The Open Door

Read: Romans 6:1–14

Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, 

but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:11 

If God’s grace is unlimited, does it matter how we live? Paul anticipates the question: “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” His answer is emphatic: “Far from it!” (Romans 6:1–2). Eugene Peterson points out that Romans 6 moves from what God has done for us to the new life we now live because of it. We are not saved because we become good enough; we are saved by grace. Yet grace does not leave us where it found us. Paul says we were “buried with Him” so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, “we too may walk in newness of life” (v. 4). Grace not only forgives the life behind us; it opens the door to a new life ahead.

N. T. Wright reminds us that Christ’s resurrection is not merely a past event we believe or a future hope we await. Resurrection life begins now. Paul therefore tells us to consider ourselves “dead to sin, but alive to God” (v. 11). Imagine a prisoner whose sentence has been settled and whose prison door has been opened. After years behind bars, he may still think and behave as though the cell is where he belongs. Old habits may even draw him back toward it. In the same way, temptation and familiar patterns can call us back to what once held us captive. But Paul says our “old self was crucified with Him” so that we would “no longer be slaves to sin” (v. 6). Christ has opened the door. Sin may still tempt us, and sometimes we may stumble, but it is no longer our master. We are free to walk with Christ in newness of life.

That is why Paul gives us this wonderful promise: “Sin shall not be master over you… for you are… under grace” (v. 14). Grace does not mean that sin no longer matters; grace means that sin no longer has to rule us. We do not obey so that God will love us; we obey because He has already loved us. Holiness is not the price we pay for grace; it is the new life grace produces within us. And when we stumble, grace points us again toward the open door. The grace that says, “You are forgiven,” also says, “You are free.” God’s unlimited grace does not merely release us from the life that held us captive—it invites us to step through the open door and live as people who are alive to God in Christ.

Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, 

Thank You for Your grace that forgives, frees, and makes us new. Help us leave behind what once held us captive and walk through the open door into the newness of life You have given us in Christ.

Amen.