Years ago, when I was a young Christian helping with the youth group, the leader at the time was teaching the Ten Commandments—and it made me furious. I protested, “Why are we teaching the law? Aren’t we under grace? Didn’t Jesus fulfill the law for us? Aren’t we New Covenant, gospel people? What do Christians need the law for?” Church, don’t be like me—I had a lot of zeal, and very little knowledge.
Back then I was pitting law and gospel, law and grace, against each other—as if they were enemies in the story of redemption. But as we’ll see today, when Paul says we are not under law but under grace, he isn’t abolishing the Law or diminishing its goodness. He’s showing us that something covenantal and cosmic has changed. In Adam, humanity lived under law as an external standard—a tutor that exposed our sin and immaturity. But in Christ, the Last Adam, we’ve been brought under grace—the law now written on our hearts, internalized by the Spirit, and empowering us to walk in newness of life. Grace doesn’t erase the law; it fulfills and matures it.
So when we live as though grace means we can sin more freely, we’re actually belittling grace and misunderstanding what it is. True grace is not permission—it’s power. Because grace abounds, we don’t sin all the more; we sin all the less. Because grace reigns, we can finally love God’s Law and live in harmony with it. Because we are under grace, we are free—free to give our whole lives to the glory of God, the good of His people, and the life of His world. Grace takes broken sinners and turns them into Christian soldiers, instruments in the Redeemer’s hands for the cause of His Kingdom.
And that’s exactly what Paul teaches us in our passage today—that the reign of grace produces the obedience of faith, and by God’s amazing grace our ordinary lives become the weapons of righteousness by which Christ’s Kingdom advances. So look with me at Romans 6:12-14.
In the opening verses of Romans 6, Paul has declared the objective reality of our union with Christ. Through baptism, we were buried with Him into death and raised with Him into newness of life. Our old Adamic self was crucified so that sin’s dominion might be broken; we are no longer slaves to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. This is not a mere inward experience—it’s a covenantal fact, sealed and signified in baptism, whereby we have passed from the old creation into the new. Paul insists that we know these things are true: Christ has died once for all, death no longer has dominion over Him, and because we are united to Him, it no longer reigns over us either. And Paul has been grabbing us by our baptism, reminding us who we are and Whose we are, calling us to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God because we are united to Christ. Because we are in Christ and he is in us we must walk in newness of life. And that brings us to Romans 6:12.
Paul says, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.” The therefore draws us back to all that Paul has just established—that we who are baptized into Christ have died to sin, been raised to new life, and now live under the reign of grace. This isn’t mere metaphor; it’s an objective covenantal reality. We know that our old man was crucified with Christ, and that through His resurrection, we now belong to a new creation and a new Kingdom. Therefore, we must live in line with what is true—reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.
Notice how Paul ties reign to obey. As Jesus said in John 8:34, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin,” and as Paul will soon add in Romans 6:16, “you are slaves of the one whom you obey.” So whoever or whatever we obey is our functional lord, it’s what reigns over us. When Paul says not to let sin reign in your mortal body, he’s commanding us not to submit any part of life—inner or outer—to the old tyrant of Adamic sin. We are in Christ. Christ is Lord. And we must act like it.
The “mortal body” here is more than our physical flesh. It is our whole embodied existence—our entire way of life as it once existed in Adam: our thoughts and affections, our households and habits, our words and work, our economy and polity. It is our body politic—the totality of human life in covenant relationship. Under Adam, all of life was of sin, for sin, and to sin. But in Christ, all of life is now of Christ, for Christ, and to Christ. Paul’s point is that our redeemed humanity, personal and corporate, must no longer be ruled by the mortal ways of the old order.
In Ecclesiastes 1:2 we read, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” That word vanity literally means vapor or breath. The preacher’s point is not that earthly things are meaningless, but that in and of themselves they are fleeting—temporary, fragile, and passing away like a morning mist. The live rightly in this world full of mist we must live by faith and not by sight. And Paul is drawing on that same reality here in Romans 6. When he speaks of the mortal body and its passions he’s talking about all that is outside of Christ that belongs to a world that is fading… So our mortal body and its passions in Romans 6:12 is that which still seeks to be part of the old order in Adam that cannot last.
