ii. This is exactly the place many Christians are. They are, and have been, legally set free from their slavery to sin, yet they are unsure of that truth. The following verses give practical help in living out the freedom Jesus has granted us.

 6. (13-14) How to walk in the freedom Jesus has given us.

 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

 a. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God: A person can be "officially” set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren’t ingrained in their life yet. Here, Paul shows how to build the habits of freedom in the Christian life.

 i. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother’s name was Raynald, but he was commonly called "Crassus,” a Latin nickname meaning "fat,” for he was horribly obese. After a heated battle, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him and assumed the title of Duke over his lands. But instead of killing Raynald, Edward devised a curious imprisonment. He had a room in the castle built around "Crassus,” a room with only one door. The door was not locked, the windows were not barred, and Edward promised Raynald that he could regain his land and his title any time that he wanted to. All he would have to do is leave the room of his imprisonment. The obstacle to freedom was not in the doors or the windows, but with Raynald himself. Being grossly overweight, he could not fit through the door, even though it was of near-normal size. All Raynald needed to do was diet down to a smaller size, then walk out a free man, with all he had before his fall. However, his younger brother kept sending him an assortment of tasty foods, and Raynald’s desire to be free never won out over his desire to eat. Some would accuse Duke Edward of being cruel to his older brother, but he would simply reply, "My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” But Raynald stayed in that room for ten years, until Edward himself was killed in battle.

 ii. What an accurate picture showing the experience of many Christians! Jesus has set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement and imprisonment.

 b. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: This is the first key to walking in the freedom Jesus Christ has won for us is. We are told to not present the parts of our body to the service of sin. The New Living Translation communicates the idea well: Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning.

 i. Your members are the parts of your body - your ears, lips, eyes, hands, mind, and so forth. The idea is very practical: "You have eyes. Do not put them in the service of sin. You have ears. Do not put in the in the service of sin.”

 ii. Instruments could be better-translated weapons. The parts of our body are weapons in the battle for right living. When the parts of our body are given over to righteousness, they are weapons for good. When they are given over to sin, they are weapons for evil.

 iii. An example of this is how God used David’s hands in the slaying of Goliath for righteousness. Later, sin used David’s eyes for unrighteousness when he looked upon Bathsheba.

 c. But present yourselves to God: This is the second key to walking in the freedom Jesus has won for us is. It isn’t enough to take the weapons away from the service of sin. They must then be enlisted in the service of righteousness - and, as in any warfare, the side with superior weapons usually wins.

 i. The idea is similar to the manner in which the priests in the Old Testament consecrated their bodies to God. Sacrificial blood was applied to the ear, to the thumb, and on the big toe, showing that those parts of their body (and all other parts) belonged to God and were to be used for His glory. (Exodus 29:20)

 ii. We present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead. This first has the idea that all connection with the previous life - the old man - must be done away with. That life is dead and gone. Secondly, it has the idea of obligation, because we owe everything to the One who has given us new life!

 d. For sin shall not have dominion over you: Spurgeon said that these words give us a test, a promise, and an encouragement.

 i. It is a test of our claim to be Christians. Does anger have dominion over you? Does murmuring and complaining? Does covetousness have dominion over you? Does pride? Does laziness have dominion over you? If sin has dominion over us, we should serious ask if we are really converted.

 ii. It is promise of victory. It doesn’t say that "sin will not be present in you,” because that will only be fulfilled when we are resurrected in glory. But it does promise that sin will not have dominion over us because of the great work Jesus did in us when we were born again.

 iii. It is an encouragement for hope and strength in the battle against sin. God hasn’t condemned you under the dominion of sin - He has set you free in Jesus. This is encouragement for the Christian struggling against sin, for the new Christian, for the backslider.

 e. For you are not under law but under grace: This is the path, the means, by which we can live in this freedom. It will never happen in a legalistic, performance oriented Christian life. It will happen as we live not under law but under grace.

 i. Law clearly defined God’s standard, and shows us where we fall short of it. But it cannot give the freedom from sin that grace provides. Remember that grace reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21). Grace, not law provides the freedom and the power to live over sin.

 ii. This shows again that a life lived truly under grace will be a righteous life. Grace is never a license to sin. "To treat being under grace as an excuse for sinning is a sign that one is not really under grace at all.” (Bruce)

 f. Not under law but under grace is another way to describe the radical change in the life of someone who is born again. For the Jewish person of Paul’s day, living life under law was everything. The law was the way to God’s approval and eternal life. Now, Paul shows that in light of the New Covenant, we are not under law but under grace. His work in our life has changed everything.

