Only Half a Gospel? Romans 6

The gospel tells us that Jesus (God the Son) died to pay our sin debt and was raised to life to bring us His resurrection life. Thanks to the cross, sin has been disconnected from its power source in our lives, and it is a fading, withering remnant. The resurrected Jesus living in us is the reality we on which we focus. He’s growing us now into His image gradually, so that someday we will enjoy eternity in His presence. The windshield before us is filled with His glory; the rearview mirror has the shrinking picture of the sin which used to control us. So “consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God”.

Phillip Yancey recounts that once a friend told him that he was planning to divorce his wife and abandon his family because he had found someone to whom he was more attracted. He knew this was wrong, but he believed in the gospel’s promise that Jesus forgives sin. What did Phillip think? Would God forgive this ?

“What should we say? ” Paul asks in Rom.6:1, “Shall we continue in sin so that grace might increase?” That’s what Phillip’s friend – and many of us – want to know too. Sin is stubborn and maybe we make our peace with it. We “continue in sin”. After all, other folks are continuing in sins that are a lot worse.

Paul’s immediate answer to this question about continuing in sin is an emphatic “No! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The gospel doesn’t just deal with our sin; it unites us to the risen Christ, who now lives in us. He is leading us OUT of sin. We think that sin gets between us and Jesus. The gospel promises that Jesus will get between us and sin. The gospel says that (1) Jesus died to forgive us of our sin and (2) He rose to lead us out of sin. You can’t have half of the gospel; it’s all or nothing.

Phillip Yancey’s answer to his friend was, “Yes, God can forgive you. But if you deliberately plan to sin, you will be taking yourself out of His continuing care and His plan for you. You will change; you won’t want to be forgiven. Sure enough, that’s what happened.

We can’t have just the first half of the gospel. God doesn’t forgive sin without entering our hearts and bringing us life change.