We cannot be driven by earthly things as if they were ultimate. If we are in Christ, our lives are now anchored in the New Creation. As Paul says in Philippians, our true citizenship is in heaven, and we must set our minds on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and commendable, especially Christ Himself (Phil. 3:20; 4:8). We are to live lives worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1:27). In other words, what must shape and govern our lives now are the eternal realities tied to the New Creation, not the fleeting desires and demands of the old creation. We must not be governed by vapor, by mist, by vanity. We must, by faith, be governed by that which lasts. And as Isaiah 40:8 says so well, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
The passions of the mortal body—our desires, longings, and appetites—are not evil in themselves, no more than the grass or the flowers are. But they become corrupt when governed by sin rather than grace. Under Adam, even good desires decay into idolatry; but under Christ, those same desires become instruments of righteousness. As James warns, unchecked desire gives birth to sin and ends in death (James 1:14-16; 4:1-3). But grace trains our passions (Titus 2:11-14) and redirects them toward obedience, love, and dominion. The issue, then, is not whether we will have passions, but whether they will serve sin’s dominion or Christ’s Kingdom.
So what Paul is beginning to do here is tell us that all of life must be brought under Christ’s gracious rule. The reign of grace is the reign of the resurrected Lord extending through His people, into every sphere of life—body and soul, family and vocation, culture and nation. To “let not sin reign” is to resist the false sovereignty of Adam’s order and to live as those who are alive from the dead, proclaiming by our words and our all around obedience that Jesus Christ is Lord, and His dominion has no limits. And this is what we see next in verse 13.
Paul writes, “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” To present means to give yourself over, to offer yourself in service, to place yourself at the disposal of another. And your members ties back to the “mortal body” of verse 12—not merely your physical limbs, but the whole of your embodied existence. It includes your mind and motives, your words and work, your affections, your habits, your resources—everything that makes up your body politic, your life in the world.
We are not to hand any part of ourselves back to sin’s service. We belong to God, having been brought from death to life, and so we must live as those who truly have crossed from the old dominion of Adam into the new dominion of Christ. This means every aspect of life—what we think, feel, speak, spend, and build—must be offered up in loyal obedience to the Lord who redeemed us. In other words, being “alive to God in Christ Jesus” means living wholly and gladly for Him. Are you making and spending money in a God-honoring way? Are you using your time, your body, your talents, and your influence in ways that display the reign of grace rather than the reign of sin? That’s Paul’s point here: grace does not only forgive; it reclaims and repurposes every part of us for God’s Kingdom.
I once saw a video of a couple at a hockey game—one wearing the jersey of one team, and one wearing the jersey of the other team. When they went to the concession stand the man ran into the mascot for the team he was backing. When the mascot stared at him in disappointment because he was at the game with a woman who supported the opposing team, he tried to excuse himself by saying, “But she’s so pretty.” That’s how many of us treat our desires: we follow whatever seems appealing in the moment, without asking whether it honors God. But when we do that, we’re not neutral spectators—we’re offering our members to sin’s side of the ice. We’re being governed by vapor instead of by the unchanging Truth of God’s Word. We’re living by sight instead of by faith.
To present our members to God is to live sacrificially and intentionally in every sphere of life. It’s the language of worship and vocation. The Christian presents his mind by submitting his thoughts to Scripture rather than to the spirit of the age (having our minds transformed and renewed by God’s Word rather than conformed to a broken world and sin). The Christian presents his tongue by speaking truth and blessing rather than slander or complaint; his hands by working diligently and creating beauty that reflects God’s order; his wallet by spending and providing for his family, and giving and investing in ways that build up the Kingdom; and his calendar by making the best use of the time with family, and sanctifying time around the Lord’s Day and the rhythms of prayer, fellowship, and hospitality. It means that all of life—home and work, public and private—is offered up as a living sacrifice to the Lord… Nothing is off limits. Every square inch belongs to Jesus. This is what it looks like to present your members to God: every role, every calling, every relationship becomes an altar where we serve the risen Christ who brought us from death to life. It is all of Christ for all of life lived out through ordinary faithfulness in the power of extraordinary grace.
But look at how Paul speaks of this ordinary faithfulness. Whether we give ourselves to sin or give ourselves to God, we become instruments in their hands. If sin we become instruments of unrighteousness. If God we become instruments for righteousness. But the Greek word being translated instruments here is actually the word for weapons and armor. The idea is that our disobedience and our obedience are both warfare. There is no neutrality—we are either on the right side or the wrong side of things, and everything we think, feel, say, or do is either taking ground for the Kingdom or giving ground to the enemy. Whether you realize you’re in the fight or not, your obedience is advancing the cause of Christ, and your disobedience is advancing sin and darkness.
Do you think about your life this way—every aspect of your life? It’s been said that, “Everybody wants to save the world, but nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” But here God’s Word is telling us that these things are not mutually exclusive. Washing the dishes is a part of saving the world. As 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Or as 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us, we are to take every thought captive to obey Christ, meaning everything we think to everything we do, all of life must be brought into right submission to Christ, and thus leveraged for God’s glory. And when we live for God’s glory, everything we are and everything we do is an instrument, a weapon in the Redeemer’s hands used to push back the darkness and advance the Light of the Kingdom.
