From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

Hi friends 🙂

Today’s blog is going to be about Romans 6, verses 15-23. I was doing my Bible study one morning and while reading this portion (I am not even kidding) I kept saying “oh that’s such a good question,” “oh wait whatttt,” or just a simple “amen!” I am pretty sure the people in the coffee shop thought I was a bit weird. But that’s okay. Anyways, here are the verses for today:

“15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, 18 and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. 22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I want to start by highlighting that first question: “15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?” I think that some people can see believing in God as an excuse constantly and consistently to act in their sin and then just fall back on their faith and say “oh don’t worry, I am forgiven.” That’s not really how it works. Just because we have received God’s mercy and grace doesn’t mean we can abuse it.

Romans 7 gives a great illustration of this through marriage. “2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.”

These verses describe how we CANNOT be married to both sin and God.They are incompatible. When we accepted God and gave over our lives to Him, we then belonged to Him. Which brings me back to chapter 6, verse 16, “16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

I wrote in my notes, “this is so so good!” Like slaves, we cannot switch between our masters. However, this does not mean that we can’t make mistakes. Thankfully, unlike some slave owners, our God is merciful. If we come to Him asking for healing, forgiveness, to break our bad habits, whatever it is you need, then He will provide. My Squad Mentor, Kate, said to me one night that healing from God is instant. We can use prayer to reach God at any time and, through our repentance, God will continually forgive us. So though we are slaves to God, we are allowed to be godly humans who live and struggle in an ungodly world. 

Lastly, Paul talks about sanctification. For those of you who do not know what that word means, me too. Sanctification is, by dictionary definition, to be set apart to a sacred purpose / to free from sin / to purify. Biblically, sanctification means holiness, therefore to sanctify means to make holy. 

Verses 19 and 22 say, “19 …For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” “22 But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!”

I read that as, in our sin, we were lost, we had no purpose, no point of reference in how we were living. But, through Jesus’ death and resurrection and our acceptance of that, we have been given our purpose by God. We now get to live out our lives in search and accomplishment of that purpose. 1 Peter says, 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Throughout reading chapter 6, I felt very convicted and yet, so encouraged! Thankfully, Paul gives us a warning and then helps guide us in what we should do with our new life in Jesus. He says, in verses 12-14, “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace.”

In short, we should strive to not let our sin remain in our body. Instead, offering ourselves to God… FULLY. Allowing God to use us to accomplish His purpose in this world; to unite all things in Him and reconcile His creation. Now that’s a lot to burden as a measly human. But know that God gives us, firstly Himself; His comfort, strength, peace, love, healing. But He also gives us each other to help carry the load.

I cannot express how excited I am to travel and reach God’s people. To live out His purpose for my life. Seeing my squad makes me so excited because we are all so different and have so many talents and I am so super ready to see how we can work together, united. 

All the love,

     Caroline