Editors note: The following is vital truth to promote spiritual growth for every believer in Christ as contained in Romans chapter 6. This article is used by permission from the author's book, "The New Nature."

The Meaning of the Word "Sin" 

Paul uses the term "sin" a total of twenty-five times in Romans 6:1-7:13. One of these usages (6:15) refers to an act of sin. Most, if not all, of the other twenty-four usages, seem to refer to the sinful disposition or nature. ¹ 

There are several reasons for this conclusion. Firstly, in Romans 6:12-13 Paul pictures sin as a reigning monarch to whom human subjects offer their bodies to fulfill the monarch’s commanded acts. Thus, Paul is regarding sin, not as an act, but as a governing disposition which demands acts. 

Secondly, in Romans 6:6, 14, 17, 20 Paul pictures sin as a master who orders slaves to act as the master desires. Again, Paul is regarding sin, not as an act, but as the thing which governs and orders acts. 

Thirdly, in 7:7-8 Paul declares that sin produced coveting (lust) of every kind in him. According to James 1:14-15 lust in turn gives birth to an act of sin. The joining of these passages indicates that Paul is not talking about an act of sin. Instead, he refers to the sinful disposition which prompts the chain reaction which produces the act of sin. 

Earlier it was noted that, since fallen man’s disposition is one of enmity against God, it is correct to call that disposition "sin".

The Personification of Sin 

As Paul deals with the sinful disposition under the title of "sin" in Romans 6-7, he personifies it repeatedly. This personification has been recognized by numerous scholars. For example, Hamilton says that "Paul calls this personified corrupt nature ‘sin.’"² 

The fact that Paul does personify sin does not mean that he regards the sin nature as being a person instead of a governing disposition. Instead, it means that he simply uses a figure of speech to make a difficult spiritual truth more understandable to his readers. Thus, in Romans 6:19, where Paul deals with one aspect of the personifications (the master-slave relationship), he states that he is speaking in "human terms" because of the weakness of his readers’ flesh. 

Concerning Paul’s statement Murray writes: "The dullness of our understanding makes it necessary that we be taught the truth in figures drawn from the sphere of our human relations." ³ 

As the author of this study deals with the sinful and new dispositions, he too will use terms of personification. There is little alternative to this procedure, for in his attempt to explain accurately what Paul is teaching the author must remain faithful to the figures of speech which Paul uses. The reader must not interpret the author’s use of personification as meaning that he regards the sin and new natures as being persons instead of dispositions.

The Master-Slave Analogy 

As Paul attempts to explain the relationship of human beings to sin and God, the instrument that he uses most frequently is the analogy of the master-slave relationship. In Romans 6:6, 16-20, 22 he asserts that people are slaves either to sin, impurity, and lawlessness or to righteousness, obedience, and God. In Romans 6:14 he refers to sin as a master.  

Since Paul uses the analogy of the master-slave relationship, it is necessary to examine what the terms "master" and "slave" meant in his day in order to understand what he is teaching. 

The key idea in the word that Paul uses for "master" is that of a legal position of authority. ⁵ Thus, when Paul speaks of a master in Romans 6, he is thinking of one who holds a legal position of authority over a slave. A legal position of authority gives the master the right to dominate or control every aspect of the slave’s total being. 

In Paul’s day the key idea in the word that he uses for "slave" was this: the will of the slave is to be subject to the will of the master. ⁶ "Alongside the will and commission of the [master] there is no place for one’s own will or initiative." ⁷ Thus, when Paul speaks of a slave in Romans 6, he is thinking of one who has a position of subjection in which his will is not to be self-governing. This means that the slave is obligated to render complete obedience to the dictates of his master.

The Slavery of the Unregenerate Man 

In Romans 6:6, 16-20 Paul teaches that the unregenerate man exists in a master-slave relationship with his sinful disposition. As he reminds the Roman Christians of what they were before they became saved, he says: "You were slaves of sin" (Romans 6:17, 20). The sinful disposition gained the legal position of master over man as a result of man voluntarily committing himself to the service of sin at the time of the fall (Romans 6:16). Fallen man came into the subject position of a slave.

The key ideas in the terms "master" and "slave" which were noted earlier reveal several factors involved in this master-slave relationship. Firstly, as a master the sinful disposition holds the legal position of authority over the unregenerate man. By virtue of this position it has the right to dominate and control every aspect of the unregenerate man’s total being, including his body, mind, and will. As noted before, this control of every part of fallen man’s total nature by his sin nature is called "total depravity." 

Secondly, because unregenerate man holds the position of slave under his sinful disposition, his will does not have the right to be self-governing. This means that unsaved man is obligated to render complete obedience to the dictates of the sinful disposition. He has no choice but to do what it prompts him to do. 

Because, as seen earlier, man became confirmed in his sinful disposition through the fall, the position of master gained by that disposition is a lasting one. Unregenerate man is so thoroughly locked into the master-slave relationship with the sin nature that he is held in his position of slave as long as he lives in the unregenerate state. The only thing that can end this master-slave relationship is death. Either the sinful disposition or the unregenerate man must die.

The Death of the Unregenerate Man 

In Romans 6:1-13 Paul indicates that when an unregenerate man becomes a Christian he is identified with Jesus Christ. This involves identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Concerning the first aspect of identification, Paul teaches that there is some sense in which the unregenerate man actually dies with Christ when that person becomes a Christian. One way in which Paul expresses this truth is as follows: "Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him" (Romans 6:6, a literal translation).

