Romans 6:15

“ What then? should we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? Let it not be so! ”

The question of Romans 6:15 is not a repetition of that in Romans 6:1. The discussion has advanced. The principle of holiness inherent in salvation by grace has been demonstrated. The apostle only asks himself whether it will have the power necessary to rule man without the assistance of a law? This is the point at which the question τι οὖν, what then, resumes the discussion. Thus is explained the difference of style between the question of Romans 6:1 and that of Romans 6:15. In the former, Paul asked: Should we continue in sin? Here he says simply: should we sin, ἁμαρτήσωμεν. There is no doubt that the Received reading: shall we sin, ἁμαρτήσομεν, should be rejected, for it is not found in a single majuscule. The aorist subjunctive ἁμαρτήσωμεν does not denote, as the present would do, the permanent state, but the isolated act, which is perfectly suitable here. The question is no longer, as in Romans 6:1, whether the justified believer will be able to continue the life of sin which he formerly led. The answer has been given in Romans 6:1-14. But the matter in question is whether the new dominion will be strong enough to banish sin in every particular case. Hence the form of the aorist subjunctive: should we commit an act of sin? Could we act thus voluntarily in a single instance? And, in point of fact, a believer will not easily say: By grace I shall remain without any change what I have been till now. But he will find himself only too easily regarding some particular leniency toward sin as admissible, on account of the freeness of pardon. The gradation between the question of Romans 6:1 and that of Romans 6:15 makes itself also felt in the form of the motive alleged in favor of unfaithfulness. The apostle does not say now: “ that grace may abound,” words which could only come from a heart yet a stranger to the experiences of faith; but he says here: “ because we are under grace.” The snare is less gross in this form. Vinet one day said to the writer of these lines: “There is a subtle poison which insinuates itself into the heart even of the best Christian; it is the temptation to say: Let us sin, not that grace may abound, but because it abounds.” Here there is no longer an odious calculation, but a convenient let alone.

Where would be the need of holding that the apostle, to explain this question, has in view an objection raised by legal Jewish-Christianity? The question arises of itself as soon as the gospel comes in contact with the heart of man. What proves clearly that the apostle is not thinking here of a Jewish-Christian scruple, is the fact that in his reply he does not make the least allusion to man's former subjection to the law, but solely to the yoke which sin laid upon him from the beginning. And the literal translation of our verse is not: “For ye are no more under the law,” but: “For ye are no more under law, but under grace. ” It is understood, of course, that when he speaks of law he is thinking of the Mosaic dispensation, just as, when speaking of grace, he is thinking of the revelation of the gospel. But he does not mention the institutions as such; he designates them only by their moral character.