From Slavery to Slavery

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are the one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?... For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Grace does not set us loose to do as we please — it transfers our slavery from sin to righteousness.

A Prayer to Begin

Father, we thank You for this great declaration that we have been set free from sin. Lord Jesus, You came to save people from their sins; so God, we want to know at an experiential level what it means to be set free from our slavery to sin. Work in us, that we would know what it means to be servants of righteousness, to be Your servants. Make us a reflection of Your grace and glory in the world, that people would see in us Your goodness and righteousness being worked out. Transform us by the renewing of our minds, that we would glorify You. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Death to Sin and the New Birth

In the opening section of Romans 6 we examined the glorious reality of our death to sin, which came through our immersion, our baptism, in Christ. This is the new birth experience Jesus spoke of when Nicodemus, a religious teacher in Israel, came to Him by night in John 3. Nicodemus esteemed Jesus, saying no one could do these works unless God was with Him. But Jesus responded in a way Nicodemus didn't anticipate: "You must be born again."

This blew Nicodemus' mind. Over the next verses Jesus explains that God works by His Spirit to raise us to newness of life. This is symbolized in baptism, the sacrament practiced by every orthodox Christian church. Going down into the water and coming up out of it pictures what took place at the new birth: we have been buried with Him and raised to walk in newness of life. Baptism is a beautiful illustration of our death to sin and our resurrection to righteousness.

Standing in Grace

That passage concluded with the powerful declaration that we are not under the law but under grace. I am so thankful that we walk in the grace of Christ. Romans 5 told us we now stand in the grace of God and rejoice in the hope of His glory. We are planted in a grace we cannot exhaust; we cannot fathom the depths of how good His grace is toward us.

This last week there were many times I could look back and simply be thankful that God does not deal with us according to our sin. David spoke of that blessedness in Psalm 32 — "Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven," not accounted to him. That is what the grace of God has worked in us. We are no longer under the law but under grace.

The Inevitable Question

Just as Romans 5:20 — "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" — produced the question of chapter 6, verse 1, so now the closing thought of verse 14 produces the next inevitable question. Earlier Paul asked, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!" because we have died to sin. But then he said, "now you're not under the law, you're under grace."

So the question comes in verse 15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" If we've been released from the law, why not just continue to walk in sin?

What It Means to Be Released from the Law

It is difficult for us to grasp being released from the law, because we cannot imagine a life not governed by some moral or legal standard. It's like trying to comprehend infinity — our finite minds always have a starting point and an ending point, and eventually we hit the "blue screen of death" and have to think of something else.

Everything in our life is governed by a standard. We live in a society with laws, and that's a good thing. Sitting in L.A. traffic this week, it boggled my mind that all those independently operated cars move in the same direction with relatively few accidents — and the reason is that laws govern it. Remove the laws and there's chaos. And that governing situation is actually instituted by God.

Beyond society, we are individually governed by a conscience. As we saw in Romans 1, God has hardwired a moral law into every one of us; He is the moral lawgiver. We do transgress that conscience, but when we do, it alerts us. Paul says in Romans 2 our conscience accuses or excuses us. We constantly judge our own thoughts, words, and deeds — and everyone else's, especially in traffic. So we can hardly fathom being released from a codified ethic or that internal conscience.

Released from Judgment, Not from God's Law

When we read that we are not under the law, this does not mean there is no longer a standard for right and wrong, and it does not mean God's law is done away with. As we'll see in Romans 7:12, the law of God is holy, just, and good. It reveals righteousness, shows us what is holy, and exposes our unrighteousness against that standard.

What we have here is the recognition that the Christian is no longer under the judgment of God's law — we will not stand judged by it. Instead, we are under grace. The standard by which the Christian is judged is the grace of God in the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul so often describes our experience as being in Christ. On the cross Jesus bore all our sin, fulfilling Isaiah 53, and He took the just punishment of God's law upon sin into Himself. Because we are in Christ, we are sheltered from the judgment of the law.

Do we still do wrong things, still fall short of His glory? Yes. But we are no longer under the law's judgment because Jesus graciously bore that punishment, and we stand in His grace. In Ephesians 2 Paul says God will be showing the manifold riches of His grace toward us for all eternity. Our finite minds will need all of eternity to comprehend it. The grace of God breaks the backs of our words; every illustration falls short.

Diplomatic Immunity

So the question stands: if we no longer abide under the judgment of God's law, why not actively practice sin? The freedom we have in Christ is phenomenal — "whoever the Son sets free is free indeed." So why not just sin it up?

When I ponder this I think of the immunity afforded foreign diplomats under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Under Diplomatic Immunity, foreign diplomats are sheltered from lawsuit or prosecution under the laws of their host country. Theoretically, a diplomat could drive 150 miles an hour, run red lights, and park in the red zone — it isn't smart, but they have the ability because they're not under the host country's judgment.

Christians are essentially foreign diplomats. The Bible calls us citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20) and ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5). We have been released from the judgment of God's law here on earth. So theoretically, it would seem, we could do as we please.