Recently I got an invite from Turning Point USA to attend a dinner for pastors, in hopes that the church might continue to keep Charlie Kirk’s vision and mission alive. And what’s interesting about his vision and mission is that it was pretty simple and ordinary. I mean it’s really telling that he was murdered for his beliefs and his words when the basic goal of what he was saying and doing was to get people, American men and women, to get married and have babies, raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and seek to glorify God in all things, especially in their lives as citizens of this nation. And that’s essentially what Paul is saying here as well. Your ordinary everyday obedience is a weapon in God’s hands meant to bring all of His enemies under the feet of Christ. That so, it’s no wonder the enemy wanted Charlie dead. The Christ-centered family is a deadly threat to the enemy. And if our enemy isn’t underestimating the importance and impact of a godly family, neither should we.
But if we’re honest, many of us look at leaders like Charlie Kirk, and instead of actually listening to and applying their message, we just want to do what they did. We desire a platform. We desire notoriety and recognition. We want to make an impact. But not only does that ignore the message of Charlie and those like him, it also fails to realize how big of an impact we’re all making in everyday acts of faithfulness. To be sure, preaching and teaching, doing evangelism and missions, leveraging our social media platforms and other networks for the advancement of the gospel and the like are all great things that God may be calling you to do… But because all of our obedience is a weapon in God’s hands—an instrument of righteousness that shines light into the darkness—every act of faithfulness matters.
It’s so easy to despise the day of small things. It’s easy to grow weary of the same job, the same tasks, the same diapers, dishes, and deadlines. Especially when you long for the day of bigger and better things. But if you would realize how big and how important those everyday ordinary things are, you could find great contentment in them. Raising a family to the glory of God is one of the biggest and greatest things any of us could ever do. The effect of building gospel legacies that will last for generations is immeasurably great, and all of our everyday faithfulness is a part of that—whether we’re building our own gospel legacy, or building into the legacy of others. Our faithfulness at home, at work, at church, and in society is all a part of that in one way or another.
And not only is that true, but because all of our faithfulness, all of our obedience is a weapon in God’s hands that shines out and advances the light of His Kingdom, every act of faithfulness is for His glory, the good of His people, and the life of His world. Because you were created in His image and redeemed for His glory, your very existence magnifies His glory, and therefore every aspect of your life matters eternally. As Martin Luther once pointed out, “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.” And so it is with your life.
Your life, every aspect of your life, your ordinary life lived in submission to Christ matters to God and is being used for His purpose and glory. Helping your husband, loving your wife, cleaning your house, mowing your lawn, doing your job, paying your bills, raising your kids, doing the next right thing by faith for God’s glory… It is all a weapon in God’s hands that crushes the head of His enemies. In private, in public, your thoughts, your feelings, your words, and your deeds all matter. And here we are commanded to use them as instruments of warfare for God’s glory. We are to give ourselves over to this. And by God’s grace we can.
Look at the last verse of our passage: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” There’s that language of dominion again. In the beginning, Adam was commissioned to have dominion—to rule, guard, and cultivate the world as God’s image-bearer. But Adam surrendered that dominion to sin, Satan, and death. The very law that should have been his delight became his condemnation. Yet Christ, the new and greater Adam, has reclaimed what Adam lost. He has plundered the strong man, conquered sin and death, and taken dominion through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. And now, united to Him by faith and baptism, we are no longer under the tyranny of sin but under the reign of grace. Sin no longer rules; Christ does.
Think back to the Exodus—when God brought Israel through the Red Sea. Before those waters parted, Israel was under Pharaoh’s law—enslaved, condemned, powerless to free themselves. But when they passed through the sea, the waters of judgment fell on Egypt and the people emerged on the other side as a nation under grace, free to serve the living God. They weren’t freed to do as they pleased but to worship and obey Yahweh. That’s the same transition Paul describes here. Through the greater Exodus of Christ’s death and resurrection, we’ve passed from the dominion of sin and death into the freedom of grace. We’re no longer under the whip of Pharaoh; we’re under the reign of the King. But every time we go back to sin we’re just like the grumbling Israelites seeking to go back to Egypt. But sin no longer has dominion over us.
Paul explains this by saying that we are not under law but under grace. To be under law means to live under the old Adamic order—the old creation ruled by sin and death, where the law stands above man as an external authority. The law, in that sense, exposes sin but cannot heal it; it condemns, but cannot renew. It is good, holy, and just, but in Adam it can only reveal our corruption. The law functions as a mirror, not a medicine. To be under grace, however, means that we’ve been transferred into a new covenantal order, a new creation under a new Adam. We now live in the world remade by Christ, the realm where the law is written on hearts by the Spirit, and where righteousness reigns through grace.
