We just skipped a really important
portion of Romans (6:1-14),
and the reason I did so is because we discussed
that passage last year when we talked about soteriology. Of course, this should
surprise no one, since Romans is the most complete theological treatise on the
subject. Just to summarize: Christ has done some things for you, and once you
place your faith in Christ, those truths will never change: You died with
Christ, you rose with Christ, and therefore you cannot live the way you used
to. Paul doesn't mean that you shouldn't live in sin any longer, although
that would be true too. No, he’s saying that because of what Christ has done,
if you are a true believer in Christ, you will not be able to live like you
once did. Notice the indicative
mood: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the
law, but under grace.” Your part is to demonstrate this truth. Notice the imperative
mood: “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its
evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of
wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who
have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him
as an instrument of righteousness.” Those are what you are expected—by his
empowering grace—to do. I have some further thoughts on this here and here.
He starts out the passage once again
with a question and answer. You can just see Paul getting angrier and angrier
as he visualizes his opponents (or confused Christians) asking “Shall we sin
because we are not under the law but under grace?” And once again he gives the
exact same answer he’s given to similar questions: Me genoito, the strongest possible negative in the Greek language.
The very thought that God’s message of salvation by grace through faith
could lead someone to ask a question like that apparently set his teeth on
edge.
On a side note, I’ve heard it said
that Paul and James were fellow warriors standing back-to-back fighting enemies
on opposite sides: Paul was fighting legalism (i.e., adding anything to the
Good News of Jesus), and James was fighting antinomianism.
There is truth in that picture, since they definitely had different emphases. But
we need to be careful here. Again, the very idea that a Christian
could ever come to a conclusion that he can continue a lifestyle of sin--
instead of progressing in Christlikeness--was something Paul fought just as stridently as James did, as
we’ve seen time and time and time again here in Romans.
Anyway, back to the passage. In
answer to the foolish question he asked at the beginning of today’s passage.
Here’s my summary of his answer: “Everybody’s a slave to somebody.” You don’t
get to choose whether you’re a slave or not. You’re going to be a slave to one
of two “masters,” and your only choice is which “master” you’re going to obey.
One “master” is sin. If you choose
it as your master, then it pays certain wages: Ever increasing depravity which
ultimately and inevitably leads to death. If you’ve seen my presentation of “one verse evangelism,” then you know that “death” in the Bible is talking about
separation. We use the same type of verbiage when we tell an estranged relative
“You’re dead to me.” Physical death is being separated from your body. But
ultimately (and inevitably) sin leads to spiritual death, being separated from
God—in this life, and leading into eternity.
The only alternative is the “master”
Righteousness. Now’s a good place for me to explain why I keep putting the term
“master” in quotes, and it’s an important point. Paul says in vs. 19 “I am
using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations.” I think
the reason he inserts this is because using the term “slavery” for our
relationship with Christ can be a little misleading if we’re not careful.
Slavery—back in Paul's day up to and including modern times—had a connotation of a
harsh taskmaster who beats the ones who are enslaved. No one wants to be a
slave in the normal sense of the word. Jesus specifically said
that he no longer calls us servants but his friends.
Now to be sure, using the term
“slavery” in regards to the other side is entirely
appropriate. The harshest plantation owner of the Antebellum South--the
cruelest, most inhumane, most monstrous slave owner who ever lived in the
history of mankind--was a mere piker compared to the Enemy of our souls.
But there are some ways in which the
illustration (slavery) fits for this side of salvation. Like a slave, you’ve been bought and paid for. You
belong to him. This means that when he tells you to do something, you do it. And
with both masters, there are results from our service. Once again, the
illustration isn’t perfect (which Paul admits): We really don’t earn “wages”
from our “master” in the sense of getting what we deserve. What he gives us is
a gift (vs. 23). But being “slaves” or “servants” of God-- in stark contrast to the alternative--does lead to some
really wonderful benefits: increasing
holiness and eternal life.
This really calls for careful
thought and reading. He’s not really commanding us to take Christ as our
“master.” He uses the indicative, not the imperative, mood in vss. 17-18:
“Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to
obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your
allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
This echoes what he said back in vs. 14: “Sin shall no longer be your master,
because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
So what is his command to us? What’s
the point here? It’s the same type of command he gave back in vss. 1-14: You have been set free by Christ. You are no
longer a slave to sin. Live like it. “Just as you used to offer yourselves
as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer
yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.” You don’t belong to
sin anymore, and you certainly don’t belong to yourself. You belong to him.
This will show up to some degree in
your life if you really belong to Christ. That’s a given. But way too often
someone looking at us from the outside could be confused as to whom we’re
serving. We need to change that. More and more, we need to demonstrate that we
belong to the One who bled and died for us.
Lord Jesus, it’s really understandable
if people get confused about to whom I belong, based on how I act. Way too
often I don’t act like I belong to you. But I do. Please help me to show it.
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