I have been deeply troubled lately about child trafficking and child slavery, which is not just present but is on the up-rise in the US and worldwide.
Slavery.
Paul made it very clear in our current passage that we are all slaves.To buffer the term a little, he didn't talk about “presenting ourselves to someone to obey him” (verse 16), but he says we must choose a master. Which master we indenture ourselves to is our choice.
We will become fully slaves to whatever master we choose. What's more, we must obey the master we choose or else hold the status of rebellious slaves.
6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
This is the second of the three objections Paul imagines his critics raising.
- OBJECTION 1 was in Romans 6:1-14, "Grace encourages people to sin more so they can have more grace."
- Objection 3 will be in Romans 7:7-25.
- OBJECTION 2 is here in our current passage: "Righteousness through Grace makes sin acceptable."
This is similar to the first one, but is slightly different. In 6:1, objectors were saying we should sin more so we could get more grace. In the current objection, objectors are saying sin doesn’t matter since we are forgiven in grace.
I believe that if we have correctly studied Romans up to this point, the question “then is it OK to sin” should arise. If our understanding of this letter up to this point doesn’t generate that concern – that tension – then we probably haven’t interpreted it right.
Something about God’s radical grace raises this question. If sin is fully forgiven in Christ, then do we really need to worry about sin? If our sins won’t separate us God, why not keep sinning?
Logically speaking, that’s a reasonable question. Sin is pleasurable, isn't it? We like to do it. Otherwise we wouldn't keep on doing it. We know sins are bad for us. Our minds, logic, and experience all tell us they are bad. But we like doing them anyway. So why not keep sinning since God will show us mercy, forgiveness, and grace?
But in the verses following, Paul is going to show the consequences of sin:
- Sin makes you its slave (Vv. 16-19)
- Sin makes you ashamed (Vv. 20-21)
- Sin spreads death throughout your whole existence (Vv. 21-23)
16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In v.2, he answered that "We died to sin."
He didn’t say sin is dead in us.
He didn’t say that, as a Christian, I’ve reached a point where I am incapable of committing sins.
He didn't say that we “are dying” to sin.
He says that this death to sin has already been done.
The Greek word for “died” back in v.2 is in what is called the “aorist tense,” which English doesn’t have. It is a continuous present tense - We have died to sin and remain dead to sin. But even though we are no longer in Adam, we still sin and we still die.
How do we reconcile that?
If we had no choice but to practice sin when we were in Adam, then in the same way we have no choice but to practice righteousness in Christ. It’s not something we can help doing. It just will happen. That’s why Paul’s answers was “how can we live in it any longer?” It's impossible. We cannot “live in” sin if we’ve “died to sin.
And he added this in v. 11, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ.”
The implication of all of this is that I don't have to obey sin. It’s not that I can’t sin; it’s just that I don't have to sin. I am free to refuse it. I’m free to say to sin, "You have no right to use that part of my body."
Furthermore, God’s power in me enables me offer that same part of my body to God for His purposes. I have the power to not sin because God Himself is in me. I may (and do) fail at times, but I have the strength to refuse it and the right to prevent it. I have the freedom to be sinless and also the desire to be sinless.
So in the last section (
vv.11-12), Paul offered three steps:
- “Count yourselves dead to sin” (v.11)
- “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness” (v.12), and
- “Offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness” (v.12)
He then summed it up in verse 13, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
This is how we should deal with evil in our lives. At times, I’ve been tempted with the thought “Hey, it’s not like I’m going to Hell if I give in to this temptation. Jesus saved me and forgives me. After all, I’m under grace rather than law.”
That’s just the type of thoughts Paul anticipates here in v.15. We may know better in our minds during Bible study, but in the context of everyday life, we justify or coerce ourselves.
But at any given moment, I have two choices:
- Do acts of sin, or
- Do acts of righteousness.
Everything is one or the other of those. Nothing is grey. Adam and Eve could either eat or not eat. They couldn’t just sort of kind of almost nibble. Christians are constantly faced with a choice between living according to the first Adam or the second Adam, the power of sin and death or the power of righteousness and life.
We are only capable of making that choice because we are in Christ and we have chosen Him to be our Master. Outside of Christ, the power of sin and death was our master. But now inside of Christ, righteousness is our master.
When we do sin it is a voluntary action, and act of rebellion against our Master. We are still slaves to righteousness, but we are rebellious slaves.
The Law condemns. It says if I fail, God and I can’t have fellowship. This is so deeply ingrained in us that when we do sin as believers, we can become so discouraged that we want to give up. That is a trick of the enemy.
But Paul says that isn’t true. When we sin, God does not look on us with anger but with pity. He loves us and desires us. God extends His grace to us, not His law. His forgiveness, not His condemnation. He has already provided everything you need to recover from your sin and continue on in Him.
Jesus showed what Paul is talking about here in Romans 6 in a very clear, practical way in John 8:31-45:
John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33 They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" 34 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father. " 39 "Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself." 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
When Jesus said the truth would set them free, He was talking about being free from slavery – and these Jews knew that (note that when He said “set you free,” they replied “we’ve never been anyone’s slaves”).
His response is, essentially, “but you sin, and anyone who sins is a slave to sin. So yes, you are slaves.” He also points out that one slave can’t set another slave free, but a family member can – and the Son Himself wants to set them free.
Another important observation from that passage in John 8 is that Jesus acknowledges that they are Abraham’s descendants, but says they are not His children (to which they assumed he was calling them Samaritans).
Then in v.44 Jesus tells them “you belong to the devil, and therefore you want to carry out his desires. And because he is all about lies, you can’t believe the truth.”
That is the language of slavery.Although Paul does use “slaves to God” here in 6:22 and called himself a slave in Romans 1:1, Paul’s focus throughout Romans is more on us being slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.
When we Christians sin, we are slaves to righteousness who have rebelled against their master. Fortunately, we do not have to accept that. We can always say no, and we can always return because our Master is benevolent and loving, not wicked.
