📖 Passage Breakdown — Romans 6:1

 

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

 

🔗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 — a mixed body of Jews and Gentiles who have been justified by faith alone.

 

⏲️ When

 

~A.D. 57, near the end of Paul’s third missionary journey.

 

🌍 Setting & Purpose of Romans (book-level)

 

Romans is Paul’s most systematic explanation of the gospel of grace.

 

• Chapters 1–3 — universal guilt
• Chapters 3–5 — justification by faith alone
• Chapters 6–8 — sanctification and the believer’s new identity
• Chapters 9–11 — Israel and God’s plan
• Chapters 12–16 — practical Christian living

 

Romans 6 begins a new section, not a new gospel.

 

📖 Immediate Context (Romans 5:20–21)

 

Just before Romans 6:1, Paul makes a staggering statement:

 

“Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”

 

This declaration raises an obvious question—one Paul knows his readers (and critics) will ask.

 

Romans 6:1 is not a command.
It is a rhetorical objection.

 

✨ Phrase-by-Phrase Breakdown

 

“What shall we say then?”

 

This is Paul’s standard transition phrase.

 

It signals:

 

• A logical conclusion
• An anticipated objection
• A pause to address misunderstanding

 

Paul is not changing subjects; he is pressing the argument forward.

 

“Shall we continue in sin…”

 

“Continue” implies persistence or remaining.

 

Paul is not talking about occasional failure, but about settled lifestyle.

 

This question assumes:

 

• Grace is real
• Justification is complete
• Sin no longer condemns

 

The objection comes from someone who understands grace correctly, but draws the wrong conclusion.

 

“…that grace may abound?”

 

This is the charge often leveled against grace teaching:

“If grace increases where sin increases, then sin must be good.”

Paul does not soften grace to avoid this accusation.

Instead, he refutes the conclusion, not the doctrine.

 

❌ What This Verse Does Not Mean

 

• Not that Paul is encouraging sin
• Not that grace promotes lawlessness
• Not that justification depends on behavior
• Not that believers are incapable of sin

 

This verse is not teaching license to sin—it is exposing misunderstanding.

 

✅ What This Verse Does Mean

 

• Grace is so radical it invites objection
• Faith-alone justification raises moral questions
• Paul expects grace to be misunderstood
• Sanctification must be explained without corrupting justification

 

Romans 6 does not modify Romans 3–5.
It explains how grace affects the believer’s life after salvation.

 

🔗 Cross-References for Going Deeper

 

Romans 3:28 — Justified by faith apart from works
Romans 5:20–21 — Grace reigning through righteousness
Galatians 2:17 — Does grace make Christ a minister of sin?
Jude 4 — Turning grace into license
Titus 2:11–12 — Grace teaches godly living

 

📘 Doctrinal Summary

 

Romans 6:1 introduces the question that always follows a clear presentation of grace: Does faith-alone justification encourage sin? Paul raises this objection not to weaken grace, but to defend it. The question itself proves that grace has been properly understood—because works-based systems never provoke it. Romans 6 will go on to show that while grace frees the believer from condemnation, it also changes the believer’s relationship to sin through union with Christ. Justification remains by faith alone; sanctification flows from a new identity, not fear of judgment.