April 4, Romans 6
The beautiful doctrine of salvation by grace through faith has been ridiculed by legalists and abused by libertines for 2,000 years. Some modern day religionists echo the reaction of some who heard the gospel in Paul’s day, saying, “That can’t be true! You’re saying people can go on living in sin and still be saved!” But other people misinterpret the message of grace to imply that saved people can indeed do as they please without consequence. Both perversions of grace are based on the same erroneous premise—that a person saved by grace can go on living the way he or she lived before they were saved.
Paul exposed the error of that premise with three illustrations. First, he said sin is a matter of life and death. When we come to Christ, we die to sin. Baptism depicts Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. So our identification with him in baptism should result in a death of our old sinful person, and a resurrection to a new way of life. He said we must count ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.
The second image is about slavery and freedom. Paul said those who come to Christ are no longer enslaved to sin. For many twenty-first century readers, slavery is a relic of history, but to many in Paul’s original audience, servitude was a way of everyday life and freedom was a dream. Paul reasoned that a person is the slave of the master he obeys. Since we have been set free from sin, and sin no longer has dominion over us, it makes no sense to continue serving sin. We are supposed to be
slaves of righteousness, not sin. We can serve only one master. It’s impossible to claim one and serve another. Our conduct reveals our true master.
Finally, Paul contrasts the results of these two ways of living in terms of fruit-bearing. Paul said the fruit or result of serving sin was shame, and ultimately death. But those who have been freed from sin’s dominion bear the fruit of holiness, and finally eternal life. It’s the certain principle of sowing and reaping.
We’re offered the free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. The alternative to accepting this gift is receiving the wages we are due from sin, which is death. Paul put this point in human terms because of his readers’ natural limitations. I’m glad he did, because I can understand the difference in life and death, freedom and slavery, and being set apart for God’s glory versus living with the shame of my sinful conduct.
Jesus promised the truth would set us free. There’s a huge difference in serving because you’re free, and thinking that your good works will somehow earn your freedom. One is the appropriate response of loving gratitude for salvation. The other is living by the lie posted over the gates of the Nazi concentration camps: “Arbeit Macht Frei—Work will make you free!”
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly
Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament,
Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—April 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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