d never intended for Isra’el in the first place.

For more on “Torah,” see  James 2:21–23.