Romans 6:15-23

I call it the Africa Decision Myth. I’m sure you’ve heard, or maybe even said it, before. The idea is simple: if God asks me to go to Africa, I will go. In other words, I will live my life, my way, and then if God busts in and interrupts everything, gives me a big ol' sign in the heavens, I will do as he asks.

Only, it doesn't work that way. The people who go to Africa, or Europe, or their coworkers with the gospel, don’t make one massive decision. They make a million choices, little ones which lead to something big and visible. It is the small stuff, the seemingly inconsequential, which builds to something massive.

Our next section in Romans teaches us the power of the smallest decisions. We have learned some incredible truth so far in this study of Romans 6-8. We are dead to sin, alive to God, and must reckon it so (Romans 6:1-11). We have died with Jesus on his cross, so now we can live in newness of life with him (Romans 6:1-5). Right now. Not later. Newness of life right now. Also, there is a battle happening (Romans 6:12-14). Sin desires to sit on the throne of our lives. It wants to enslave us. It is trying to take our bodily appetites and turn them against us. Sin seeks to enter in, and, though we are born again, we become enslaved, saved but subjugated.

Slavery to sin is not our destiny, however. Not at all. We do not have to come under its power. But this next section will show us how we are enslaved to something. The adverse option is sin. The favorable option is righteousness. To which are you surrendered? Positionally, in the sight of God, you are a slave of righteousness. God sees you this way, and as you present your body, ever increasingly, to righteousness, you become a real slave of it.

The question remains: how do we live under grace, not law? How do we operate as slaves to righteousness? We’ve learned we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We’ve seen how sin will have no dominion over us. We’ve discovered the aim is to bring the body of sin to nothingness. How is this so? How do we live this way?

Much of this next section will draw upon the parallel of slavery. Whom will you serve? Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). We only have one master.

Paul believed righteousness could be our master. He thought righteousness could become natural to us; we could feel compelled, enslaved, to do what is right. Remember, sin wants to enslave. Sin wants the throne. Paul will now tell us how righteousness can have it instead.

The way it works is simple. If you present yourself to sin, you will become a slave to it. However, as a Christian with the Holy Spirit inside you, if you give yourself to righteousness, you will become a slave to it. Slavery is always the result, so we ought to present our whole self to our new Master and his word, devoted to our sanctification process. Let’s discover the process.

Slavery Is Coming (6:15-16)

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6:15).

Paul reminds us here that we are living under God’s grace. In other words, we are living in a constant state of God’s favor, which includes his empowering. He will grant us the ability we need to overcome sin, which is part of his grace.

The question here is, ought we sin because we are under grace, not law? Why take sin seriously? Jesus fulfilled the law for us. We are under grace. God has transferred us into Christ. We are locked in. What can sin do to us?

Put another way the question might sound like this: wouldn’t obedience to God be like living under the law? Shouldn’t a grace-life be different?

Paul said, “By no means!” he gave this answer often (Romans 3:4, 6, 31; 6:1). He is emphatic. We are not abusers of God’s grace. A child with an influential parent might abuse their privilege, but we will not. We instead want to live up to our new name. Jesus Christ saved us — we belong to Him — so we surrender our lives to Him.

You do not need to post a “no littering” sign in your living room. You value your home. You don’t need the reminder. A grace-based relationship with God is similar. In gratitude, we respect what he purchased for Himself. We want these bodies of ours set aside for his glory and our joy. So, abuse God’s grace? By no means!

But there are reasons for this that go beyond gratitude. Yes, we are thankful, but we are also intelligent. Paul will now appeal to our intellect. Listen.

“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?” (Romans 6:16).

Paul now introduces a crucial concept: self-presentation leads to slavery. To whatever you present yourself to, whatever you give your body to, you become enslaved. To whatever you surrender, you become addicted.

In our last chapter, Paul spoke to us of a danger, the temptation to present our body parts to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Remember how it works. Sin is knocking at the door. Sin wants the throne. To submit body parts to sin leads to the enthroning of sin. Once sin is on the throne we become enslaved.

Perhaps we need to remember Roman slavery. Some slaves had been captured or traded, but there was such a thing as voluntary slavery, a way to gain employment and security. If you were in poverty, you could offer yourself in exchange for food and shelter. It was self-presentation, offering yourself.

