Freedom under Obedience for Righteousness (Rom 6.15-23) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella May 7, 2017 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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? 17 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. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Introduction Paul has made the point that we died to sin in union with Christ in His death (6.2 with 6.10). But we still have a war with sin to win. In a word, our triumph in this warfare depends on the power of God, but in a very realistic and down to earth way in which responsibility rests on our shoulders. However, the accomplished work of Christ underlies all that we do because we are under the reign of grace (6.14). In 6.15-23, the apostle raises the question of sin again in order to make it emphatically clear that we have freedom under obedience for righteousness. He nuances his treatment of our former bondage and new found freedom. In outline of this section we will cover a) the answer to the sin question, which he raises again, and b) the exhortation to righteousness. I. The answer to the sin question (15-18) I am using the word under in my title (freedom under obedience) in a way similar to its use in 3.9 where it means in bondage to sin. Here under obedience is an extension of being under grace (7.15). The section opens with a question: What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? (v. 15). Being under grace (here as in v. 14) contrasts with being "under law." If we are not under the law in any form that gives strength to sin in its condemning power then does that give license to sin? This line of thought is a variation of the thinking of some people that Paul s doctrine of justification encourages more sin to get more grace (6.1). The question of sin raised in 15a is answered in 15b. To the idea of viewing our new position under grace as a cause, reason, or excuse for sin, Paul exclaims: "absolutely not." Instead of thinking that free grace gives license to sin, Paul says, by no means. He exclaims, "Don t even go there in thought for a moment! He then goes on to defend this answer. In 6.16-18, a basis is given for the clear and decisive by no means. The basis is composed of three ingredients that mixed together support his negative exclamation and answer the sin question. A. The first ingredient: obedience is a universal fact of human experience Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey (6:16a). Here is something you should know deeply and affectively: obedience is an element of what makes humans tick. Humans are created to serve, to be servants. From Jesus we know that we either obey God or earthly things. Paul is working along this path of thought: all people are slaves to one slavemaster or another. But the alternate enslavements (the alternate obediences) are not equal. Actually, the one is not and the other is true obedience. The principle
!2 of obedience is inescapably everywhere but within this fact there is the right kind of obedience versus the wrong kind. Which is which is indicated by the consequences of each (16b): either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. The wrong kind of master (personified, his name is sin) will lead you to death. If your master is obedience then he will lead you to righteousness. The point Paul stresses is that to whomever you present yourselves as obedient slaves then that person is your master no matter where he leads you. Being a slave to something is a universal fact of human existence (of being human), and the masters lead somewhere: to death or to righteousness. Now we only have one ingredient for this apple pie. The consequences of death versus righteousness do not make the by no means stick. The fact of consequences is not enough to show that being under grace does not lead to sin. With just verse 16 on the table, that argument would be moving from apples to oranges. Granted, the fact of consequences should deter us from sin, but this fact does not establish the proper relation between grace and sin. Consequences are not unimportant, but their place is within the bigger picture of what follows. Another ingredient is needed in this defense against license to sin. B. The second ingredient is the important fact of the believer s past In 17a, the believer s unregenerate past is presupposed: You were once slaves to sin. Because of your service to sin, you (the Romans and us) presented yourselves in obedience to sin as your master to follow him as obedient slaves. This is very revealing as to our former state in sin. On one hand, it is described as a state of death (6.13), which emphasizes our total unresponsiveness to spiritual things; that we were unable to respond to God in repentance and faith. Under sin (Rom 3.9) means that we were captivated by sin, unable to submit to God (Rom 8.7), and subject to the law s condemning verdict (Rom 3.19-20). On the other hand, our former state is described as one in which we presented ourselves in obedience to sin with such resolve that we were willing to die for this master! Slaves in death, we were in pursuit of obedience to sin, even to its bitter end of death; never mind the consequences. This is an important fact to add to the mix in opposing license to sin. With one more ingredient, the argument is solidified. C. The third ingredient is the critical fact of the believer s transition to life and freedom With this third ingredient, Paul s defense is complete: you have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching (v. 17) and you have become slaves of righteousness (v. 18). When these things happened, you were passive. This fact holds even with regard to your act of obedience to the gospel (you have become obedient). Being obedient to the pattern of teaching is associated with the basic Christian confession of baptism. From 6.3-4, it is a commitment to new obedience in union with Christ, and from 10.9-10, this commitment involves believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth that Jesus is the risen Lord. You were set free from sin to become slaves of righteousness. The passive expression indicates that you did not free yourselves for obedience; you did not enslave yourselves to righteousness. These things are true because of the work of God. Becoming obedient slaves to righteousness is the result of God s action. Therefore, this obedience from the heart is brought about by "being set free" and brought to life. There is no pre-life life nor is there any pre-freedom freedom as claimed by some (i.e. Moser as Wesley). It is not that you were set free because you submitted yourselves to God, but you submitted yourselves to God and His word concerning Christ (as symbolized in baptism) because you were set free. Further confirmation is given by the fact that your obedience is something for which God is to be thanked (6.17: But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient
!3 from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed). Specifically, the actual obedience is something for which God is thanked and not just the possibility of obedience. It stretches things immensely to read this to mean that God is thanked because His grace is necessary though not sufficient for the believing of those to whom His grace is given. Now, the argument against license to sin is complete. The notion that grace opens a door to sin (to sin more freely than before) is false on a number of counts. There is no true freedom in serving and obeying sin; it is slavery on a path to nothing else than death (6.16). Moreover, the work of God for which He is to be always thanked has placed you on the path of new obedience, as shown in the obedience of baptism and your confession of the Lordship of Christ. That is the true obedience: under His Lordship, you are committed to obedience as your master and this slavery leads straightway to righteousness (6.16). And this is all undergirded by the power of the glory of God s attributes at work in the resurrection of Christ and in your being set free from the power of sin and death (6.3-4). So, again, sin will have no dominion over you because you are under the efficacious power of grace (6.14-15). II. The exhortation to righteousness (19-23) In this light, and on this basis, Paul gives another exhortation to righteousness; it is deeply grounded and pointedly encouraged. A. First, the exhortation is deeply grounded Verse 19 has two sentences and you have to read to the very end to see the exhortation. The first sentence simply states the need for the slavery analogy (Moo, Romans 404): I am speaking in human terms. It is at the end of the second sentence that the exhortation emerges: as you once presented your members to impurity and lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. This is an interesting exhortation in light of the fact that you have been set free. For emphasis from 17-18, we could say, "you have already become obedient slaves to righteousness. It might seem that the exhortation is that you are to become slaves of righteousness, as if you are not slaves of this kind. But this is another example of the indicative and the imperative in Paul. The indicative states what has been done and the imperative states what should be done. Are these opposed to one another or somehow in conflict? Not at all, instead, the imperative is based on the indicative. Paul is exhorting us to present ourselves as slaves to God and righteousness because we are slaves to righteousness by His grace. The exhortation is deeply grounded. This can be said in different ways such as: "Be what you are," and "live what you have become. Related to baptism, this means: live out your baptismal pledge, you pledged obedience to the triune God, so live out your pledge; it symbolizes your obedience, that is, that your obedience is by the power of the glory of God (6.4), so, live that obedience. Similarly, Paul says, "You are dead to sin (6.2, 10, an indicative). In 6.2-8, death to sin in union with Christ is affirmed in each verse! Then he says, "So you must consider yourselves dead to sin" (v. 11, an imperative!). Based on the fact of being dead to sin (1-11), Paul exhorts us to "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to obey its passions" (v. 12). The exhortations to present yourselves to God (v. 13) are grounded in the fact that "sin will have no dominion over you" (v. 14, it is not your master!). All of this theology lies behind the exhortation of 19b: so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. This duty is grounded in the active power of God that has put you on a path of newness of life, so the thought of license to sin is as far from free grace as the heavens are above the earth. The idea of sinning because you are not under law but under
!4 grace is contrary to who you are by grace that empowers what you are to do in obedience as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. B. Finally, the exhortation is pointedly encouraged In verses 20-23, Paul then encourages action on the path of obedience by returning to the fact of consequences. Look at the fruit of the former way and the fruit of the new way for encouragement to obedience. The former way brought shame and its end was death. The new life involves being slaves of God as slaves of obedience and slaves of righteousness (v. 22a). Its fruit is sanctification and its end is eternal life as the free gift of God (22b-23). Conclusion 1) First, recall your sinful past The moral inability of man to submit himself to God and righteousness indicates how sinful you and I were without the grace of God that set us free. This is a specific for praise and worship. We can be very precise here and say with Paul thanks be to God that though we were dead, willfully disobedient, and totally unable to return to God, we obeyed the gospel from the heart because He set us free. 1 Give thanks for this powerful saving grace: thank you Father for the power of your grace and love in the death of Christ for me. 2) Second, ponder your true freedom In light of this text, consider the distinction between Arminianism and Wesleyan Arminianism on free will, and 1 how both run contrary to Romans 6. 1) Free will refers to the power or ability of alternative choice. It means to be able to either say yes or no to something. Centrally, it means man has the power to do either one; he has the power to say yes and he has the power to say no. To state this in relation to moral actions, it means that a person has the same power to choose good that he has to choose evil. Free will is the teaching that fallen man in his state in the fall is able to good or evil. Applied to the issue of saving grace and the demand of faith, free will means that fallen man in his state in the fall is able to believe the gospel or not believe it (the key is in the or: "able to or not ). 