“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:5-7)

It is true that God has said that He will never leave us nor forsake us but that does not give us a license to sin expecting the grace of God to save us.

Paul deals with this same devilish application of scripture in the Roman letter. At the close of chapter five, Paul makes the wondrous conclusion that the grace of God exceeds all our sin. Our salvation is secure in the power of God’s grace not in our ability to remain sinless. Praise be to the God of all grace! Paul then plays devil’s advocate a presents a false application of this principle of grace.

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1)

Paul answers this foolish way of thinking with the very strong negative “God forbid.” Then he gives his reason.

He has already shown that we were once dead in sin and slaves to only do the sinful will of the flesh, but now we are dead to sin. Sin is no longer the governing principle in the life of the born again child of God. We are no longer bound by our depravity. We have been given power over sin and we can let it reign in our lives or we can mortify it and live righteously.

If a person has the desire to continue living in sin with the idea that God’s grace will cover it, he is either still dead in his sin or he is thinking like the devil. Either way he is speaking and acting like a fool.

We are called to recognize our standing in Christ. Therefore, we are to walk as one who is dead to sin but alive in Christ.