There are two potential masters in Paul’s mind. The first, sin, and the second, obedience. Sin leads to death. Obedience leads to righteousness. Imagine, for a moment, being wholly enslaved to obedience. That is no slavery; it is a beautiful freedom.

There are many negative consequences to sin, but the major consequence is slavery to it, which is the most painful consequence of all because it leads to more deadly sin. Sin begets sin. Habit, addictions, and bondage quickly form. The slow presentation of the body to sin leads to slavery.

Think of Samson. His embarrassing episode with Delilah didn’t just happen. Delilah happened after years of presenting himself to sin. That slow process led to more. Over time, he became enslaved. He couldn’t stop himself.

Take sexual crimes. Did those desires merely overtake a person one day? Or were there years of self-presentation to lesser forms of sexual sin, leading to slavery? This slow process is the methodology of sin. We feel we are in control at first, only to soon discover we have no command at all.

But the news Paul declares has the positive element as well. Self-presentation leads to slavery. That is neither a good or a bad statement. It stands as a warning concerning sin, but a ray of light and hope concerning obedience. As we present ourselves to right living, bondage grows towards it. An obedient and righteous life increasingly becomes ours.

In another place, Paul wrote, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). As we submit to the Spirit, we become entrenched in that life. The sinful flesh loses its power.

I cannot overstate the goodness of this news. We can become enslaved to righteousness, to obedience. There's hope for me! As I present my members as instruments of righteousness, soon I will begin to experience the realities of a good form of slavery. I will become addicted to the holy life, a life of obedience.

We are talking about direction, not perfection. If we understand the Christian life as a journey, not a destination, there is a great question to ask at this point. Am I enslaved? Alternatively, perhaps, to what am I enslaved? As I look at how I spend my time and money, so I see a pattern of obedience and freedom? Do I experience a partial addiction to the life of obedience? These are helpful questions to ask because they let us see if we have presented ourselves to obedience or to sin.

Present Your Whole Self To Your New Master (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, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17–18).

Not only do we learn that self-presentation leads to slavery, in either direction, but Paul also encourages us to present our whole selves to our new Master. Give yourself entirely to God. Here, he calls it becoming “obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which we were committed.”

The obedience he describes here means literally to “hear under.” The idea is to submit yourself to something you heard, to come under someone else’s word. A parent refers to more than audio when they tell their child, “listen to me.” The parent — and Paul — craves listening which leads to obedience.

This obedience begins at the control center of man, the heart, the seat and center of human life. To Paul, the heart controlled the intellect, emotions, and will—it is the innermost being. From there, we hear something and submit to it. So what do we hear?

We hear the standard of teaching to which we were committed, our new Master and his word, God and his Bible. Israel was delivered over to the law. We are delivered over to the gospel. We must listen under, hear with obedience, the word of God, the gospel message.

Paul praised the Thessalonian church for this. They accepted the gospel, not as the word of men but as what it is, the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). They embraced it. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The word of God is life-giving.

In our information age, many believers place the word of God on a low plane. It becomes an advice column, carrying the weight of our favorite blog, but this is not right. The word of God teaches us the gospel. The word of God shows us ourselves. The word of God is authoritative. God has given us all things needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). The word of God is a gift. We must come under it, rather than position ourselves over it.

So now, as believers, we present ourselves wholly to our Master and his word. While we do, we become addicted to this new life. We experience freedom from sin and slavery to righteousness.

In the book of Judges lived a man named Ehud. He had the miserable task of delivering the tribute to King Eglon of the Moabites. One day, he snuck a dagger into the king's chamber. Privately, Ehud stabbed Eglon and liberated Israel from her captor. What was the weapon he fashioned? A double-edged sword.

Hebrews tells us “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). Ephesians tells us “the sword of the Spirit is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Ehud used a sword to find freedom, and so will we. When we listen to the word of God as students and as servants, we will experience more of what it means to be a slave of righteousness. The newness of life in Christ will gain ground. His resurrection will become our experience.

Be All In On Your Sanctification (6:19)

“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.” (Romans 6:19).