2) This view of free will was held by the Arminians at the time of Dort. Listen to the errors that are rejected by the Canons (3rd and 4th Heads of Doctrine): the will itself is able to will and to choose, or not to will and not to choose, all manner of good which may be presented to it. This is an innovation and an error, and tends to elevate the powers of the free will contrary to the declaration [s] [of Scripture] (par. 3); the unregenerate man is not really nor utterly dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers unto spiritual good (par. 4); it therefore remains in man s power to be regenerated or not (par. 8); that God does not efficiently help the will of man unto conversion until the will of man moves and determines to do this (par. 9). 3) Thus some nod in agreement to the biblical teaching of total depravity. Yes, they say, in his fallen state man is unable to repent or believe the gospel. But they throw us a curve by saying that fallen man is brought supernaturally to a condition of being able to believe or not believe. This view is not as Wesley put it, "a hair s breath" from Calvinism. Instead, it is simply a variant form of the Arminianism of the time of Dort. The classic total depravity compromise is just Wesleyan Arminianism since it agrees with all the claims of the Arminians cited above. The difference is that the Arminians did not hold to a two-stage view of fallen man. But the similarity is in their common commitment to free will meaning that it must be "in man s power to be regenerated or not." The man who is dead in sin must have the ability to allow Christ to make him alive (Wesley, Sermon on Free Grace, par. 29). Remarkably however, the only freedom we had was a freedom from righteousness (v. 20). This way of speaking powerfully expresses the fact that in bondage to sin we are responsible, we are free to sin, we are free in sin. On the other hand, it is not a true freedom since in this state in sin we are free of righteousness. Righteousness is pictured as a master or slave owner. We are pictured as slaves. This is personification. Let s name the people involved. The slave owner s name is Righteousness. The slave has no name so let s call him "Freeman." We pick up the story in the middle. Somehow Freeman has escaped from Righteousness. How that came about we are not told. We simply see him traveling life s journey outside of the rule of Mr. Righteousness. Mr. Righteousness cannot lay his hands on the slave. He has no power over the former slave whatsoever! Mr. Freeman is traveling along the road that is free from righteousness. All spectators say, "My, my, isn t this man s name a true indication of his happy state for he is truly a free man." To be sure, we can speak of this condition in life as being free but we have to put "free" in quotes for this is only a play on words. Is it a happy state of affairs? Is he really free? He is free from righteousness but that means that the road he is on is the road of sin, bondage, and death. Mr. Freeman is better called Mr. Bondslave for in his "freedom" from righteousness he is a slave to sin traveling a road that leads to eternal destruction (6:13, 21-23). This is a "freedom" in which he cannot submit himself in obedience to God as His slave (cf. Rom. 8:7). He must be set free by the efficacious, life-giving work of the Spirit (Rom. 8:2; 6:18) in order to "become obedient from the heart" to the gospel (6:18).
!5 You need to think and rethink the fact that you have been set free to be slaves to God by being slaves to righteousness, and slaves to obedience. Lay hold of this fact that under grace sin will have no dominion you. Under grace" means that you are slaves to righteousness. It is not something to become; it is something you now are. You have a new standing; you have been raised with Christ for newness of life. Ponder these things with thankful hearts. 3) Third, make your presentation In light of this great mercy of God and what He has done by grace, you are to take this knowledge, these facts, and the gratitude of your worshiping hearts and turn them into an ongoing presentation. Of the three core imperatives of 6.11-14, Paul repeats and emphasizes the duty to present yourselves to God (19b). These references to present use the same word for the offering on the altar of dedication to God that is your reasonable service (Rom 12.1). So, now believer-priest, place yourself on the altar as a slave. Give your very body and all its members to the service of God and righteousness, as a continual offering of yourself in worship to God. What did you get from the former slavery? It was a kind of freedom, a freedom from righteousness (and thus from God's righteousness and from God). But that freedom was like a plant that bore bad fruit. Specifically, it bore the fruit that now brings you a sense of shame that you once lived that way, doing those things that led inevitably to the bitter end of death, physical death and eternal death. Now by faith in Jesus, physical death is but your entry into glory. There is a distinct circle or spiral here in the duty to present your members as slaves. With love for God, give your intellect, will, your drives and hungers, your mind, hands, legs and feet to the Lord Jesus Christ for service. Pray what we sang earlier: take my life, hands, voice, silver, my will, my love, and say much more: take my moments, days, my feet, lips, intellect, heart. Lord, take my very self in consecration to you: for your praise, to do your will, to be yours forever. This slavery begins with God's call to the obedience of faith. It moves forward in the presentation to righteousness that spirals outward and upward to sanctification, to holiness and its end, eternal life in the presence of God most holy. May we fall down before the majesty of God to present ourselves to Him as slaves to righteousness; may the Holy Spirit give us comfort and encouragement on the path of new obedience in order that we may abound more and more in love and knowledge to the glory of the triune God forever, amen.