Exegetical Paper on Romans 6
It is hard to accept the fact that the gift of salvation is free for anyone to take. People often find it hard to believe that all one has to do is believe that Jesus is who He said He was/is in order to receive the gift of salvation. People often view Christianity as a religion rather than a relationship. This view could not be further from the truth and distorts a lost person’s view on how God views him or her. Often times people think they have to change first in order to approach God, but when one focuses on sin they often sin more than he or she did to begin with. Instead of running from sin, one should run to Christ because when one runs from something he or she will always be running. However, when one runs to something they will eventually find rest. When someone runs to Christ we will find His grace. Once someone accepts Christ he or she can rest in God’s Grace. They are no longer a slave to sin but rather slaves to righteousness because of the grace God gives him or her. Romans 6:15-18 speaks about no longer being a slave to sin but being slaves to righteousness. But what did Paul mean when he wrote this passage? What issues could arise when reading it, and how do we attempt a contemporary application? Some external sources should be considered when looking into and studying any scripture. When doing an Exegetical study on any scripture it is important to know the proper methods to be used so that one does not misinterpret the passage. How to read the bible for all its worth is a perfect place to start. The authors of this book start out by saying, “One is not trying to discover what no one else has ever seen before.” If one tries to find something never seen before when reading Romans 6 15-18 it will most likely lead him or her further from the true meaning of the passage rather than closer. The author goes on to say
What is freedom? This question is easy enough to answer today. To many, the concept of freedom we have now is a quality of life free from the constraints of a person or a government. In America today, the thought of living a life in which one was “owned” by another person, seems incomprehensible. Until 1865 however, freedom was a concept that many African Americans only dreamed of. Throughout early American Literature freedom and the desire to be free has been written and spoken about by many. Insight into how an African-American slave views freedom and what sparks their desire to receive it can be found in any of the “Slave Narratives” of early American literature, from Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustav Vassa, the African published in 1789, to Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself which was published in 1845. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry and letters and Martin R. Delany’s speech Political Destiny of the Colored Race in the American Continent also contain examples of the African-American slaves’ concepts of freedom; all the similarities and differences among them.
...be protected from sin and evil. Paul goes on to say pray for the Lord’s people and to also pray for him as well. Chapter 6 ends with a conclusion where Paul gives Tychicus the authority to bear this epistle and he considered him and faithful servant of the Lord. The end if concluded with grace and love from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The dichotomy between those that are enslaved and those that are free is a very narrow one indeed. Arguably, the distance between the two is spanned only by an individual’s capacity to realize his innate humanity. For example, a slave that has only known the taste of the whip and the bite of shackles may be more in touch with his humanity than a poor, free man who has reached the pit of human degradation. Likewise an enterprising individual never encumbered by woes of abolition could possibly have a greater understanding of the value of life than a lowly slave. In 1859, Harriet E. Wilson attempts to explore this concept in her work entitled, Our Nig, or the Sketches from the Life of a Free Black. As the title proclaims, Our Nig is an account of the life of Frado, a free-born mulatto girl, who is abandoned by her mother and left to a life of servitude. The irony that is Frado’s life lies in the reality that while she is a free black living in the North, her lifestyle seems to closely resemble that of her enslaved counterparts in the South. In retrospect, however, many Southern slaves were able to appreciate elements of freedom, both mental and physical, that Frado, a free black, was never allotted.
Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography is in a broad sense an overview of slavery and all that comes with it along with the life of Fredrick Douglass himself. To be more specific though, it is the story of a slave losing his innocence, and losing his ignorance so to speak as well. A man learning the ways of the world through education- a painful but prosperous journey that ultimately led to his escape of slavery and a life of freedom.
...tle. Which is, “THAT YE SIN NOT”? What the Scripture is saying here in verse 1 is that if by any reason you should fall into sin, because of the lack of consecration and watchfulness you do not have to remain in the state of sin. God will grant unto you by His mercy another opportunity to be redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ, for the removing of your sins. Jesus is the advocate for those who fall in the temptation of their flesh and sin. The word advocate in the Greek parakletos, pronounced par-ak’-lay-tos, meaning an intercessor, counselor: comforter. Jesus Christ is represented as the mediator that counsels you unto strength, showing you the way back unto God. Once you have returned unto the Father, He will comfort you and keep you, only if you allow Him. The Lord will never console you in the state of your sins, for He finds no pleasure in you sinning.
Many African Americans were captured and enslaved, while others were taken and enslaved. In the 1860s, ships were built to transport Africans to America. There were about three hundred recorded slave ships throughout the 1800s. Only about forty, of those three hundred, were infamous and well worth researching. Three of the most merciless and inhumane slave ships of all time were The Wanderer, The Hannibal, and The Henrietta Marie.
Turner, G. “The Christian Life as Slavery: Paul’s Subversive Metaphor.” The Heythrop Journal (May 28, 2010): 1-12.
NLT). We are not to walk away from sin we are to run! God makes it clear. Sin is not a bargaining tool that we allow certain sins to be more deadly than others are. Sin is sin.
The Book of Romans Romans is a very important addition to the Bible. This is written by Paul to the Roman church. Much of Romans is showing the righteousness of God in different ways. “Romans road” passages are a great description of how to lead someone to christ (His saving righteousness).
In this book, the author discovered that many historians believed that the practice of leasing convicts of the South was an abuse to the African Americans. Even though many see as it was just one of the many things that occurred in the large sweep of the racial evolution of the South. The cruel and brutal punishments toward the blacks was unjustified.
Slavery was a huge part of America’s history and is impossible to ignore today. African-Americans, during the 1860’s, obviously disagreed with the widespread use of slavery and did whatever they could to showcase their disapproval of it. There are many examples of slaves hostility toward their masters, but unfortunately the South was too heavily populated with slave owners for most of the protests to have a huge impact on the push for the abolition of slavery.
...o confront the social acceptance of the institution of slavery, or even threaten the order of society. What this does suggest is that Paul wanted to convey the theological principle of unity to the Church by imploring them to perceive all believers as equals in spite of social classifications. When the wide variety of job descriptions, economical standings, education, and geographical placement of Christians today is considered, it is advantageous to heed to Paul’s example of appreciating individual believers as fellow workers in Christ.
For most American’s especially African Americans, the abolition of slavery in 1865 was a significant point in history, but for African Americans, although slavery was abolished it gave root for a new form of slavery that showed to be equally as terrorizing for blacks. In the novel Slavery by Another Name, by Douglas Blackmon he examines the reconstruction era, which provided a form of coerced labor in a convict leasing system, where many African Americans were convicted on triumphed up charges for decades.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:1-2). Paul believes if you are in Christ Jesus, then you will be saved. Because of Jesus' selflessness, he has freed us from sin and death. God had created the world through wisdom and with Adam we then were under the reign of sin. Then, with the resurrection of Jesus, He freed us from the law and we entered into a period of grace with God. We are living by the Spirit in an era of grace, so therefore we should be dead to sin. Paul explains this in greater detail in the beginning of Romans in 3:9.