At this point, we might object. Paul described the Christian life as slavery. To righteousness, but slavery nonetheless. To us, it doesn’t feel like servitude. It feels like freedom. Paul seems to explain here that he is merely using a clunky metaphor, a human illustration, to get the point across. He said, "I am speaking in human terms."

Then he compares the slaveries. Point blank. Bottom line. The old slavery to impurity and lawlessness had a result: more lawlessness. In like manner, if we present our members as slaves of righteousness, we will experience another result: sanctification.

Again, Paul demonstrates both slaveries work the same way.

Both slaveries develop into more. Sin, to more lawlessness. Righteousness, to more sanctification. Here, Paul introduces a powerful word to us: sanctification. Sanctification is the steady process of Christian growth and maturity. We want the bolt of lightning. God prefers the slow burn.

Some of the ideas bound within sanctification are consecration, purification, dedication, and holiness. To be sanctified is to be set apart from the secular and sinful for the sacred and spiritual. Sanctification is the process. Remember, this helps us power past the Africa-Decision-Myth. We embrace the millions of self-presentation decisions towards righteousness. We believe this will lead to a different experience of slavery, a healthy one to righteousness. Know it. Believe it.

But Paul had a significant word of advice for us in this process: “just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity…so now present your members as slaves to righteousness.” This point is easy to catch. When I was still in Adam, in my sin, I pursued lawlessness wholeheartedly. I was all in. I became an expert in my sin. I was good at it, all in.

My sanctification works the same way. I need to be all in on it, pursuing it wholeheartedly.

I went hard after sin. I must go hard after sanctification.

To quote the great preacher Charles Spurgeon: “In the days of our sin, we sinned with all our power. There was not one part of us but what became the willing servant of sin: and we went from iniquity to iniquity, and now the cross has made us entirely new, and we have been melted down, poured out into a fresh mold. Now, let us yield every member of our body, soul, and spirit to righteousness, even unto holiness, till the whole of us, in the wholeness and consequently the holiness of our nature, shall be given unto God.”

How do we do this? Perhaps it would be helpful to consider your past pursuit of sin.

When I was in my sin, I pursued a community.

I found people who would encourage me in my proclivities. They operated as a support system. The Christian must do the same in pursuit of their sanctification. The community is standard equipment. We need other believers who will encourage us to live for Him.

When I was in my sin, I learned.

I was born in sin, but I had a lot to learn. That took education. I had to listen and watch. In a sense, it was discipleship. The Christian must do the same in pursuit of their sanctification. We must learn. We must watch. Be taught. Hear the Word of God explained. Develop a new mind.

When I was in my sin, I planned.

There were moments of temptation when sin would present itself to me, but so often my sin was a premeditated act. I would plan and prepare in advance for moments of rebellion. I had to make arrangements. The Christian must do the same in pursuit of their sanctification. We must create a plan and pursue it. Time must be taken set aside. The calendar must reflect events and places where growth can occur.

When I was in my sin, I worshipped.

I didn’t worship Christ, but sin. I praised it for what I thought it would bring to me. So now I must devote myself to a life of worship, celebration of my King.

Slaveries Contrasted (6:20-23)

“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 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. 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. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:20–23).

Paul concludes our section by highlighting the contrast between the two slaveries once again.

First, notice the slavery to sin.

Paul describes it as a time when we "were free in regard to righteousness." We couldn’t even go do good; depravity had swallowed us whole. We couldn’t give ourselves to true goodness. The fruit of that life was death. Like Adam, this death is ultimately physical, but currently spiritual, emotional, psychological. Death was ours.

Notice, then, the slavery to God.

That is what Paul calls it now. Slavery to obedience is slavery to righteousness, which is slavery to God. In that slavery we experience more sanctification, leading to the fruit of eternal life. Life now. Life future.

It is a paradox, this righteousness slavery, counterintuitive to man. Freedom to sin leads to slavery. However, slavery to God leads to freedom.

The worst place to live, at this point, is in between. Paul could repeat Moses, “I call heaven and earth witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Jesus is our Lord. When we treat Him as Lord we are set free.

Paul’s theme for Romans goes like this: “I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). Here, I am learning, the gospel is the power of God to save me...even from myself.