Scripture: Romans 6:1 NASB “Meshugah?”
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Romans 6: 1
I call Romans the “much more” chapter because four times (Rom. 5:9, 10, 15, 17) Paul contrasts sin with grace. Grace wins in comparison all four times. By far. When weighed in the balance, grace outweighs sin by an infinite amount. So Paul anticipates someone asking the question, if grace is so much greater than sin and glorifies God so much, why don’t we go out and rabble-rouse, the ole “eat, drink, and be merry”? The answer would seem to be that we should go out and glorify God by having a big time to show how much God forgives us.
Paul’s answer is in verse 2. He says, “May it never be!” The Greek is “me genoito.” In Yiddish, it is, “Meshugah?” Translated, that means, “Are you CRAZY?” That is Paul’s response to anyone who would ask if they should continue to act like pagans when they are Christians. It would be like expecting a butterfly to act like a caterpillar. It just wouldn’t make sense.
[In the rest of the chapter, Paul explains how we are like living-dead people (see blog, The Day Of The Living Dead and the section, “The K-E-Y To Living The Christian Life”), then the resulting struggle in chapter seven (blogs The Widow Maker and Not My Problem) and the resolution and how to live the Christian life in chapter eight (blog, Get The “Led” Out and It’s All Good).]
He goes on to explain that we are “dead to sin” (v.11). He doesn’t mean dead in the sense that we can’t sin, he means dead in the sense that we don’t have to sin. It should be obvious to anyone, that Christians still sin (cf. 1Jn. 2: 1). The point is that sinning is not part of our new nature and we shouldn’t sin.
To sin would be “meshugah.” So quit sinning.
If you are, you will find that you are choosing life (Deut. 30:19)!
Fun Application:
Read the section of the blog The Day Of The Living Dead, “The K-E-Y To Living The Christian Life.” See how long you can live
1) “knowing that you are dead to sin,”
2) “expecting to be dead to sin,” and then
3) “yielding the parts of your body” to God.
See how long you can go without committing a sin. No rationalizing allowed! That would be cheating. (Lots of Christians over the ages have cheated that way!) Trying not to sin will get you to Romans chapter seven . . . which will get you to Romans chapter eight.
Give it a try! But don’t drive yourself crazy. Make sure, if you fail, that you proceed to chapters seven and eight of Romans.
The purpose of the “Choose Life” is to pick a positive help out of the One Year Bible (OYB) reading plan for the day. There is always something positive in the Word of God to cheer us and give us strength. For more on today’s reading, check out my One Year Bible blog: The Day Of The Living Dead