Review
What we have just encountered in Romans 6 and Paul will elaborate on as he concludes chapter six is the difference between and .
Position (our standing in God’s eyes): to sin, to God.
Condition (our experience): still , sometimes .
Obedience and faith make our condition match our position.
Paul has already taught us that knowing our position alone isn’t enough. He gave us two more words to round out his teaching: consider and present.
Romans 6:11 (ESV)
Romans 6:12–13 (ESV)
Here in Romans 6:15-23 Paul will explain how our determine what we .
Paul concluded 6:1-14 with the declaration that we are not under the law but under grace.
This led to a question very much like the one in verse 1. In answering it, Paul explains the importance what he said in verses 12 and 13 about who we present the members of our body to.
The lead-in, another question about , 15
Does encourage sin?
Verse 15 parallels verse 1 (Are we to continue in sin that grace my abound?)
Paul’s immediate response is the same: !
To the question in verse 1 Paul said the reason the answer is no is the truth about the new nature of the believer: they are dead to sin and alive to God
To answer the question of verse 15 Paul says the reason the answer once again is no is the truth about yielding ourselves to obey someone or something. It makes us the slave of whatever we yield ourselves to.
The explanation. Four assertions, 16-23
I. Know it or not, someone is in control of you, 16
Paul uses the idea of slavery to illustrate the truth behind our choices.
Paul appeals to a commonly known truth (cf. vv. 3, 6, 9), this time to a frequent occurrence in the ancient world, selling oneself into slavery to avoid debt. It has been estimated that percent of the population of Rome and the Italian peninsula either was or had been slaves
How we become slaves: we “present” ourselves to someone or something.
“Present” – the voluntary act of putting oneself at the disposal of someone or something.
We could use the word ‘yield’ or ‘offer ourselves’ as good definitions.
Slavery is to serve and obey someone or something.
If we yield ourselves to we become the slave of
This slavery leads to
If we yield ourselves to we become the slave of
This slavery leads to
This leaves us with just two choices: will we be the slaves of or of ?
This helps explain why Paul wrote the way he did in Romans 6:12:
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
II. We can who is in control, 17-18
In the past, we were .
Then we obeyed the good news
When we did, we were set free from slavery to sin.
We are now slaves of .
This can be the change can make. If you want to change masters, you start by believing in and doing what the good news of the gospel says. You of (turn away from) sin, and turn to Jesus, and receive the gift of eternal life that he offers because he died in your place.
III. We must choose , 19
The decision to change our master to God must be followed up with a life consistent with that choice.
Romans 6:13
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
The word present is in the Greek present tense, carrying the idea of action, on-going offering of our members up to God rather than to sin.
Remember our choice: we presented our members as slaves to sin
What that produced:
Our choice: to present our members as slaves to righteousness
What that will produce:
IV. Who is in control determines of our life, 20-23
The outcome of yielding to sin, 20-21
No
Parenthesis: Christians need to remember, 22a
We’ve been from sin
We have become
The outcome of yielding to God, 22b
We can get what we or we can receive what we deserve, 23
Sin
Those wages are (eternal) death
Eternal life is
That life is in Christ Jesus our Lord
It belongs to those who turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus alone as their Savior.
CONCLUSION
The answer to the question, should we continue in sin since we are no longer under the law but under grace is another question. Who do you want to be to? Sin or God?
Daily, moment by moment: “God I give my mind, my heart, my feelings, my desires, my will, my hands, eyes, lips, and feet.”
Notice if you haven’t already that Paul is unambiguous here. It’s sin or God. There is no middle ground, no way to be free of being a slave to one of these.
Dr. Douglass Moo says, “One is never “free” from a master, and those non-Christians who think that they are “free” are under an illusion created and sustained by Satan. The choice with which people are faced is not “Should I retain my freedom or give it up and submit to God?” but “Should I serve sin or should I serve God?””
The truth is, you will .
As the great ‘theologian’ Bob Dylan once wrote:
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Gotta Serve Somebody, Bob Dylan, copyright 1979
You have a choice. Who or what are you going to serve? There are only two options. You can serve God or you will serve sin.