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2. Freedom from the Law Facilitates our Deliverance from Sin (Roman 6:15-23)
ROMANS 6:15-22
15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! 16 Don’t you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto you were delivered. 18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification. 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
The cunning questions of the Jews reechoed once again in Paul’s mind: Shall we sin, because we are not under the Law, but are delievered by grace?
Paul entirely rejected this satanic question, for it was produced not by the Holy Spirit, but by the regions. Paul testified to the believers that they had willfully and absolutely put themselves at the disposal of Christ for his love, and therefore they became free from the power of sin and the complaints of the law, bearing the life and righteousness of God in themselves. Whoever claims the freedom of man without the fear of God is a liar. Dr. Luther compares man to a donkey, in his statement that the individual is unable to live without a master, because someone must ride on him. You are ridden either by the devil or by God. When God becomes your God, and you carry him gladly, and serve him continuously and diligently, then despair, sin and the power of death end in you. Instead hope, peace, and true spiritual freedom begin. Christ has delivered you, not to indifference and amusement, but to the service of God, and doing good to others in the guidance of the spirit of righteousness. Through obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, your conscience is relieved. Without this fellowship in the Spirit of Christ, you remain in despair and misery.
Christ himself testified that he had a yoke, though he himself was free and the eternal God. However, he gladly submitted to his Father’s yoke, and obeyed even to death, the death of the cross. Divine love made Jesus a bondservant to carry away the sin of the world. So, why don’t you follow him? Do you carry the sin of your friends, and suffer from their negligence? Do not be upset, but set your heart on their salvation and spriritual deliverance. The love of God urges you towards the redemption of all.
Life with Christ guides you to serve many, not theoretically or emotionally, but with resolution, sacrifice, and with all your strength. Just as you spent your time, money, and gifts in the past on false amusement, now put all of your abilities in the service of Christ and the salvation of the others. Comfort those who mourn, visit the sick, help the hungry, study with the weak, and enlighten those who seek righteousness with the gospel.
The love of Christ embodied in believers is patient hope in our unjust world. Have you become a servant of Christ, and a bondservant of the love of his Son? If so, sin has no power over you, having passed through death with your repentance, having been crucified with Christ, filled with his Holy Spirit, and established in his eternal life. You have a great hope with all those who live in Christ.
ROMANS 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This golden verse sums up the whole gospel, clearly telling us the fruit of the natural man, and the great thing which Jesus Christ gives.
1. We die because we sin. Death is unavoidable because we are sinful. And since all men are sinful, all die. This is the consequence of life.
2. But he who believes in Christ, receives the gift of God. This gift is not silver, gold, or any precious material, nor can it be found among the elements of the whole world. Instead it comes directly from the heart of God, and truly dwells in our hearts. He gives his own life to all those who were crucified with his Son, that they may participate in his reign forever. He does so because he is the Lord of Lords, and he reigns with his Father and Holy Spirit; one God, forever and ever.
PRAYER: We worship you O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because you took us away from our involvement with sins and offenses, delivered us from the cords of death, carried us to the expanses of Christ, and filled us with the life of your Holy Spirit that we might not die forever, but live with and in you because of your great grace.
QUESTION:
- What is the difference between the bondage to sin and death, and the love of Christ?