Shall we go on sinning?

Quotation from James M. Boice:

We must never think that grace, wonderful as it is, either permits or encourages us to go on sinning . . . “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” asked Paul.  He answered, “By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”  (Rom. 6:1-2).

This is why the ending of the story of Jesus and the woman trapped in adultery is so important, though it is often overlooked.  [Having forgiven her, Jesus] added, “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  This always follows upon forgiveness . . . . If we are saved, we must stop sinning.

At the same time, we can be grateful that Jesus spoke as he did.  For we notice that he did not say, “Leave your life of sin, and I will not condemn you.”  If he had said that, what hope for us could there be?  Our problem is precisely that we do sin.  There could be no forgiveness if forgiveness was based upon our ceasing sin.  Instead of that, Jesus actually spoke in the reverse order.  First, he granted forgiveness freely, without any conceivable link to our performance.  Forgiveness is granted only on the merit of his atoning death.  But then, having forgiven us freely, Jesus tells us with equal force to stop sinning.

--James M. Boice,  Amazing Grace (Wheaton: Tyndale, 1993), 41-42.  Quoted by John MacArthur in The Vanishing Conscience, Appendix 1 “Gaining Victory over Sin—A Closer Look at Romans 6”