In the section of Romans 6 just before our Epistle reading for today, St. Paul tells us about our new status before God. Romans 6:6-11 states, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We were once dead in our trespasses and sins and enslaved to sin. But our new status that Christ has won for us is that we are no longer slaves to sin, but are freed from sin. We are now deat to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We were once in the thick darkness of sin, but the light of Christ now shines upon us.
We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are now free from sin in Christ Jesus. But what does this freedom mean? Is it now a license to do whatever we want? St. Paul says that our freedom in Christ is not an opportunity to do whatever we want. Romans 6:16 says, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” If we think that freedom in Christ just means we have a license to sin, we make ourselves slaves to sin once again! To the contrary, St. Paul argues in Romans 6:17-18, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
That’s the message that our text has for us today from Romans 6: You have been set free from sin to be a slave to righteousness.
In order to understand our freedom in Christ, we first have to understand the severity of our slavery to sin. All of us are born in sin, and unable to please God because of that sinful state. St. Paul says in Romans 3:11-12, “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Our sinful human nature has corrupted us so deeply that we cannot do good at all by our own power. We are bound to sin and can only act sinfully. This state we find ourselves in outside of Christ is called original sin.
Christ sees us in this sinful state and comes to save us. He became one of us, lived a perfect life on our behalf, died in our place, and paid the penalty for our sin. Through His suffering, death, and resurrection, He freed us from slavery to sin through His own blood. St. Paul says in Romans 3:23-25, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” His blood is a propitiatory sacrifice that forgives my sins, and I receive His forgiveness by faith. Because of His blood shed for me, I am no longer a slave to sin, but Christ has freed me!
Now that I have been set free from sin through the blood of Christ, what does my life look like? St. Paul makes clear that this freedom from sin doesn’t just mean we can do whatever we want. You have been given a new status through the blood of Christ. You are God’s own child. What does life as God’s child look like? St. Paul describes it as being a “slave to righteousness.”
Does this language disturb us? Maybe you think, “Paul, I’d rather just be a slave to no one!” We have to understand that when Paul uses this language of “slave to righteousness,” he’s not referring to some kind of abusive or authoritarian relationship between God and us. Rather, he’s talking about obedience and whose way you love to follow. Paul himself is content to call himself the “slave of Christ Jesus” in his introduction of the letter to the Romans. Why is this? Well, Paul has made clear that you will always be a slave to something in this life. Again, quoting Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” We like to think that we can think freely and forge our own destiny, choosing our own path. Paul tells us the reality. All those “independent choices” we make are actually made by our sinful human nature who always wants to be contrary to God’s will. Even when we think we’re free outside of Christ, we’re just doing the will of Satan who ultimately wants our death. In contrast, to be a slave of Christ is to do the will of the One who loves us, has redeemed us with His own blood, and wants to give us life! This is in no way a hateful relationship, but one of love and obedience to the One who loves us. Calling ourselves “slaves to righteousness” or “slaves of Christ” is a blessed estate!
This new status of slaves to righteousness enters us into the battle against the flesh. We no longer just obey the flesh to sin whenever temptations come. Rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we war against the lusts and temptations of the flesh. We also endure the persecution from the world on account of the name of Christ like Jesus spoke of in Matthew 10, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
The Spirit who lives within us causes us to walk in the ways of Christ and learn to hate the ways of the flesh. Jeremiah said in our Old Testament reading from Jeremiah 20, “If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” The Spirit urged him that he must speak the Word of God even when he was tempted not to. Likewise, the Spirit dwells within us to urge us to do the will of the Father and to resist the ways of the flesh.
The Spirit dwells within you to walk in the ways of Christ, as St. Paul says in Romans 6, “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. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” This is who you are in Christ! You are a saint of God and sin does not have dominion over you. This is why St. Paul can so confidently say: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
Does this mean that you will not sin in this life? No. You will continue to struggle with sin while you still live in this world. St. Paul goes on to talk about this in Romans 7. You will sin, you will repent, you will receive forgiveness from Christ every day! But in the midst of that struggle, you must always remember your true identity that has been won for you by Christ. You are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus! Christ dwells within you, forgives your sin, and His Spirit works within you. You don’t do any of this by your own power, and you could not. Thanks be to God that Christ dwells in you.
Romans 6, 7, and 8 show the whole life of the Christian. Romans 6 shows the new status you have. You are dead to sin and alive to God! This is the reality! Therefore, let not sin reign in your mortal bodies! Then Romans 7 shows the struggle of the Christian, as we struggle against sin. Is St. Paul saying that your life is going to be perfect and you’re never going to sin? No. You will sin and need forgiveness. Your new status as free from sin allows you to struggle against sin and do good at all through the Holy Spirit. Because that’s what’s promised to you in Romans 8. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit dwells in you.
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