Certainly Not — We Represent the King

Paul's answer is the same one he gave at the open of chapter 6: "Certainly not!" The King James says, "God forbid!" One translation renders it, "What a ghastly thought!" The New American Standard — probably the most accurate — says, "May it never be!"

We are the subjects of a righteous King and citizens of a righteous kingdom. Our conduct ought to be consistent with the King we serve and the kingdom we represent. If people in your workplace, on your campus, in your neighborhood, on the ball field are going to know what the King of kings and His kingdom are like, they are supposed to look at His ambassadors — you and me — and say, "That's what He's like."

That's convicting. Take a moment and think: this last week, how have we represented Him? If people get their picture of the character of Jesus from our lives, would they walk away with an accurate picture? That's a heavy reality.

You Are the Slave of Whom You Obey

Paul says in verse 16, "Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" The implication is, you ought to know this. The New Living Translation says, "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?"

The concept of slavery is foreign to us. We have a frame of reference from our own nation's history, and films like Spielberg's Lincoln bring it back to mind, but it's not on our radar. Tragically, human trafficking and slavery are still very real in the world, even in our own nation. But Paul's readers in Rome 2,000 years ago understood it intimately — more than 60% of the Roman Empire's population were slaves, taken from the nations Rome conquered over nearly a thousand years.

Rarely does someone choose to be a slave; one who did was called a bondservant, a servant by choice. But Paul's point is that whoever you present yourself to as a servant, you are that one's servant whom you obey. Jesus said in John 8:34, "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" — and "commits" means to perpetually practice sin. Whatever sin you perpetually practice has become your lord and master; it rules you.

What Rules Your Life?

A Christian, set free from sin, can still choose to make himself once again a slave to sin. And it is incredibly easy to determine the master passion of a person's life: show me your check register and your calendar, and I'll tell you what rules your life. Whatever you give your time and money to is what rules you.

Sadly, for many Americans the master passion is their job — we call them workaholics. By failing to take Sabbath, to rest from our labor, we actually commit lawlessness, and we become slaves of those things. So ask yourself this week: what is consuming the RAM of your brain on a daily basis?

The question is not, "Is it a Christian endeavor?" but, "Am I glorifying God in it?" You can glorify God in your work. God has called us to be in the world; in John 17 Jesus prayed, "I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You would be with them." He has placed you as a police officer, schoolteacher, CPA, or engineer, and in that work you can glorify Him. The question is whether you truly are.

Slavery That Leads to Death

Paul says it is "sin leading to death." Remember the context: chapters 4 and 5 dealt with justification, salvation by grace through faith. From chapter 6 through the middle of chapter 8 Paul addresses sanctification — God transforming Christians into His image. So this is spoken to believers. The death here is not eternal death or the judgment of hell, for in Christ we have been rescued from that. It is some form of death in the life of a Christian who submits to perpetually practicing sin.

Even the most righteous fall short. If I think of a righteous man, Billy Graham comes to mind — world leaders come to see this man of God who has served faithfully for decades. Yet if Billy were here, he would confess he falls short of God's glory. We will all sin. But slavery to sin is life-dominating sin, the sin that "so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12), that perpetually trips us up and we can't let go. Some in this room are bound up and constricted from godliness by such a sin, and at some level have allowed themselves to be its slave.

What It Means to Obey Sin

What does it mean to obey sin? Look back at verse 12: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts." The word "obey" in verse 16 is the same word used in verse 12. We allow sin to control us by submitting to whatever it desires. Because of Adam's sin — "through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin" — we carry corrupt flesh (1 Corinthians 15) with sinful passions that desire to covet, to lust, to rage. When we make good on those desires, we are obeying sin.

Consider how it works. If you have a desire to overeat and give in, you open yourself to the sin of gluttony — and our nation offers plenty of opportunity; the Hometown Buffet might as well be called Hometown Gluttony. If you give in to the desire to worry and fret over "what ifs," you open yourself to the sin of unbelief. If you give in to lust after someone, you open yourself to adultery of the heart (Matthew 5). If you lust after a new car, gadget, or job and give in, you have become a slave of covetousness. If you harbor malice and hatred toward someone, you open yourself to murder in the heart. We can go on all day.

We all know people who reach the end of life bitter, wretched, and mean — they gave in to anger and hatred until they were mastered by it and couldn't stop. And there are Christians who have served in church for 20 or 30 years yet are dominated by sin. God is gracious and wants to set us free. "There is therefore now no condemnation," as Romans 8 will say. We can walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and be free. This is victory in Christ.

Three Things Sin Does

When we obey sin, three things ultimately come into being. First, sin robs our joy. Over a decade ago a man who had been a Christian a long time told me, "I don't have any joy. God's called me to a ministry, and He's told me He's not going to allow joy in my life." I said, "That's not biblical." A joyless Christian is a good indication of a flesh-dominated life — the carnal Christian experience Paul describes in 1 Corinthians. Remember, the fruit of the Spirit is love, and the second is joy. If joy is absent, something is wrong.

