Dear Student of the Word,
It's been a few weeks, so it's time for another installment of our Romans study. This week we look at Paul's teaching on being a slave, either to sin or righteousness. While slavery is a word that may be offensive to you, let's not let that get in the way of what Paul was trying to say. Here is what I had to say in part three of this seven-part study:
Study Six, Part Three
13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
6:13 – This is a command: Do not surrender your body to sin! So if it is a command, then it must be under your control to do so. Yet without the Spirit’s presence in your life, you would not be able to even consider doing this. There are times when you have probably had to pray like this: “Lord, I don’t like that person. Lord, I can’t like that person. But you can through me. So right now I ask you to do what I can’t—I ask you to allow your love to flow through me.”
Or at another time you perhaps have prayed: “Lord, I’m worried. I know I shouldn’t, but I do. And I can’t “not” worry. So I am asking that your peace and faith flow through me right now.” This is an example of how to offer your body as an instrument of righteousness. Do you need to follow the same pattern and pray that prayer in some area of your life?
6:14 – Sin shall not be your master. That seems like a far-fetched statement. Yet the very fact that you are conscious of your sin says that sin no longer has the hold over you that it once did. The very fact that you are concerned about sin means that the passing pleasure of sin no longer holds the attraction that it once had.
6:15 – You do not sin so that grace can come into your life. That would like getting sick so you can take more medication. Health is better than sickness, wellness is better than medication and righteousness is better than the grace that follows sin.
6:16 – It seems that it is your choice as to whom you will serve, but then the one that you serve will exert power and influence over your life. If you choose sin, then sin will dominate you and you will be its slave. If you choose obedience, then the power of the Spirit will dominate you and you will serve Him. The choice is yours. Have you chosen wisely and well, or do you need to make better choices as to whom and what you will serve?
It seems that you are destined to be a “slave.” It is just a matter of who will be your master. Someone who chooses not to be a slave of Christ is not free; he or she is simply a slave to the power of sin. Slavery can be a “loaded” word, but it applies here to the issue of sin and righteousness. Do you want to be a slave of obedience?
As always, I welcome your comments to this week's study. For additional Bible studies, check out my website archive, which contains a complete collection of all my verse-by-verse New Testament studies, along with the unpublished volume of The Faith Files.
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