With the yesterday post in mind, we will look at Romans 6:20 NKJV: “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” This verse is referring to our previous slavery, the slavery we were born under, the slavery to sin, when we had no choice, no freedom to do righteousness. When we were slaves to sin, sin our master, gave us no freedom to do righteousness. This is what Paul means when he says we were free in regards to righteousness. We were incapable of producing genuine righteousness. We did many good things. Unbelievers are capable of doing many good things but their goodness is only in terms of outward performance. It is impossible for an unbeliever, for a person who is not living under grace, to do genuine righteousness, that is, righteousness without a selfish motive. We are born slaves to self. We are born egocentric. This is our slavery to sin because at the very heart of every sin is self. Because of our slavery to sin, it is impossible for us to do right things, good things, with an unselfish motive. Very often that selfish motive is hidden from our own conscience but the Bible makes it clear that all our righteousness is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In Zechariah 3, we are told that filthy rags is synonymous with iniquity and iniquity in Hebrew means bent towards self or selfishness or the works of selfishness. Paul tells us that before we were converted, all that we did, good and bad things, were polluted with self. We were free in regards to genuine righteousness. Paul asks, in verse 21, what fruit we had then in the things of which we are now ashamed for the end of those things is death. Paul says: The fruits of our slavery to sin was the fruit unto death. The wages of sin is death. Sin, our slave master, gives us no peace, no joy but a curse and death. When we were under sin before our conversion, all we produced were sins and the fruits of that sin, the ultimate end of those sins, was death. But now that we have accepted Jesus Christ, now that we have obeyed the gospel from the heart, no longer do we condone sin. In fact, we are ashamed of those things that we did. Now, in verse 22 NKJV, he says, “But now.” Paul says to believers who have accepted the gospel, who have come under the umbrella of justification by faith or the umbrella of the grace of God, “having been set free from sin.” Notice the word “sin” here is in the singular. He is not referring to the acts of sin. The gospel saves us from the condemnation of the acts of sin but here Paul is not dealing with the acts of sin but sin as a principle, sin as a slave master. Paul continues, “and have become slaves of God.” Notice the gospel exchanges one slavery for another. There is no such thing, in the spiritual realm, of genuine freedom. Either we are a slave of sin or we are a slave of Jesus Christ. Slaves we have to be but slaves of Christ is not something negative. It is something wonderful because Jesus is a benevolent Master. He is not out to use us but to bless us. Our Masters greatest concern is our joy, our peace and our happiness. Therefore, to be a slave of Jesus Christ is not something terrible but something wonderful. Paul says, “and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness.” (NKJV) Living under the slavery to God, living under grace, abiding in Christ, means that He, through His Spirit, lives in us and produces fruits as we saw in our previous study, “If you will abide in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” The result is that God will be pleased. This is the privilege of living under grace. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, we have our fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. The gospel is a wonderful plan of salvation. It is a plan of salvation that saves us totally and completely from the tyranny of sin. Many Christians think the gospel only saves us from the guilt and punishment of sin and because of this they condone sin. No, the gospel saves us not only from the guilt and punishment of sin, it also saves us from the power and the slavery to sin, it also saves us from the nature and presence of sin. This third part of salvation will not be ours as a tangible reality until Christ comes. But while we are living in this sinful world, while we still have sinful bodies but living under grace, it is possible for Christians to live a holy life because their slave master does not demand righteousness from them but is able to produce righteousness in them. All that God demands from us under grace is that we abide in Christ.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 02:02:01 +0000
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