Before I carry on with this study, I want to give a brief over view of what we have already discovered in the previous studies.
Paul shows that man can sin whether he has the Torah of YHVH or not, which I will explain in greater detail later. He establishes that ALL men, Jew or Gentile, are all UNDER SIN. Remember what Scriptural definition of sin? Sin is TORAHlessness / LAWlessness. Paul is emphatically clear that our faith does NOT nullify the Torah. Rather our faith is supposed to establish the Torah. This is contrary to the very basis of Christian belief. Paul shows us that sin was in the world from Adam to Moses, so that means that there was law in the world from Adam to Moses. He also states emphatically that we are not to break Torah (sin) as we are most certainly dead to TORAHlessness.
Let us now carry on. Romans 6:3-4 says:
“3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were immersed into Messiah יהושע were immersed into His death? 4 We were therefore buried with Him through immersion into death that as Messiah was raised from the dead by the esteem of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life.”
So now Paul is beginning to explain how this ‘died to sin’ works. When we were baptized we were baptized into his death. That means that as Yeshua died and was buried so we died and were buried. And as He was raised from the dead so we can now walk in the newness of His life.
“5 For if we have come to be grown together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also of the resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was impaled with Him, so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, to serve sin no longer.”
So what according to this above verse was the purpose of the cross? Was it not for our old man to be crucified, which is the body of sin, and for that same body to be rendered powerless so that we no longer serve sin, TORAHlessness? Yeshua came to deal with the sin problem and Paul has extensively shown this all the way from Chapter 1.
Let me ask you a question. Is this chapter, so far, talking at all about the law? Or being dead to the law? Of course not.
“7 For he who has died has been made right from sin.”
I think that speaks for itself. Through Yeshua’s death we die, and through our death we have been redeemed from sin.
“8 And if we died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, dies no more – death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to Elohim.”
“For in that He died, He died to TORAHlessness once for all.” Yeshua came to do away with sin, TORAHlessness, to defeat it. So far in the first 10 verses of this chapter Paul has not been saying that Yeshua did away with the law but that He delivered us from sin.
“11 So you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to Elohim in Messiah יהושע our Master. 12 therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires, 13 neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to Elohim as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to Elohim.”
So we are to consider that we are dead to TORAHlessness. What is death? Separation from life. So sin was in a sense a living thing in us, but now we are to consider ourselves separated from the life of TORAHlessness. Now because we are dead to TORAHlessness we must not let sin, Torahlessness reign in our mortal bodies. Can you see that this whole chapter is about how we have died to breaking YHVH’s laws? But in case you don’t yet, let’s carry on. We finally get to the verses in question, Romans 6:14.
“14 For sin shall not rule over you, for you are not under the law but under favour.”
The whole chapter begins to culminate here. Christianity would have us believe that Paul is saying “For Torahlessness shall not rule over you because you are no longer under the law given on Mount Sinai and in the Old Testament but under grace.” That is ridiculous as He already said in verse 1… “Let it not be!” and has gone on to show how Messiah killed sin, Torahlessness in us, by being our sacrifice, not by condemning the Torah! What Paul is saying here, judging by the context, that is everything that has preceded and what is going to come after…he is saying “For Torahlessness shall not rule over you, for you are not UNDER the LAW of SIN and DEATH, but under grace.” I have already shown how “under sin” and “under the law” are synonymous terms. The context does not end here, so then let’s carry on…
“15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under favour? Let it not be!”
So just in case there are people who now want to say, “look see, we are no longer under YHVH’s law” Paul says, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under favour? LET IT NOT BE!” But this is exactly what the ‘church’ teaches. We don’t have to keep the law because we are under grace, so we can have our own feasts and festivals, rest and worship when we want and eat as much pork as we like. But these things are against Torah, so by doing them you are being Torahless and Paul has just said that this should not be!
“16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks to Elohim that you were servants of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.”
Now here is another kicker. What is righteousness in Scripture? If you do not know, I encourage you to find out for yourself, but I would like to submit to you that righteousness is keeping the Torah. And that the Torah is equal to righteousness. So if we break Torah then we are slaves to Torahlessness, the very thing Yeshua came to free us from. Again Paul reiterates that we have been set free FROM SIN not His Torah!
“19 I speak as a man, because of the weakness of your flesh. For even as you did present your members as servants of uncleanness, and of lawlessness resulting in lawlessness, so now present your members as servants of righteousness resulting in set-apartness. 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.”
Wow, so when we were Torah breakers we were free from keeping Torah, so now that we are free from being a Torah breaker we should be servants of keeping Torah.
“21 What fruit, therefore, were you having then, over which you are now ashamed? For the end thereof is death. 22 But now, having been set free from sin, and having become servants of Elohim, you have your fruit resulting in set-apartness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the favourable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah יהושע our Master.”
In ending this study on Romans 6:14 I would like to say this. Torahlessness leads to death. It is that simple. If we continue to break the Torah we will experience death in our day to day lives and eventually we will be completely separated from the life giver. I would like to leave one more verse with you to ponder on with regards to this study. It is Romans 8:1-4:
“1 There is, then, now no condemnation to those who are in Messiah יהושע, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the Torah of the Spirit of the life in Messiah יהושע has set me free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For the Torah being powerless, in that it was weak through the flesh, Elohim, having His own Son in the likeness of flesh of sin, and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteousness of the Torah should be completed in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
So what did YHVH condemn? He condemned SIN that is TORAHlessness in the flesh. Why? So that the RIGHTEOUSNESS of the TORAH should be completed in us. How is it completed in us? By not walking in the flesh, that is in TORAHlessness but by walking according to the Spirit, that is keeping Torah. It is the Spirit that writes the TORAH on our hearts so that we can walk in it.
May you live a straight and happy life.
Shalom
Torah Restoration 