Scholars disagree as to what Paul means by "old man." Some take the position that by "old man" Paul means the sinful disposition or old nature. For example, Erdman claims that Paul is teaching that "our old dispositions and appetites and evil desires have been put to death." ⁸ According to this view, in Romans 6:1-13 Paul is asserting that the Christian’s sinful disposition has been crucified or has died with Christ. 

Other scholars are convinced that by "old man" Paul means the unregenerate man or the person in his unregenerate state. Wuest says that "the old man here refers to that person the believer was before he was saved, totally depraved, unregenerate, lacking the life of God." ⁹ According to this view, then, Paul is teaching that the unregenerate man or person has been crucified or has died with Christ. 

The author is convinced of the second view for several reasons. Firstly, the whole context of Romans 6:1-13 talks about persons, not dispositions, having died. In Romans 6:2, 8 Paul says that "we" died; in verse 7 he says that "he" died. A disposition is only one aspect of a person; it cannot be said that in reality it is a person. 

Secondly, in Romans 6:7 Paul draws a distinction between the person who died and the sinful disposition. He declares that the person who died is freed from the sinful disposition. He thereby makes it clear that it is the person, not the disposition, that died. 

Thirdly, the view that says that it is the sinful disposition that died with Christ distorts the concept of identification with Christ’s death taught in this passage. When Christ died it was a person, not just a disposition, that died. Christ became a human being so that He could die as the substitute for human persons, not as the substitute for a sinful disposition. 

Fourthly, when Paul applies his teaching (Romans 6:11), he exhorts Christians to reckon themselves to be dead. He does not tell them to reckon their sinful dispositions to be dead. Certainly Paul would have exhorted the latter if their dispositions had been crucified. 

Fifthly, in Romans 6:2, 11 Paul declares that the believer has died to sin. He does not say that sin has died to the believer.

Sixthly, if the sinful disposition has been crucified with Christ, then that disposition is dead in the Christian. This would mean that the Christian has no struggle with sin. But Romans 7:14-25 indicates that the Christian does have a struggle with sin. In fact, Romans 7:14-25 and Galatians 5 teach that the sinful disposition is very much alive and active in the Christian. 

Seventhly, in a parallel passage (Galatians 2:20) Paul declares that it was he who was crucified with Christ. He does not say that his sinful disposition was crucified. 

It should be concluded, then, that the "old man" is the unregenerate man or the human person in his unregenerate state. As an old man, the unsaved person holds the position of slave under his sinful disposition. 

In light of this meaning of "old man," when Paul says that our old man was crucified with Christ, he is teaching that there is some sense in which the unregenerate person actually dies when he becomes a Christian.

The Nature of the Death 

This teaching of Paul prompts an important question. In what sense does an unregenerate person die with Christ when he becomes a Christian? Certainly he does not die physically, for the person continues to have the same body after regeneration as before regeneration. Again, he does not die metaphysically, for he continues to be the same person metaphysically after the new birth as before the new birth. He continues to have the same personal name, background, parents, place of employment, and residence. The fact that Paul uses the terms "you" and "we" when describing the former unregenerate condition of himself and other Christians (Ephesians 2:1-7) indicates that he regards believers as being the same persons metaphysically that they were in their unregenerate state.

The unsaved person dies with Christ in the sense that he ceases to be an unregenerate man. Before regeneration he was an "old man," an unregenerate man. However, at the moment of the new birth he ceases to be an "old man."

Although the Christian was one person spiritually in his unregenerate state and is another person spiritually in his regenerate state, he is still the same person metaphysically in his regenerate state that he was in his unregenerate state. The recognition of this distinction between the spiritual and metaphysical senses of the person helps in the understanding of Galatians 2:20. In that passage Paul indicates that there is a sense in which he as a person was crucified and no longer lives, but there is also a sense in which he as a person does still live. It would appear that what Paul means is this: the person that he was spiritually while in the unregenerate state has been crucified with Christ and no longer lives, but the person that he was metaphysically before co-crucifixion still continues to live. On the one hand he is no longer the man who hated Jesus Christ, persecuted Christians, and exulted in his self-righteousness; but on the other hand he is still the same man who was born in Tarsus, studied under Gamaliel, and possessed Roman citizenship by birth (Acts 22:3-28).

Scholars agree that in Romans 6:1-13 Paul is talking about a death which is related somehow to Christians. They disagree, however, concerning the finality of this death in relationship to Christians. Some see the crucifixion of Romans 6:6 as a lifelong agonizing process of the Christian putting to death his sinful disposition or his love for sin. ¹⁰ Others, who see this death as a continuing process of the believer dying to self and the world, refer to 1 Corinthians 15:31 where Paul says: "I die daily." ¹¹

1. Wuest, Kenneth, Romans in the Greek New Testament, p. 91.
2. Hamilton, Floyd, The Epistle to the Romans, p.98.
3. Murray, John, "The Epistles to the Romans," Vol. I, in the New International Commentary on the New Testament, p.233.
4. Ibid.
5. Foerster, Werner, "kurios," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. II, p. 1040-1046.
6. Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich, "doulos," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. II, p. 261.
7. Ibid., p. 270.
8. Erdman, Charles R., The Epistle to the Romans, p. 71
9. Wuest, Romans in the Greek New Testament, p. 101.
10. Tholuck, Fred. Aug. Gottreu, Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, p. 182.
11. Findlay, G. G., St. Pauls's First Epistle to the Corinthians," in Vol. II of the Expositor's Greek Testament, p. 931.

Part 2 will be in the Jan/Feb. 1999 Issue

Renald E Showers is a graduate of Philadelphia College of Bible and holds degrees from Wheaton College, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Grace Theological Seminary. He presently is on the staff of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. and serves on the faculty of the Institute of Biblical Studies.