NOTES for Rom 6:15-16

Apparently, in the Church in general, and in the Roman church in particular, there were people then who were sure that sin posed no threat to a Christian: after all, it only emphasizes and sets off the action of God's grace in a person's life, so there is nothing to fear in sin.

At the same time, they thought that since a Christian by definition already belongs to the Kingdom, no sin can harm him or separate him from the Kingdom: God is stronger than the evil in which the world lies, and Christ has finally defeated the evil of this world and the devil himself, so that evil now does not truly exist at all. And if that is so, then a Christian has no reason to fear this illusion or to think of sin as something real and effective.

Paul understands perfectly well that until the world and the human person are fully transformed, sin will have power over a person to the extent that the person himself is still the same as before. The struggle is not yet over: Christ has defeated the evil of the world, but each person will still have to defeat that same evil in himself, even though with His help. And until this is done, there can be no talk of a person being invulnerable to sin.

That means the path of righteousness remains the path of righteousness even in the Kingdom; it remains the path of opposition to sin, which seeks to rob the Christian of the life of the Kingdom in which he has come to share. This threat is not illusory; it is completely real. And it is real every second, every instant of human existence. The whole life of a Christian becomes a choice between sin and the Kingdom. And this is an ongoing choice, not simply one made once and for all. It is a choice that will have to be confirmed. Or not confirmed - but then one will have to forget both the Kingdom and salvation.