“Certainly Not!” Why Grace Breaks Sin’s Authority (Romans 6:2)
📖 Passage Breakdown — Romans 6:2
“Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
🔗Companion Passage: Romans 6:1 raises the objection to grace. Romans 6:2 answers it.
Together, these verses explain why faith-alone justification does not encourage sin but establishes a new identity in Christ.
📜 Background, Setting & Purpose
✍️ Author
Paul the Apostle, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
👥 Written To
Believers in Rome — justified saints, both Jew and Gentile, who are now learning how grace reshapes life after salvation.
⏲️ When
~A.D. 57, near the end of Paul’s third missionary journey.
🌍 Setting & Purpose of Romans (book-level)
Romans unfolds in clear stages:
- Chapters 1–3 — universal guilt
- Chapters 3–5 — justification by faith alone
- Chapters 6–8 — sanctification grounded in identity, not law
- Chapters 9–11 — Israel and God’s plan
- Chapters 12–16 — practical Christian living
Romans 6 does not revise justification.
It explains the new reality created by justification.
📖 Immediate Context (Romans 6:1)
Paul has just raised the objection:
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Romans 6:2 is Paul’s strongest possible denial of that conclusion.
✨ Phrase-by-Phrase Breakdown
“Certainly not!”
This is one of the strongest negatives in Greek (mē genoito).
It means:
- God forbid
- Never
- May it never be
- Absolutely not
Paul does not soften grace to avoid abuse.
He rejects the conclusion outright.
“How shall we…”
This question shifts the focus from permission to possibility.
Paul is not saying believers shouldn’t sin.
He is asking how it is even consistent with who they now are.
“…who died to sin…”
This is the doctrinal heart of the verse.
“Died to sin” does not mean:
- Sinless perfection
- Inability to sin
- No longer committing acts of sin
It means:
- A decisive break in relationship
- Sin no longer reigns as master
- The believer’s identity has changed
This death occurred positionally, not experientially.
Cross-reference:
Romans 6:6 — “our old man was crucified with Him.”
“…live any longer in it?”
“Live” refers to ongoing lifestyle, not isolated failure.
Paul contrasts:
- Occasional failure (which still happens)
- With a settled pattern of life dominated by sin
Grace does not produce bondage—it produces freedom.
❌ What This Verse Does Not Mean
- Not that believers are sinless
- Not that salvation is maintained by behavior
- Not that sinless living proves salvation
- Not that grace is replaced by law
Paul is not threatening the loss of salvation.
He is explaining new identity.
✅ What This Verse Does Mean
- Justification changes the believer’s relationship to sin
- Grace does not excuse sin—it breaks its authority
- Sanctification flows from who we are, not what we fear
- Believers are no longer slaves to sin
- Grace teaches a new way of living
The power over sin comes from union with Christ, not rules.
🔗 Cross-References for Going Deeper
Romans 6:6–7 — The old man crucified
Romans 6:14 — Not under law, but under grace
Galatians 2:20 — Crucified with Christ
Colossians 2:20 — Died with Christ
Titus 2:11–12 — Grace teaches godly living
📘 Doctrinal Summary
Romans 6:2 refutes the idea that grace encourages sin by grounding sanctification in the believer’s new identity. Those who have been justified by faith alone have died to sin’s authority through their union with Christ. While believers may still struggle with sin, they are no longer defined or dominated by it. Paul’s argument does not appeal to fear, law, or threats of condemnation, but to reality: grace has changed who the believer is. Sanctification, therefore, flows from identity—not obligation—and grace remains intact, undiluted, and powerful.
