Single lesson
Romans 6: Dead to Sin, Alive to God
Romans 6:1–14; Romans 6:15–23
Romans 6 teaches that God’s grace is never a reason to keep sinning. In these verses, Paul explains that believers are joined to Christ, called to live differently, and warned that sin and obedience lead in very different directions.
Before you teach
This passage has two linked parts. Romans 6:1–14 asks whether grace means people should continue in sin and answers no. Romans 6:15–23 repeats the question in a slightly different form and explains that the one you obey becomes your master, leading either to death or to righteousness and life.
Students will identify that Romans 6 teaches believers to say no to sin, present themselves to God, and recognise that sin leads to death while God gives eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Welcome: Two roads, two outcomes
4 minWrite two headings where everyone can see them: “sin” and “alive to God”. Briefly explain that this passage compares two ways of living and two outcomes. Tell the group to listen for repeated ideas such as death, life, obey, present, and grace. This prepares children to notice the passage’s structure for themselves.
Romans 6:11, Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:23
Read and explain: Joined to Christ means a new life
8 minRead Romans 6:1–14 aloud. Explain that Paul asks if grace means people should keep sinning, then answers strongly, “May it never be!” He says believers died to sin, were buried with Christ, and should “walk in newness of life”. “Consider yourselves” means to reckon this as true, then live in line with it.
Romans 6:1, Romans 6:2, Romans 6:4, Romans 6:11, Romans 6:14
Discuss: What should we do with our bodies and choices?
6 minFocus on the commands in verses 12–13. Ask children to name ordinary body parts or actions, such as hands, mouths, feet, and minds, then connect them to the verse about not presenting our members to sin. Explain that “present” means to offer or place at someone’s service. Paul says to offer ourselves to God for righteousness.
Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13
Make and respond: Servant, fruit, wages, gift
8 minRead Romans 6:15–23. Explain that Paul again rejects the idea that grace gives permission to sin. Help children see the word pictures: a servant obeys a master, fruit is the result that grows from a life, wages are what is earned, and a gift is freely given. Sin leads to death, but God gives eternal life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:15, Romans 6:16, Romans 6:21, Romans 6:22, Romans 6:23
Closing: Choose a key verse and say it simply
4 minInvite each child to choose one key verse or phrase from the passage and say what it teaches in one short sentence. Summarise: grace does not encourage sin, believers are to present themselves to God, and the passage ends with a clear contrast between wages and gift. Finish by reading verse 23 together.
Romans 6:11, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:23
Questions to explore
Why does Paul answer “May it never be!” when he asks whether people should continue in sin?
Look at how Romans 6:2 and Romans 6:4 connect dying to sin with walking in newness of life.
Romans 6:2, Romans 6:4
What does Paul tell believers to do instead of letting sin reign?
Use the commands in Romans 6:12–13 and notice the repeated word “present”.
Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13
What is the difference between the “wages” of sin and the “gift” of God?
Compare the two outcomes named in Romans 6:23 and connect them with the earlier contrast in Romans 6:21–22.
Romans 6:21, Romans 6:22, Romans 6:23
Make, think or respond
Key Verse Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- index cards or scrap paper
- pencils or pens
- coloured pencils or markers
Try it together
- Ask each child to choose one key verse or short phrase from Romans 6:11, Romans 6:13, or Romans 6:23.
- On one side, write the verse reference and the key words neatly.
- On the other side, write or draw one realistic way to remember the teaching, such as using hands to help, words to tell the truth, or a stop sign for saying no to sin.
- Invite children to share their card in one sentence and take it home as a reminder.
This activity helps children remember that Romans 6 calls believers to be alive to God, to present themselves to God, and to recognise the contrast between sin’s wages and God’s gift.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, shorten the reading by reading selected verses aloud twice and let them respond with simple actions for “sin”, “alive”, “gift”, and “obey”.
- For older or stronger readers, ask them to trace the repeated question-answer pattern in Romans 6:1–2 and Romans 6:15–16, then explain how the second half develops the first.
An optional closing prayer
Suggested prayer: “Father, thank you for the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Please help us to say no to sin and to present ourselves to you for what is right. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Romans 6
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,
9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!
10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16 Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.
18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.