“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” (Rom.6:15). Paul was being slandered by an accusation that his gospel encouraged people to practice sin. Paul’s response to this charge is dealt with in Romans chapters three, six, seven and eight. Since the apostle told Christians they were “not under law” [not under a legal code], his critics charged that not being “under law” would lead to unrestrained sinfulness. Paul’s answer to this is, “Certainly not!” He explains that even though Christians are “not under law,” they do not let sin reign in them because they died to sin when they united with Jesus’ death and resurrection and enthroned Jesus as lord of their lives. Paul further explains that since the Christian has been delivered by the “Spirit” way [free from condemnation by trusting in another] and not “the letter” way [depending on one’s own doing to be just], then he feels an obligation to live in a way that pleases the “Spirit.” So, the slander leveled against Paul and the other apostles was baseless. Today, the same accusation is leveled against those who preach the same gospel Paul preached. But whenever a preacher/teacher presents the gospel as a legal code, saying that whenever Christians sin they are suddenly unjustified or lost, they are not preaching the same gospel Paul and the other apostles preached. They have turned the gospel into another “law of sin and death.” Of course, no one will ever accuse them of encouraging sin, but again, they are not preaching the true gospel. Ironically, presenting the gospel as a law of whenever you sin you die, is the very arrangement from which we are delivered by the gospel—”For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus [gospel] has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Christians do not live in sin because the gospel is a law of when you sin you die. It is not. They do not live in sin because of their union with Christ, their new master.

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