No images? Click here SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESSRomans 6:15-23 December 4th, 2022 A brief review of this epistle reveals that Paul was anxious to share the gospel with the church at Rome. The gospel is good news, and Paul understood that before anyone can fully appreciate the good news, they must first understand the bad news. So, he begins early in this letter to help us see the evil that exists in man’s heart, and he warns of the impending wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32). He declares to the Jews that their heritage is of no help in placating God’s wrath and points out that all men are sinners (Chapters 2 & 3). In Chapter 4 Paul argues convincingly, using the words of Moses (Genesis 15:6), that Abraham was not justified by keeping the law, but by believing God’s promises. Then in Chapter 5, Paul explains that we can be right with God by grace, through faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ. He closes this chapter with the curious statement, “…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” This is certainly true, but Paul recognized that some people might distort this concept and promote the idea that more sin is good, so that God’s grace might be seen more clearly.
Paul refutes this idea in Chapter 6 as he asks the rhetorical question: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” He answers his question with an emphatic, “By no means!” Paul argues that as Christ died for our sin, our baptism into Him means that we have died to our sin. In verses 6 & 7, Paul explains that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin; we have been set free from sin, thus free to live righteously. In verses 12-14, He commands us to not let sin reign in our life, forcing us to obey its passion, but we are to present ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness. If you present yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness, “sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Paul showed he understood his freedom in Christ when he said to the Corinthians, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12) Before becoming a new creation, we were limited only to choices that gratified the flesh.
I. Presentation (vv. 15-16)
In today’s passage, Romans 6:15-23, Paul asks and answers a second important rhetorical question: “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace”? Again, he answers emphatically with “By no means!” Paul follows this question with an important practical question: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” While few people would admit it, we all are slaves –slaves either of our selfish desires or slaves of God. We either obey our own self-centered desires, which lead to death, or we obey God’s commands, which lead to life. If we have been born anew, we can make holy choices because we are shackled to righteousness. We are now shackled to God. New life leads to new desires – desires to please God rather than ourselves.
The Christian walk is living out our new freedom in Christ, living out the gospel – and it is a struggle. We must strive to put off the old self and put on the new self. Paul tells the Galatians to “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other…” (Galatians 5:16-17) The Christian walk is a fight against the temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil. Ephesians 6:12 explains that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil. If we are to stand, we must put on the right armor. The night before going to the cross, Jesus told Peter, James, and John to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:41) Paul told the Ephesians to be “praying at all times in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 6:18) Prayer is essential if we are to stand against temptation.
Sometimes we stand against temptation, and at other times we succumb to it. Sometimes we are successful in the fight against temptation, and at other times we fail. Sometimes the walk is exhausting; sometimes exhilarating – exhilarating when we see victory over sin and righteousness being developed in our life. When the world sees our struggle against sin, they think who would want that? They think our struggle against sin is slavery, while they are free. But they are not free. Everyone is in bondage. They think our struggle is pointless and that we should just give in, Christians understand that the struggle is worthwhile. We want to honor the One who gave His life for us, the One who redeemed us from a life of sin and misery. Paul’s motivation is clearly seen in Philippians 3:13-14, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul was absolutely convinced that the prize was worth the struggle. Paul’s point in Romans 6:15-23 is that God is working out our sanctification, and it is a constant struggle.
Some people live with the attitude that, since we are not under law but under grace, we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves. God understands the Christian walk to be hard, that no one can live according to His rules, and that He is a merciful Father who forgives sin, so, why not just focus on His love? Dealing with sin is depressing; we just want to enjoy His love. Paul says this cannot be your mindset if you are a believer. When he asks in verse 16 “Do you not know…”, he is really saying Of course you know. He is emphatic, everyone is a slave “…either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.” The word that Paul uses for slave is doulos, which refers to a person on the bottom rung of the social ladder, and it implies a bonding. The concept describes both a type of person and the attitude of that person. As a slave of Christ, we have a desire to serve the One who purchased us, the One who redeemed us, the One who set us free from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). If our master is sin, we are willfully in bondage to death. As a doulos of sin, we are not only willing to serve sin, but we present ourselves to sin. As such we willingly make ourselves accessible to sin; we look for opportunities to sin. We are now the pursuer; sin formerly sought us, now we pursue opportunities to sin.
The person enslaved to sin desires sin; the person enslaved to righteousness desires righteousness. The first eleven chapters of Romans is essentially a treatise on systematic theology. After laying this foundation, the last five chapters are applications of these principles. In Romans 12:1, Paul is saying, now that you understand theology, present your entire self to God. He appeals to us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God then states that this is our spiritual worship. Believers are expected to present to God their entire being – body, soul, mind, will, emotions, etc. We must willfully obey everything that God calls us to do.
