In this passage, Paul presents a possible question that might arise concerning the fact that God’s grace increased with mankind’s sinfulness. The question is, “should we sin so that grace may increase?” The answer is “no.” With a rhetorical question, Paul implies that those who have received God’s saving grace cannot continue sinning the way they did before they received that grace. The reason for this is that those who have been baptized, or immersed, into Christ have been baptized into His death. Therefore, they have been buried with Him so they live a life that is new, just as Christ was given a new glorified state when He was raised from the dead. One of the reasons that this is a reality is that those who have died with Him will also be spiritually resurrected with Him because their old self died with Him so that it would be gone. The purpose for this was to free those who have been baptized into Christ from their sin.

In verse 8, Paul begins to elaborate on the subject of being resurrected with Christ. The logic is as follows: if one has died with Christ, one believes that one will live with Him because one knows that Christ will never die. This reality of spiritually living with Christ is a reality because Christ died to sin, but lives to God. Therefore, Paul states, one who is in Christ ought to consider himself or herself to be dead to sin, but alive to God.

In verse 12, Paul begins the concluding application of the truths previously mentioned. Using the word, “therefore,” he implies that, because Christians are dead to sin and alive to God, they ought not to let sin control their bodies. In addition, they ought not to use their bodies to sin. Instead, they ought to present themselves to God as those who have died, and have been resurrected. Also, they ought to present their bodies as tools of righteousness to God. In verse 14, Paul concludes by giving one of the reasons for which this is possible: sin is not the master of the Christian because he is not under the Law, which increased sin, but is under grace, which frees one from enslavement to sin.