 i. Paul has answered his question from Romans 6:1. Why don’t we just continue in habitual sin so that grace may abound? Because when we are saved, when our sins are forgiven and God’s grace is extended to us, we are radically changed. The old man is dead, and the new man lives.

 ii. In light of these remarkable changes, it is utterly incompatible for a new creation in Jesus to be comfortable in habitual sin. A state of sin can only be temporary for the Christian. As Spurgeon is credited with saying: "The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul.”

 iii. John states the same idea in another way: Whoever abides in Him does not (habitually) sin. Whoever (habitually) sins has neither seen Him nor known Him . . . Whoever has been born of God does not (habitually) sin, for his seed remains in him; and he cannot (habitually) sin, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:6 and 9)

 iv. The changes may not come all at one time, and they may not come to each area of the life at the same time, but they will be there and they will be real and they will be increasing and time goes on.

 g. God has made us "safe” for grace by changing us as we receive God’s grace; He sets us free and equips us to live righteously before Him. Since we have died to sin, it is unthinkable that we could continue our former practice of sin. Once the caterpillar has been made a butterfly, the butterfly has no business crawling around on trees and leaves like a caterpillar again.

 i. "God has so changed your nature by his grace that when you sin you shall be like a fish on dry land, you shall be out of your element, and long to get into a right state again. You cannot sin, for you love God. The sinner may drink sin down as the ox drinketh down water, but to you it shall be as the brine of the sea. You may become so foolish as to try the pleasures of the world, but they shall be no pleasures to you.” (Spurgeon)

 B. The believer under grace and the problem of occasional sin.

 1. (15) A new question is asked: shall we sin (occasionally) because we are not under law but under grace?

 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

 a. Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Paul has convinced us that a lifestyle of habitual sin is not compatible with one whose life is changed by grace. But what about an occasional sin here and there? If we are under grace, not law, must we be so concerned about a little sin here and there?

 b. Shall we sin: Again, the verb tense of the ancient Greek word sin is important (the aorist active tense). It indicates dabbling in sin, not a continual habitual sin described in the question of Romans 6:1.

 i. "The verb in verse one is in the present subjunctive, speaking of habitual, continuous action. The verb in verse fifteen is in the aorist subjunctive, referring to a single act.” (Wuest)

 2. (16-17) Spiritual principles we need to understand in order to answer the question.

 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? 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.

 a. To whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves: Whatever you present yourself to obey, you become its slave. For example, if I "obey” my appetite constantly, I am a slave to it. So we have a choice in our slavery: sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness.

 i. One way or another, we will serve somebody. The option to live our life without serving either sin or obedience isn’t open to us.

 b. Though you were slaves of sin: Paul puts it in the past tense because we have been freed from our slavery to sin. He also says that we have been set free by faith, which he describes as obedience from the heart. The faith is put in God’s Word, which he describes as that form of doctrine. All in all, the point is clear: "You put your faith in God and His Word, and now you are set free. Now live every day consistent with that freedom.”

 i. As was seen earlier in Romans 6, we can be legally free and still choose to live like a prisoner. Paul has a simple command and encouragement for the Christian: be what you are.

 ii. Obedience from the heart is a wonderful description of faith. It shows that faith comes from the heart, not only the mind. It shows that faith results in obedience because if we really believe something we will act according to that belief.

 c. The phrase that form of doctrine is part of a beautiful picture. The word form describes a mold used to shape molten metal. The idea is that God wants to shape us - first He melts us by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Then He pours us into His mold of truth - that form of doctrine and shapes us into His image.

 i. Adam Clarke on that form of doctrine: "Here Christianity is represented under the notion of a mould, or die, into which they were cast, and from which they took the impression of its excellence. The figure upon this die is the image of God, righteousness and true holiness, which was stamped on their souls in believe the Gospel and receiving the Holy Ghost. The words . . . refer to the melting of metal, which, when it is liquefied, is cast into the mould, that it may receive the impression that is sunk or cut in the mould; and therefore the words may be literally translated, into which mould of doctrine ye have been cast. They were melted down under the preaching of the word, and then were capable of receiving the stamp of its purity.”

 3. (18) Why not then, occasionally sin? Because sin is not our master, and we no longer serve it.