Many people attend church services, but not for the purpose of worshiping God. They may do so because it is expected or this is the way they were raided or because it helps them meet influential people, etc. They may think that going to church earns them grace or it may just appease their conscience. It may make them feel better, but these things do not change who a person is; it is like putting lipstick on a pig; it may improve its appearance, but it is still a pig. If sin is your master, you are going to willfully do what your master commands. Sin is really self-worship; the things we do are done to please ourselves. The Pharisees criticized Jesus when His disciples failed to wash their hands before eating, claiming that they had defiled themselves. He responded "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." (Mark 7:20-23) When we honestly evaluate the things in our life, we learn what we desire. We either desire the fleeting pleasures of sin or we desire holiness. The writer of Hebrews makes clear that the pleasures of sin are short-lived. “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:24-25)
By God’s redeeming grace, the believer in Christ is transitioned from being a slave to sin to being a slave to righteousness. We have a new Master, and we present our whole being to Him, now shackled to righteousness. We now willfully, humbly put ourselves under the authority of Scripture. We are now in bondage to wanting to accomplish the will of our Master. We present ourselves, our whole being to the Lord in worship of Him. Everything that comes in our eyes, our ears, our minds, should be presented to righteousness. Paul has been hammering home the point that there are only two masters: righteousness and sin. We need to ask ourselves, who is our master?
II. Orientation (vv. 17-18)
To whom are we presenting ourselves? Is our bondage one that leads to righteousness and life, or is it one that leads to sin death? The answer is found in our orientation.
If we have become new creations, we are oriented away from sin. The picture is one of being redeemed, set free from the bondage of sin, to now being in bondage to righteousness. Our sin which formerly brought us pleasure, now brings remorse. We now flee from the things we used to pursue. Prior to being converted, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, enjoyed a life of sexual immorality. One day, after his conversion, one of his lady friends met him on the street and he fled from her. She called out to him and said, It is I, to which he replied, But it is no longer I. Augustine proved his new orientation by his actions.
Fleeing sin and pursuing righteousness should be the orientation of all new creations in Christ. Our orientation must now be toward Christ; He is our new Master, the One we serve. The process of conversion is described in Ezekiel 36:26. ”And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” So, how do we know if we have a new heart? Look at your orientation. It will be oriented toward Christ and away from sin; it will be an orientation toward the truth of Scripture and away from “human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world” (Colossians 2:8).
Believers who have been oriented toward Christ have been oriented toward a new standard. Because we have new affections for God, found in the love of God, Acts 2:42 should describe us. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” This new orientation toward Christ is not something that we generate. It does not come from outside pressure, such as someone telling us what is expected of a Christian; it comes from within, from a new heart. The new orientation is manifested in a desire to know what pleases our new Master and to put off the things that offend Him. As Paul discussed the deeds done in darkness in Ephesians 5:3-13, he described what happens when a person turns to Christ in saving faith. In verse 14 he quotes portions of several verses found in Isaiah, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Just as sin (defilement) comes from within the heart, the desire for obedience to God also comes from within the heart. It is only the grace of God that can cause the fleeting pleasures of sin to become so odorous that we seek relief and flee to Christ. It is then that we have a desire to know God, to know His precepts, and to obey His laws. This is our new orientation.
This orientation toward a new standard results in new desires and new actions. We desire to be molded into a new image – the image of Christ. Solid biblical teaching, personal study and prayer are essential to being molded into the image of Christ. The desire to be so conformed means that we never have to use pressure to entice a Christian to study Scripture; the desire comes from within. In verse 17, Paul says that Christians “become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed”. Everyone who comes to know the Lord has within their heart a desire to know Scripture and to be conformed into the image of Christ.
A person might hear the true gospel preached in a church and be converted but, unless that church is also orienting its heart toward the truth of Scripture, unless that church is also orienting its heart to the standard of teaching being Christ, that person will become discontent. Such a person might not know why they are discontented; they just know that something is not right. Maybe a particular program or a particular ministry is missing? Many times, the missing element is just failure to conform to the standard of teaching that Paul is espousing. This is what they are seeking, so they begin to look for a church holding to the truth of Scripture. Failure to uphold the truth of Scripture is a valid reason for leaving a church, but oftentimes people leave a church for personal reasons: they don’t like this or that; their needs aren’t being met; they think that certain programs are missing; they have conflicts with another person, etc. We all need to understand that no church on earth is perfect, and we take comfort in knowing that God does not abandon us because we aren’t perfect. If the whole of Scripture is being faithfully and correctly taught, we should not let personal preferences divide us.
