1. The text properly should include several verses preceding. Paul
has not yet concluded the subject of the epistle for last Sunday.
There he urges that since we are baptized into Christ and believe, we
should henceforth walk in a new life; that we are now dead to sin
because we are in Christ, who by his death and resurrection has
conquered and destroyed sin. He illustrates the power of Christ's
death and resurrection by saying: "For sin shall not have dominion
over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace." That is, being
in Christ and possessed of the power of his resurrection--in other
words, having God's grace and the forgiveness of sins--you can now
readily resist sin. Although you may not perfectly fulfill the letter
of the Law in its demands, yet it cannot condemn you as a sinner nor
subject you to God's wrath.