By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
English Standard Version (ESV)
Paul's emphatic "By no means!" highlights that "dying to sin" isn't just a passive status, but an active, completed event in our union with Christ. It’s not about trying to stop sinning, but about the fundamental reality that our old self, bound to sin, has already been executed alongside Christ.
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
English Standard Version (ESV)
Paul is responding to the dangerous idea that if God's grace is so abundant, it's okay to keep sinning to receive more of it. He vehemently rejects this notion, asserting that believers have fundamentally died to sin through their union with Christ's death and resurrection. Therefore, continuing to live in sin is utterly incompatible with this new identity.
Paul doesn't just suggest a new way of living; he asks a question that should make us stop in our tracks. What makes this question so radical?
The Power of 'God Forbid!'
Paul’s immediate response, "By no means!" (or "God forbid!") is more than just a polite disagreement. It’s a strong, almost indignant, rejection of the very idea that a Christian could continue living in sin.
A Scandalous Suggestion
The question in verse 1, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" was a dangerous and deeply flawed idea. It suggested that God's grace is like a commodity that gets better the more we sin. Paul finds this notion not just wrong, but offensive to God.
The Incompatibility of Sin and Grace
He immediately counters this by highlighting the fundamental incompatibility between dying to sin and living in it. He presents it as an absolute absurdity, like asking a corpse to get up and dance.
When Paul says Christians 'died to sin,' what does that actually mean? Is it just a feeling, or something more profound?
A Completed Act, Not a Process
Paul uses the past tense: "we died to sin." This points to a decisive, completed event, not a gradual fading away. It happened when Christ died and rose again, and we, united with Him, are reckoned as having died with Him.
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The Legal Cancellation of Sin's Claim
This death has a legal dimension. Sin's ultimate claim on us was its penalty. Through Christ's death, that penalty was paid, and sin's legal right to condemn us was cancelled. We are no longer under its binding contract.
The Moral Transformation
While the primary impact is legal, it inevitably leads to a moral shift. Because sin's claim is broken, its power to dominate our lives is also broken. We are freed from its mastery, even though the struggle against its influence continues (as seen in Romans 7). We are no longer its willing servants.
Paul calls continuing in sin 'absurd.' Why is it so illogical for a Christian to still be enslaved by sin?
A Contradiction of Identity
To 'live in sin' means to be fully engaged with it, to make it the way of your life, to be controlled by it. Paul argues this is utterly contradictory to having 'died to sin.' If you've truly died to sin's dominion, you can't logically go back to living under its rule.
Freedom, Not a License
Our union with Christ means we are freed from sin's mastery. This freedom is not a license to sin more, but the very basis for living a new life. Paul contrasts 'dying to sin' with 'living in it'—the former signifies freedom, the latter signifies continued bondage.
The Christian Walk
The Christian life is meant to be a demonstration of this death to sin and new life in Christ. To continue living as if nothing fundamental has changed is to deny the reality of Christ's work in us. It's an impossibility for someone truly united with Christ.
Understand the original words
apothnēskō · Greek Verb
The Greek verb signifies the cessation of biological life, but in this context, it metaphorically denotes a definitive, existential break from a previous authority or way of life. For the believer, it signifies the end of their identification with the fallen, sinful state.
Paul's rhetorical question in Romans 6:2 hinges on the core Christian belief that baptism signifies a definitive, past union with Christ's death and resurrection, effectively freeing believers from sin's dominion.
c. 30-33 AD— this verse
Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus
Jesus is crucified and then resurrected, marking the pivotal event for Christian theology and the basis for believers' identification with Christ's death and resurrection.
c. 30-33 AD
The First Christian Baptisms
Following Pentecost, early believers are baptized into Christ, symbolizing their death to sin and new life in him, a practice Paul references as a key indicator of their new identity.
c. 48-49 AD
Council of Jerusalem
The Jerusalem council addresses whether Gentile converts must follow Jewish law, affirming that salvation comes through grace by faith, not by works of the Law.
c. 55-57 AD
Paul writes Romans from Corinth
Paul, likely in Corinth, pens his letter to the Roman church, explaining core Christian doctrines including justification by faith and the implications of living a life transformed by Christ.
This passage directly echoes the concept of being 'dead' to the old life and now alive with Christ, underscoring the radical shift in identity implied in Romans 6:2.
Galatians 2:19Paul uses a similar 'death' metaphor, stating 'I have died to the law,' highlighting how believers have been liberated from former authorities (sin or law) through their union with Christ.
1 Peter 2:24This verse shows Christ bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, 'so that, being dead to sins, we might live for righteousness,' directly linking Christ's sacrificial death to our new life free from sin's dominion.
Romans 6:11This verse immediately follows, stating, 'So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus,' reinforcing the imperative to live out the reality of being 'dead to sin' as described in verse 2.
cambridgeRomans 6:2: "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
2 . we, that are dead , &c.] More lit. and fully, we, as those who died to sin . The reference is again to a single past act; the death of the Second Adam, at which His brethren too, regarded as “in Him,” “died to sin.” See last note on ch. Romans 5:12 . dead to sin ] See below, Romans 6:10 : “He died to sin, once and for ever.” It appears then that our “death to sin” (in Christ) must be explained by what His…
pulpitRomans 6:2: "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
Verse 2. - God forbid! (Μὴ γένοιτο: St. Paul's usual way of rejecting an idea indignantly). We who (οἵτινες, with its proper meaning of being such as) died (not, as in the Authorized Version, "are dead." The reference is to the time of baptism, as appears from what follows) to sin, how shall we live any longer therein! The idea of dying to sin in the sense of having done with it, is found also in Macrob., 'So…
Paul's emphatic "By no means!" highlights that "dying to sin" isn't just a passive status, but an active, completed event in our union with Christ. It’s not about trying to stop sinning, but about the fundamental reality that our old self, bound to sin, has already been executed alongside Christ.
Paul is responding to the dangerous idea that if God's grace is so abundant, it's okay to keep sinning to receive more of it. He vehemently rejects this notion, asserting that believers have fundamentally died to sin through their union with Christ's death and resurrection. Therefore, continuing to live in sin is utterly incompatible with this new identity.
Paul is responding to the dangerous idea that if God's grace is so abundant, it's okay to keep sinning to receive more of it. He vehemently rejects this notion, asserting that believers have fundamentally died to sin through their union with Christ's death and resurrection. Therefore, continuing to live in sin is utterly incompatible with this new identity.
"By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" — Paul's emphatic "By no means!" highlights that "dying to sin" isn't just a passive status, but an active, completed event in our union with Christ. It’s not about trying to stop sinning, but about…
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Last reviewed October 2026