Second, sin brings bondage and captivity to our will. If you feel you cannot get a handle on the sin that ensnares you, your will is in bondage. Sin will always bind you. Third, sin brings death of effectiveness and witness. If you are an ineffective witness for Christ, it may indicate bondage to life-dominating sin.

It is a pitiful, miserable existence to know theologically that you've been set free, yet be constantly dominated by sin — to have no joy in Christ and no pleasure in sin, because every time you sin you cry, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7). Have you ever experienced that? I have. It's terrible. God does not want His people in bondage. Matthew 1:21 — call Him Jesus, "for He will save His people from their sins."

But God Be Thanked

What can be done for the person robbed of joy, captive in will, dead in witness? Verse 17: "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

First and foremost, thank God. If the Holy Spirit convicts you so that you have no pleasure in sin, and you have no joy because of perpetual stumbling — thank God. Why? Because you were a slave to sin; the operative word is past tense. You are no longer under sin's dominion. The prison door is open. We saw earlier that we have died to sin; now we see we've been released from sin's power by the mighty power of God — by His death, burial, and resurrection, and by His grace which we apprehend by faith.

Go Back to the Beginning, Then Walk Forward

So what should the struggling Christian do? First, go back to the beginning: "you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine." We are set free by a heart-centered obedience to the doctrine — the gospel. Jesus said in John 6, "This is the work of God, that you believe." When you put your trust in Christ for salvation, you obeyed the gospel and were saved from your sin.

Second, walk in what you have been delivered unto. Notice the verse says "the form of doctrine to which you were delivered," not merely "by which." Both are true, and translations vary, but the point is rich: we were rescued out of sin and death and delivered into the gospel, into the good news of salvation from sin's power. We are now clothed in His righteousness and called to walk in it. By the power of God's Spirit we must actively walk in that righteousness.

This is the great truth of the passage: we have been set free from slavery to slavery. It's not that we are merely freed and now autonomous. We are set free from being mastered by sin to being mastered by another Master. Jesus redeemed us, buying us out of the slavery of sin to make us His servants, servants of righteousness.

Present Your Members to Righteousness

Verse 19: "I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh." Paul admits he is putting deeply spiritual, eternal realities into earthly terms we can grasp — just as Jesus did with Nicodemus, speaking of the new birth because the heavenly things were too much. So Paul uses the picture of slavery, because it's something his readers knew.

"For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness." Your members are any faculty under your control — your body and your mind. Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to use them for righteousness. Paul says in Philippians 4, "Don't worry about anything," and, "Whatever things are lovely, of good report, honorable, and true — think on those things." Set your mind above where Christ is, and use your body to bring glory to God.

Formerly we presented our members to uncleanness, producing lawlessness — and 1 John 3 says all sin is lawlessness. That was our former life. Now, set free, present your members as servants of righteousness. Second Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for instruction in righteousness. God is not into trickery; He doesn't tell us to do what we cannot do, because He is a good and loving Father. When He commands us to give our members as instruments of righteousness, He is commanding something He has given us the ability in Christ to do.

What Fruit Did You Have?

Verse 20: "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." When you were not a Christian, the influence of righteousness had no effect on you. Think back to your B.C. days — Before Christ. How many are thankful for A.D.? Verse 21: "What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?"

Do you still bear shame for things you said, thought, or did before Christ? What lasting fruit do you have from them? There may have been some passing pleasure of sin, as Hebrews 11 mentions, but is there any lasting fruit other than shame? "For the end of those things is death."

"But now," verse 22, "having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness" — another way to say it is saintliness — "and the end, everlasting life." Paul echoes Galatians 6: "God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows, that he shall also reap. If you sow to the flesh, you shall reap corruption; but if you sow to the Spirit, you shall reap everlasting life." Sin produces only death, but now you are free.

The Wages and the Gift

Verse 23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." All you gather from sinful living is death. For the Christian, that death is not eternal punishment, but if we choose continued, perpetual practice of sin we will experience death of some sort — the death of joy, the death of effectiveness.

Notice again, as in chapter 5 where Paul repeats it three times: "in Christ Jesus our Lord." The gift of eternal life is found only in Him. When you receive Him as Savior and Lord, you are set free from sin and death. Yes, your liberty is something like Diplomatic Immunity — you're no longer under the law, and you could use that liberty to bring yourself back into bondage, robbed of joy, your will bound, your witness dead. But in Christ you have also been set free unto a life that represents the King of kings and His kingdom well. Would to God that we would walk in that. As we move into chapter 7, we'll get good intel into how.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for this powerful passage of Scripture. We ask, God, that You would enable us, by Your grace and by the work of Your Spirit, to walk in those things that are both pleasing to You and satisfying to us. Lord, enable us to walk in a way that reflects Your grace and Your glory in the world, and to not allow sin to reign, rule, or have dominion over our members — those things You have given us the ability to control. Help us to walk today and this week in total reliance upon You, in a way that glorifies Your name. We ask this in Your precious name. Amen.