For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourself to someone to obey them as slaves, you are slaves to the one to whom you obey- whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 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. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6: 15-18, NIV.
Dear God, as we meet in Your holy presence, please shed the light of Your wisdom upon our study; we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The portion of our verse that we are going to concentrate on today has been the theme of our study in the past. We will see what new message the Holy Spirit will bring to us today. We have conducted our study of Grace and Law in a piecemeal fashion. I thought it would be easy to deal with in this manner. It is a topic that sparks a bit of controversy. That is because, as human beings, we like our view on a subject to be accepted by all. Let us be willing to dialogue, and learn from each other. I conducted this study as I have every other, as a devotional thought for “whosoever will.” This is the purpose of this website. Thank you for studying along with us.
Here comes another one of Paul’s questions; his favorite method – question and answer! And as usual, he answers his own question. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourself to someone to obey them as slaves, you are slaves to the one to whom you obey- whether you are slaves to sin which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 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. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
The question is quite straightforward. I paraphrase: “Don’t you know that whenever you surrender your life to someone in obedience you become their slave? This can either be to sin, that will eventually lead to death; or to obedience, that by and by, will end in right-doing?” It is that plain. Notice that I did not say, it is that simple. Because it is not. Both godliness, and sin, are mysteries (1 Timothy 3: 16; 1 Thessalonians 2: 7)! I found it quite interesting that some translations chose the word “lawlessness” instead of iniquity! Isn’t that the situation we described as existing when we do away with law? It is not the lack of law, that is being described here; it is a condition – sinfulness. When people cast aside law, to do as they please, the result is lawlessness, or sin! I repeat myself, Law was given to us, to show us our need, to show us the sin in our lives; that we might see our need of a Savior!
Praise God and hallelujah! Our Scripture ends on a note of praise! “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be [past tense] slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Thank You Jesus! We have been set free, because we were given grace, “the gift of God’s love!” By His marvelous, mercy-filled, matchless, grace, let us follow the leading of His Spirit!