III. Sanctification (vv. 19-23)
Slaves of righteousness will willingly present themselves to obedience, naturally orienting their hearts toward Christ and away from the old orientation toward sin. The essence of these verses can be summarized as now that you know these things, i.e., verses 15-18, DO THEM. First, set yourself apart for God. When Paul says he is speaking in human terms, he means he is speaking as simply as possible. Throughout this passage, he continually uses the analogy of slavery so that his audience would fully understand the gravity of enslavement. A slave has no free will; he must obey his master. In verse 19 he says, “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” For just as you once loved your sin, now love righteousness. Love your new Master who is God. We must strive for righteousness, our sanctification, and it doesn’t come easy. If we present ourselves to God, holiness, or sanctification will be developed with us.
Since the Christian life is a difficult striving, what would motivate us to stay on the path? Paul answers this starting in verse 20. When we were slaves to sin, we were free with regards to righteousness; we had no desire for righteousness. Then he reminded us that the fruit of our sin was death. Paul is asking us to remember what we were like before being converted to Christ. Remembrance is your motivation. Don’t you remember what that sin brought you? It brought shame and it brought death. We need to remember these things and then present ourselves to righteousness. Our old master brought only shame, an empty life, the wrath of God, and death. We should find nothing attractive about our old life. We should never look back on our old life with favor. We may say that we disavow our old life and find no pleasure in the memory of our past sin, but do we? Are there times when we make excuses for past sins? We should never look favorably on sin that wreaks of death nor make excuses for past sins; rather, we must turn away from them and, instead, present ourselves to righteousness.
Because of the danger it poses, we must never even get close to a past sin. We were attracted to this sin in the past and we may still be vulnerable to it. It is similar to a magnet and an object containing iron. As long as the object with iron stays far enough away from the magnet, it is safe but, once it gets too close, the magnet grabs and holds on to it. We should never get to the point where we have to preach to ourselves that this is wrong, and I cannot allow myself to do this. We should think to ourselves, this wreaks of death and shame, and I am going to turn and present myself to God. There is nothing attractive in death. Paul is saying that as a slave of righteousness, we remember from where we came and allow that remembrance to sever our affections for that sin.
With our affections firmly fixed on our savior, we can clearly see our rewards. Verse 22 states “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” Paul is saying that as you examine your life you will see yourself progressing in holiness. This is sanctification. As you progress in holiness you will give praise to God, and you will remember where you are going. You will know that God has His hand on you because this you are progressing in holiness, and the only way you can grow in holiness is because God is working in your life. This should encourage us to continue to present ourselves to God in righteous service and worship. Sometimes there is confusion over what Paul is saying. This is the reason that he ends this section with one of the most famous verses in Scripture, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This statement is a final exclamation point on the idea that Paul is driving home in this section. He is saying, I don’t want you to be confused: there is one type of slavery that leads to death and there is another type of slavery that leads to life.
If we look at our life and ask ourselves why is this so difficult? Maybe it is because we have failed to present ourselves as slaves of righteousness. Few passages in Scripture tell us specifically what to do. This passage is one, Romans 12:1-2 is one and 2 Peter 1:5 is another: “For this very reason, make every effort...” (2 Peter) and “…present your bodies…” (Romans 12). Maybe there are still some areas in your old life that you have a fondness for, and death smells good. We must have only disdain for our former way of life. You cannot have a conversion in your life and still love sin. There cannot be a new creation that looks like the old creation. There must be evidence of growth in the fruit in your life.
A person can be convicted of sin without being a Christian. A person can be around Christians, learn their speak, see how they recoil at sin, and know and understand all the facts about Christianity. Maybe you have trained your conscience so that you are convicted by the same things that convict Christians. It doesn’t matter if you are growing in your knowledge of the Bible or if you are active in the church. What matters is that you become obedient from the heart. You look on Christ with absolute affection and love, and you desire to please your new Master. God puts that within us. Lest we become discouraged, we need to understand that at the moment of conversion we are not mature believers; sanctification is a life-long process. However, we should see the fruit of righteousness being developed in our life.
If you are a true Christian, you are called to a life of striving. If there is no striving, there is no fruit. If there is no fruit, maybe God is not working out anything in you. Jesus said, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) If there is no striving, there is no new Master. Beware if your life is easy! Striving is constantly searching for new sin in our life, putting it off, finding new sin, etc. Paul says to the Corinthians “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5) This is the test: If you are not striving against sin, maybe Jesus Christ is not in you. If striving is missing in your life, you fail to meet the test. If you want to solve this, repent and present yourself to Christ as a slave of righteousness. If you are striving against sin today, praise be to God who has granted us every spiritual blessing to overcome the sin in our life. As we strive against sin, we will see ourselves moving toward heaven in accordance with 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” This is the Christian walk, the Christian life. Present yourself to your new Master; orient your hearts toward this new standard; give praise for the fruit being developed in your life; and look forward to the glory of heaven.
Selah:
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