The law still stands as the standard of justice and morality—it is the revealed will of God, the blueprint for human flourishing. But as a condemning power, the law no longer stands over us, because we no longer belong to Adam. We are no longer citizens of Adam’s fallen kingdom, where law kills; we are citizens of Christ’s Kingdom, where grace gives life. In other words, “not under law” doesn’t mean “without law.” It means we have moved from law as an external master to law as an internal melody—from the letter that kills to the Spirit that gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
So while it’s true that we’re not under law but under grace, that doesn’t make the law unnecessary; it makes it possible. Under grace, we are finally free to love and live by the law. Grace doesn’t free us from obedience but for obedience. As Paul has already said, we don’t sin all the more because grace abounds; rather, because grace abounds, we can now sin all the less. Grace trains us, as Titus 2:11–14 says, “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.” Because Jesus died for us, we can die to sin and self. Because Jesus lives, we can live for Him. To be under grace is to be under the power of resurrection life, the same life that raised Jesus from the dead now working in us to make us new.
Paul’s words here also recall what he said in Romans 5—that grace is not a thing but a person. “The grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (Rom. 5:15). Grace reigns because Jesus reigns. Grace is not a floating spiritual concept; it is the active rule and reign of the risen Lord. To be under grace is to be under Christ, and therefore to live under His covenantal kingship. Just as being “under law” meant living under Adam’s failed dominion, being “under grace” means living under Christ’s victorious dominion—the dominion of love, truth, and righteousness. The reign of grace is the reign of Christ extending through His people into every sphere of life, until all things are made new.
Being under grace doesn’t mean we can pick and choose which parts of Scripture we take seriously. On the contrary, grace restores us to the fullness of God’s Word. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Grace doesn’t free us from Scripture; it opens our eyes to see it as a unified, living covenant. From Genesis to Revelation, the Law of God is wisdom for dominion, instruction for maturity, and guidance for those who reign with Christ. We need the whole Bible for the whole of life for the whole of the world. And because we are under grace we can actually hear and heed what we see in God’s Word.
So what Paul means in Romans 6:14 is deeply covenantal and profoundly hopeful: You are no longer living in the old Adamic order where law condemns; you are now citizens of the new creation where grace reigns. The old humanity failed to exercise dominion under law, but the new humanity reigns with Christ under grace. That’s not an escape from the world—it’s the restoration of it. Grace doesn’t cancel the dominion mandate; it fulfills it. The reign of grace means the reign of restored humanity, the re-establishment of lawful dominion under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, this is what it means to be under grace: the reign of the risen Christ has broken into this world and claimed every inch of it—including you. Grace is not a thin covering over our sin; it is the power of resurrection life invading the ruins of Adam’s world and making all things new. Grace restores us to what we were meant to be—image bearers who rule, build, and beautify the world for the glory of God. Grace doesn’t lower the standard; it raises the dead. It doesn’t relax God’s Law; it writes it on our hearts. It doesn’t merely forgive our failures; it trains our hands for battle and our hearts for worship.
And this means your life matters—all of it. Your daily obedience, your labors of love, your unseen faithfulness in the small things are not wasted. They are acts of dominion under grace, building the Kingdom of Christ one faithful step at a time. When you change diapers, teach children, love your spouse, serve your church, work your job with diligence, or even endure hardship with patience, you are living proof that sin no longer has dominion. You are the evidence that the reign of grace is already here. Every task done for God’s glory is a declaration that Christ is King and that His Kingdom will not fail.
And because you are under grace, you fight sin not as a slave struggling for freedom but as a free man learning to live as royalty. You obey not to earn God’s favor but because you already have it in full. You keep God’s law not to make Him love you but because He already does. That’s what grace does—it changes what you love, how you live, and who you serve. The law once condemned you, but now under grace, it becomes your delight. What once felt like a chain now feels like a song—the melody of a heart set free to love God and neighbor.
So lift your eyes and live as those who have been brought from death to life. You belong to the new Adam, the reigning Christ. His grace is not only amazing—it’s victorious. It’s the grace that finds us in our sin and lifts us into His service. It’s the grace that turns rebels into sons, sinners into saints, and slaves into kings. It’s the grace that takes every corner of your life—your home, your work, your words, your worship—and transforms them into instruments of righteousness, weapons of light in a dark world.
This is the grace that will reign until the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is the grace that began with your baptism and will end with your resurrection. This is the grace that will one day make all things new. So live under grace. Rejoice in grace. And never cease to marvel that God would take a sinner like you and make you an instrument in His hand, a vessel of His Kingdom, a living testimony of His amazing grace.