 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

 a. Having been set free from sin: What does it mean to be free from sin and to become a slave of righteousness? It means that sin is no longer your boss or your master. Now righteousness is your boss, so serve righteousness instead of sin. It isn’t right to think about pleasing your old boss when you change jobs.

 b. Slaves of righteousness: What does it mean to be a slave? A slave was more than an employee. Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest defines the ancient Greek word for a slave here by these terms:

 ·        One born into a condition of slavery

·        One whose will is swallowed up in the will of another

·        One who is bound to the master with bounds that only death can break

·        One who serves his master to the disregard of his own interest

 The following was once true in regard to our slavery to sin:

 ·        We were born as slaves to sin

·        Our will was swallowed up and captive to the will of sin within us

·        Our bondage to sin was so strong that only death - spiritually dying with Jesus on the cross - could break the bondage

·        We were so enslaved to sin that we served it to the disregard of our own interest, even when sin destroyed us

 Now the following is true in regard to our slavery to righteousness:

 ·        We are born again, now as slaves to righteousness

·        Our will is now swallowed up in the will of God. It is His will that matters to us, not our own

·        We are bound to Jesus with bonds that only death can break; but since He has triumphed over death and given us eternal life, those bonds will never be broken!

·        We now willingly serve Jesus to the disregard of our own interests

 c. Because we have been set free from sin, we never have to sin again. Though sin is inevitable until our flesh is resurrected in glory, it isn’t because God has designed a system by which we must sin.

 i. Sinless perfection in this body is an illusion. The Apostle John made this clear in 1 John 1:8: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Yet we know that in the power of Jesus Christ, we can resist the next temptation - and that’s all Jesus wants us to be concerned with.

 ii. "Because of the frailty of man, the Christian at infrequent intervals does yield to the evil nature and sin. But the point is, God has so constituted him, that he need not do so.” (Wuest)

 d. It is mockery to tell a slave, "Don’t behave as a slave” - but you can say that to someone who is set free. Jesus Christ tells us to no longer behave as if we were slaves to sin. We have been set free; now we are to think and live as free people.

 4. (19-23) How to keep from enslaving ourselves.

 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. 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. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 a. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh: Paul apologizes for using slavery as an illustration, because it was so degrading and pervasive, and especially because many of his Roman readers were slaves. Yet he knows that this is an illustration that works well with his readers.

 b. You presented your members . . . so now present: Paul repeats a point made earlier. First, present your members as slaves to righteousness. This means that we don’t show up for work to our old boss.

 i. Can you imagine? A new job, and the first day on the new job you leave work at lunch time and go to your old job and ask your old boss what he wants you to do. It just isn’t right!

 c. Lawlessness leading to more lawlessness: Paul describes a principle ingrained in human nature. Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. Righteousness leads to holiness - which is more righteousness. This describes the dynamic power of our habits and how we move along in the direction we are pointed.

 i. Think of four trees in a row: one at one year of growth, the second at five years, the third at ten years, and the last at 15 years. Which tree will be the most difficult to pull up out of the ground? Obviously, the longer we are rooted in a behavior the harder it is to uproot it - a principle that works both for good and evil.

 d. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness: Paul’s point is almost humorous. When we were slaves of sin, we were free all right - free in regard to righteousness. Some freedom!

 e. What fruit did you have then: To walk in victory over sin, we must think rightly about the fruit of sin. The end of those things is death: The end product of sin is death - not fun. But the end product of righteousness is everlasting life.

 i. In a time of temptation, these truths can seem unreal - so we must rely on our faith in these things, not on our feelings while being tempted.

 ii. "Consider these three things: 1. How little fruit and satisfaction your former sins have afforded you in the very time of committing them. 2. How nothing but shame and sorrow doth follow upon the remembrance of them. 3. How death, yea, eternal death and damnation (unless pardoning grace and mercy prevent it,) will be the certain conclusion of them.” (Poole)

 f. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord: When you work for sin, your wages are death. When we serve God we get no pay - but He freely gives us the best benefit package imaginable.

 i. Wages of sin: "Every sinner earns this by long, sore, and painful service. O! What pains do men take to get to hell! Early and late they toil at sin; and would not Divine justice be in their debt, if it did not pay them their due wages?” (Clarke)

 g. Answering his question from Romans 6:15, Paul has made it clear: As believers, we have a change of ownership. The Christian is to fight against even occasional sin because we need to work for and under our new Master. It isn’t appropriate for us to work for our old master.

 © 2002 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission