Romans 6:17

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  Romans 6:17 ESV

We spent a lot of time going through Romans 6:16, where Paul laid out the two conditions of man: willing servants of sin, or willing servants of obedience to God - there are no options other than these two. Paul has spent most of early Romans explaining that, by default, we are willing servants of sin - the lusts of the flesh and selfish pursuits that stem from a debased mind and corrupt heart (see Romans 1:18-32).

Keep in mind the context of these verses. At the end of Chapter 5, Paul touched on the abundance of God's grace, and knew the question would follow: if God's grace abounds where there is sin, why not sin more? Paul then spent Chapter 6 explaining the powerful transformation that takes place when a sinner is baptized in Christ and set free from sin - abiding in sin is no longer an option.

Being set free from the condemnation and control of sin through Christ means we are no longer under the law, but under grace...again Paul knew the question would follow: if we are no longer under the law, are we allowed to sin? (he really had a grasp on the selfishness of the human heart didn't he)

So, now Paul has explaining, in verse 16 and now 17 (and will continue through chap 7), that being set free from the law by no means gives us a license to sin freely. Instead of leaving it at that though, the Holy Spirit of God instructed Paul to lay out in detail why we shouldn't even desire to sin freely...just like He did at the beginning of Chapter 6.

We shouldn't have a desire to live a life of sin as God's children...if we don't desire to purge sin from our lives on a daily basis then we haven't grasped the power of the transformation that takes place when we are transferred from darkness to light, from death to life.

The entire bible speaks to this transformation, through Christ. We see who we were in light of who God is, and who we are by the grace and of God - which allows us to be used by God for His glory, to do things we never would have wanted or been able to do! We are set free to live a life that reflects the character and glory of God, which He reveals through His Word!

This transformation is what Paul speaks to in verse 17 of Chapter 6. After explaining the two possible states of man, lost or saved, he uses this phrase to transition:

But thanks be to God

I love this, because it puts the credit squarely where it belongs...to God alone. 
The phrase 'thanks be to' here is very interesting...it is actually the Greek word 'charis' which is translated as 'grace' 130 times in the New Testament. This is important, I believe, because it reveals a different type of thanks than we might be used to.

We thank people all the time, for many different reasons. When Paul says thanks be to God, he is talking about a specific type of thanks...Paul is talking about a response brought forth by an act of grace...which is where the word charis, usually translated grace, comes in. In Romans 11:6, Paul describes this 'grace' as a gift that cannot be earned:

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; 

otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 

The word 'grace' in Romans 11:6 is the same Greek word 'charis' -  our thanks is in response to a gift we have given that we did not earn or deserve... in response to God's grace, we thank Him and praise Him! (Thanks be to God). Why? What happened? What was the result of God's grace?
  
that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart

By the grace of God, this powerful transformation has taken place! To Him be the glory, praise, and honor forever! Our response to this work of grace should be thanks - thanks that plays out in offering our life as a living sacrifice to this Awesome God! 

Paul covers a lot of ground with this part of verse 17. I want to break it into two parts. First, we see who we were (think the two states of every man discussed in verse 16). We were slaves (willing servants) of sin! All of us were, regardless of geography, gender, race, religion, or anything else - every single person ever born falls into this category to begin with. We are a sinful people, who give birth to sinful people.

There are many passages in the Bible that speak of the evilness of man in his lost state, we oppose God at every turn, we hate the light, we slander, murder with anger in our hearts, lust after everything that seems to satisfy the flesh...we are ugly inside and out - no matter how we try to paint it. This is what willing servants of sin look like...and such were we.

But...those who have been saved are no longer this way. We have become obedient from the heart! How? Not because we worked hard enough or went far enough...not at all. Remember...thanks be to God...by His grace we have been saved through faith! We have been regenerated, our hearts changed, our minds renewed! We now desire God and all that He is about!

It's necessary to acknowledge, though, that as Christians, we do have a past. We have been completely forgiven, but the lusts and selfishness of the flesh still come up against us, causing a battle within us. One day this battle will cease when we enter into eternal glory with God, but today the battle is real, and it can be fierce. It is a battle we will fight until the day we die, as God continually reveals the depths of our sinfulness, and the influence that our flesh has all that we do.

When we are battle weary, we need to come back to what God is promising us here through Paul - we are His children, and through grace we have become obedient and submissive from the heart. Notice, God doesn't command us to do anything to become children of this promise...He tells us it has already happened. We have become obedient...this is a result of our regeneration!

How does this Truth (we were lost sinners but have become obedient from the heart) help battle weary soldiers of God?
-We acknowledge we were sinners - controlled and condemned by the sin we loved.
-We embrace the promise that God, by His grace, has caused our heart to become obedient through the washing of regeneration.
-We nurture this obedience and submission through the things that are explained throughout God's Word - love, renewing our minds, pursuing a clear conscience, seeking a pure heart, living with sincere faith, giving our lives as a living sacrifice (dying to self as we exalt God's will and design).

When we consume ourselves with these three things, acknowledge, embrace, and nurture, of God's promise, we begin to recognize areas of sin in our life and attack it with a vengeance...with a passion driven by appreciation for God and His amazing, undeserved grace. This minimizes how much of a foothold the flesh is able to gain in our lives!


The question then becomes this: what are we obedient from the heart to? Paul said in verse 16 that one option was to be obedient to obedience, or as we found as we dug in, obedient to submission. When we obey by submission, what are we submitting to? The easy answer is God, but what does that all entail? Paul tells us at the end of vs 17:

to the standard of teaching to which you were committed

In obedience, we submit to the standard of teaching (also translated doctrine) to which we were committed (also can be translated 'which was delivered to you')
We were entrusted with a doctrine, a doctrine to which we have become obedient to through submission to it...what is this doctrine?

This is a study that would take years and years (most likely lifetimes) if we really dug in, but I think it can be summed up with what Paul said in verse 16. The doctrine itself is a doctrine of submission, humility, and obedience. Through this doctrine, God's character is revealed, for His glory. His grace and mercy are on display, His love shines through, the power of regeneration through Jesus Christ is made known - regeneration that is seen through changed lives, lives that are centered on submission and obedience - lives that are in direct conflict with the pride and selfishness of the flesh and the world that strives to satisfy that flesh.

I believe that everything in God's Word points to this teaching of submission, humility, and obedience to God's will and design... how to embrace it, protect it, apply it, and live it so that God is glorified through it! This is the teaching I believe Paul is talking about here in verse 17.


As we move towards a new year, lets pray that God keeps this important doctrine of obedience that has been entrusted to us at the forefront of our minds. Pray that throughout the next year, God reveals areas of our life that need to be addressed, that we could submit to His will and design to an even greater degree...for God is glorified through this, and that is where true joy and peace are found! 

Romans 6:16 (part 4)

...or of obedience, which leads to righteousness   Romans 6:16 ESV part 4

In this post, we will continue looking at what it means to be obedient slaves to the one we serve, and the fact that how we spend our time, energy, and resources reveals who or what we are presenting ourselves to as willing servants, obedient slaves. This will finish up verse 16, and as we move forward, Paul will shed even more light on this topic.

Here is verse 16 in its entirety:

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? 

In the previous posts, we have discussed this idea that what we do reveals who we are. Verse 16 is also very clear that who we serve, we serve willingly...we are never forced by God to be lost, sinful creatures. We are lost sinful creatures because, as Paul says, we present ourselves as obedient slaves.

In the last post, we saw that one option is to present ourselves as obedient slaves to sin, which leads to death. In this post, we will look at the other option.
     - side note - we also looked at the fact that there are only two options. There is no middle ground or neutral area. We are either slaves of sin, or as we will look at now, slaves of obedience. By default, refusing obedience makes us slaves to sin, and being set free from sin makes us slaves of obedience.

Here is what we see Paul saying in regards to obedience here in verse 16:  The other option is to present yourselves as obedient slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness.

This is very interesting, this idea of obedient slaves of obedience - so much is revealed about what it means to be a child of God. The Greek words translated obedient and obedience both imply submission to authority . As lost people, we willingly submit to sinful lusts and desires, they are what drives every thing that we do.

As God's children, the change that has taken place in our heart is made evident by the fact that we willingly submit to a new Master - God. Our submission to God is made evident through our submission to Him. (though we continue to hang on to areas of pride, and God continually reveals areas in which we need to submit, the ultimate desire of the heart is submission)

So, when Paul says we are obedient slaves of obedience, he is telling us as God's children that the thing we are to be controlled by, the thing that is supposed to guide our every decision, the thing that we are to be submissive to, is obedience/submission to God. If this is true (and God said it so it is!) we can know this:

as God's children, we are to be in constant pursuit of obedience to Him

If we are not pursuing obedience and submission to God continuously, we in gross disobedience. We like to say, "I'm a Christian" and then justify why we don't do what the bible commands us to do. Things like "Seek first the kingdom of God" - "Draw close to God" - "Be holy" - "Put to death what is earthly in you" - or whatever else challenges us as Christians. We like to gray the lines when it comes to verses like this because the standard set by God is so perfect and unattainable. But, as His children, we are to be driven by a desire to submit and obey. Keep this in mind for a minute while we look at some Scripture.

It's so interesting that the reason Satan was cast from heaven was pride. Pride is the opposite of submission, and pride is the driving reason behind why, as lost people, we do not choose God. We refuse to submit to an ultimate authority. This reveals the power of God, that He can take us as prideful, self-centered, arrogant people and make us obedient (submissive) from the heart - as Paul will discuss in greater detail in the following verses.

Look at these verses:

And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"  Mathew 8:26,27

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."  Mark 1:25-27 

In the two passages above, we see the authority of God through Jesus on display.  The elements of the earth conform to His authority. The spiritual realm, including the demons who hate Him, conform to His authority. The difference is, they don't do this willingly...the elements of the earth can't be willing, and the demons hate God, yet they must conform to the authority of the Creator.

Back to the statement we looked at above: as His children, we are to be driven by a desire to submit and obey. When we obey things God says, but don't willingly pursue obedience to Him and His entire Word, in all areas of our life, we are revealing that we are submissive to God as the One who is more powerful than us, and maybe to a degree as our Father, BUT we are not submitting to obedience as the driving factor in all that we do. Obedient to obedience speaks of submission to the greatest degree.

Analogy:
If a parent tells their child to go to their room, and the child does it knowing that if they don't the parent has the ability to physically carry them to their room, the child is obeying simply because the parent is stronger than them, not because they want to.

If a parent tells their child to go to their room, and they do it because they want to do what their parent says, because of the love between them, their desire to obey their parent is driving their act of obedience...this is being obedient to obedience.

The analogy is weak, I hope it sheds light on how we are to be living as God's children!

As humans, God is our creator, and we ultimately conform to His authority. However, Paul tells us that, as His children, we are to recognize and acknowledge the authority of our Creator, and follow Him in submission, fighting against the pride and self-centered attitudes of the flesh that want everything to be about us.

Let's look at some Scripture that commands our obedience to Christ - and solidifies the command to be obedient to obedience, willingly submitting to God through obedience in all areas of our life.

But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.  Acts 5:29

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ  2 Corinthians 10:5

(Jesus Christ)...through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations  Romans 1:5

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart  1 Peter 1:22

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.  
1 Peter 1:2


and probably the most powerful example of being obedient to obedience...Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our perfect example...also was obedient:

Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what he suffered.

How are we living as God's children? Are we obedient to obedience? Are we willingly submitting to all of God's Word, in every area of our lives? Are we pursuing obedience to God through submission to Him? Are we allowing obedience to God be the thing that drives all that we do? 

Or...are we 'kind of' obedient? Is obedience to God something that we do when it is convenient? Do we try to live a 'moral' life, go to church on Sunday, and give some of our money to those in need - and consider ourselves 'obedient'? 

My friend, I think we all find ourselves in the second description more than we would like - we are sinful creatures...but this is not what we should be OK with. We need to discipline ourselves to pursue God by submitting to Him....how can we do this? We need to allow obedience to God to become the thing that drives us, not in an effort to gain a reward, but out of love for Him as our Father! We need to desire being obedient to obedience! 

To me, this sounds so hard at times. How do I make myself desire being obedient to obedience all the time. I get frustrated when I screw up, when I get distracted, when I totally flip flop my priorities...and God reminds me of these promises:
Draw close to God, and He will draw close to you. James 4:8
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Galatians 2:20

       ...and SO MANY more!

The greatest thing about being obedient to obedience is this: submission to God is not about working hard to achieve something, it's all about letting go! The world will run itself into the ground attempting to achieve something...in it's obedience to the lusts of the flesh. We are so blessed! We have been called to a relationship that is all about being released from the curse of work! We can lay it all at the throne of God, and He will draw close to us, strengthen us, bless us, and ultimately, work through us for HIS GLORY!!!!

Romans 6:16 (part 3)

...either of sin, which leads to death  Romans 16:6 ESV part 3

In the last two posts, we looked at what it means to be obedient slaves to the one we serve, and the fact that how we spend our time, energy, and resources reveals who or what we are presenting ourselves to as willing servants, obedient slaves.

Spiritually, there are only two options. We looked earlier at Mathew 6:24, where Jesus explains to His disciples that we cannot serve two masters - we can only serve one fully. What we do reveals the state of our heart, and ultimately the master we serve. As we move forward here in verse 16, Paul lays out the two possibilities we have. We will look a little closer at the first one today:

"you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin.."

One master we can choose to serve is sin. Sin is powerful - it binds and condemns us as lost souls. It distorts our perspective and causes us to hate God in favor of the flesh. There are many verses that speak to the power of sin and the effects it has in the lives of those that it controls. Some of these we have looked at before, but I want to refresh our memory:

At the beginning of Romans, Paul explained that sinfulness and darkness is what we as humans want, and God gave us over to the desires of our heart and mind.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves   Romans 1:24

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  Romans 1:28

Paul again reveals our desire as lost souls to pursue the lusts of the flesh in Ephesians:


And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.   Eph 2:1-3

We see a divide here...man desiring things that are in opposition to a Holy God - man pursuing the satisfaction and gratification of the flesh over the glory of God. The flesh, and it's sinful desires, are a result of the fall, and reveal what man truly wants in his lost state. The desires of the flesh are detailed in many places. The following verses describe the desires of the flesh that resulted in God giving us over to a corrupt heart and debased mind:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.   Galatians 5:19-21

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Colossians 3:5-8

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

2 Timothy 3:2-4

This verse in 1 John describes the very real, very serious divide that is being described...a divide with eternal consequences:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.   1 John 2:15-17

Before we looked at these verses, I said that sin is powerful, it binds and condemns us. After reading these verses, we can see the reason sin is so powerful. The power of sin lies in the fact that it aligns perfectly with our desires in our lost state. We hate the light and love the darkness, as Jesus explained to us in John 3:19-21:

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

By definition, sin means 'to fall short, to miss the mark' - in the Bible this means anything that falls short or misses the mark of glorifying, or revealing, God...which includes everything desrcribed in the verses above, and so much more (the more we see the holiness of God in His Word, the more we recognize the selfish, prideful, sinful motives behind most of what we do)
To be a willing servant, an obedient slave to sin, an option Paul has given here in Romans, is (as I mentioned previously) to embrace our pursuit and love for the sinfulness of the flesh rather than the glory of God.

We can't sugar coat the fact that, while we are lost, while we pursue the desires of the flesh and oppose God, we do so willingly. We are under bondage to sin, there is no doubt, but these are chains of bondage we willingly pursue. No one, including God, forces us to submit to this condemnation.

We also can't miss what Paul says about those who choose to be and remain obedient slaves to sin...this will lead to death...eternal death. We are spiritually and eternally condemned in our sinfulness, and this will not change if we remain under the bondage that is sin. We will experience temporary judgement throughout our earthly life, and ultimately an eternal judgement, which will be the full wrath of a Holy God, forever.

We need to check ourselves...as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 -

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

If we have faith that Jesus Christ is our Savior, this will be evident in the change we have experienced in our life, and will be revealed in our love for God - which should play out in how we think and how we live. We can be confident that this faith is sufficient - because it is! However, we must constantly be looking at ourselves in the light of the verses we have looked at, to ensure that how we are living is revealing a heart that loves God rather than sin. Those who are saved will renew their confidence through this testing, those that aren't should  realize they remain obedient slaves of sin, willing servants of evil - opposed to God.

For those who are saved, who are no longer willing servants of sin, we cannot become complacent. Sin is still a very real, ever present danger. Sin in the life of a believer constantly hinders our relationship with God. This effects our adversely in so many ways - and causes us to not reveal God in a way that He ought to be revealed. It's crucial that we be in constant prayer for God to reveal any and all sin in our lives - for wisdom to recognize the sin and strength to purge it from our lives.

Paul speaks to us as God's children on this matter in Romans 6:13:

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.

To the children of God - as we worship our Father today (and everyday) let's ask Him to reveal the sin our lives. Let's pursue holiness. Lets test ourselves to be sure we are in the faith, and to allow God to build our confidence in His Son as our Savior, as He strengthens our faith. Let's pray for strength and wisdom to not present ourselves as instruments of sin, but rather instruments for righteousness!

To those who aren't sure which master they are serving - take a moment and examine yourself. What are the desires of your heart and mind?  Is the glory of God, that is God being revealed in fullness, your main priority in all that you do? Do you recognize and accept that Jesus died for yours sins, and that you can be set free from the bondage of that sin...have you accepted Jesus as that Sacrifice on your behalf? Have you experienced a change in your life, a change that resulted in new desires - a desire for the light and disdain for darkness? If you answered Yes to these questions, Praise God - you are not a servant of sin but a child of Light!

To those who are not saved - be very aware...Paul has made it painfully clear that you are willing servants of disobedience, willing partakers in the sinful lusts of the flesh, the evil pursuits of the world. It may not seem scary, the mind is a powerful tool of deceit when in submission to such powerful forces of evil, but the Bible remains true whether you recognize it or not. You are servants of a master who has no alternative ending other than eternal death and condemnation.
        --- Yet, there is still hope! God's hand of grace is still extended! All is not lost! If you accept Jesus as  the Savior, if you accept the forgiveness of sins that is offered through His perfect sacrifice, and come to Him in submission, you will no longer be obedient slaves of sin, but a child of God - cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God!

As you read these last paragraphs, if you feel a need for prayer, email me: agerber1983@outlook.com, or message me on facebook..

If you find yourself in the first category, I would love to pray for God to help you grow as His child! If you find yourself in the second category, I would love to pray for God to give you clarity resulting in confidence or conviction, or both - we all need both of these in order to grow. If you find yourself in the third category, I would love to pray for you to feel God's calling to come to the Light, to enter into a relationship with Him that is defined by amazing grace, unending mercy, unconditional love, indescribable peace, and abundant joy!

Romans 6:16 (part 2)

...you are slaves of the one whom you obey   Romans 6:16 (part 2)

We are looking at Romans 6 verse 16 in four parts, this being the second. In part 1, we looked at what Paul meant when he said "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves..." - a sentence he finishes here in part 2: "you are slaves of the one whom you obey" 

At the end of the last post, we looked at the idea of willingly serving as obedient slaves. The Greek word for slave can mean either voluntarily or involuntarily, either way indicating submission to an authority. The fact that Paul uses the word 'present' and 'obedient' implies that we are willing slaves to the one we submit to. He drives that home here in part 2. In a nutshell, this is what Paul is saying:

When you willingly submit to someone, you are their servant, they are your master.

By saying "you are slaves of the one you obey" - Paul brings to light a big question. Who or what is your master, who or what have you submitted to as an obedient slave? This is obviously important for us to know, because (as we will see moving forward), who or what we have submitted to as obedient slaves reveals the state of our soul, and the order of our priorities. So, how do we know who, or what, we have submitted to?

I want to take a little time to look an idea that I think is very revealing. This is not a new concept, I have heard it used to reveal things in different situations, and it answers this question clearly.

What we do ultimately always reveals what we want most.

A couple examples I have heard: 

Example 1: I want to lose weight, and I also want that piece of pie. If I eat the pie, I reveal that I wanted to eat the pie more than I wanted to lose weight. If I pass on the pie and go to the gym, I reveal that I want to lose weight more than I want to eat the pie. 

Example 2: When parents are asked this question: what would you like to see your child excel most in as they grow - sports, academics, faith, honesty and integrity. Almost every parent will say faith, along with honesty and integrity. Then, when asked where they spend most of their time and money, it almost always falls on sports or academics. Where they spend the bulk of their resources (time and money) reveals what they really want. 

We have to be very careful, very aware, because in situations like example 2, we know what the right answer is supposed to be, so we answer according to what we know to be right, and ignore the fact that we aren't revealing that through our actions. Ignoring what we are doing doesn't make the problem go away - that is what Paul is driving home here. You can't ignore what you are doing by saying the 'right' things, because what you are doing reveals what you want, who you have submitted to. 

Now, in order to answer the question we asked earlier: So, how do we know who, or what, we have submitted to? (which we know is important because this reveals who our master is), take some time this week and look at how you spend your resources. The most valuable resource we have is time, so start there. Where does most of your time go? If you have 'free' time, how is it spent. Where does the bulk of your money go? Break it all down in detail, we have to make sure we aren't ignoring what is really going on. Especially as God's children, if we say we love Him, we must make sure our actions are proving that out. 

We will come back to this in the next few posts, as well as look at how we can begin to address some of the problem areas that might be revealed through this exercise.

Romans 6:16 (part 1)

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves...  Romans 6:16 (part 1) 

I am going to break verse 16 into four parts because I think it lays out some very important Truths that I don't want to miss. I want God to use the depth of His Word to convict me and draw me closer to Him.

Today, I want to look at the first part of verse 16. Paul starts with this phrase: 'do you not know' - which, I think, kind of gives the feeling that this is a clear fact, that we should know. Paul uses they same phrase in verse 3 of this same chapter: 'Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?'
     - in verse 3, Paul was stating what he thought should be very clear - children of God should not going on embracing the sin in their life, because of the clear fact that we have been baptized into Christ's death, which is death to sin.
     - here in verse 16, it seems that Paul is setting the stage by informing us that what he is about to reveal in the next verses is clear Truth, something we ought to know.

So, what does Paul think we ought to know so clearly? He will spend some time laying it out, but he starts with this: 'if you present yourselves to anyone...' - First question: what does it mean to present yourself to someone?

The Greek word translated 'present' is interesting. It is translated into many different words throughout the bible, including: assist, by (standing by someone), commend, give, present, stand, yield, come.
The actual Strongs definition is this: to stand beside, that is, (transitively) to exhibit, proffer, (specifically) recommend, (figuratively) substantiate; or (intransitively) to be at hand (or ready), aid: - assist, bring before, command, commend, give presently, present, prove, provide, shew, stand (before, by, here, up, with), yield.

From the definition and usage, we can see that Paul is saying this: presenting ourselves to someone means we are standing beside them, we are offering ourselves to them, we are assisting them, yielding ourselves to them as a willing helper, partner, and servant.

Two examples that came to mind were husband/wife and employer/employee. The husband/wife example magnifies the partner aspect. A husband presents himself to his wife, and the wife to her husband, as willing partners who will assist each other, stand by each other, and yield to each other. The employer/employee example magnifies the servant aspect. An employee willingly presents himself to his employer as his authority, assisting his employer in his business, offering his services to his employer as a helper, on the same team.

Paul wraps all of that into this Greek word present. As we learn more about what Paul is saying, we will come back to this word and what it all encompasses to gain a clear understanding of what Paul is revealing - it's so important!

Back to the beginning of verse 16: Paul says IF you present yourselves to anyone...what does he mean by IF? Is there a choice to be made here - that we can choose to present our not present ourselves? Can we choose to serve God, Satan, both, or neither?

We know from Mathew 6:24 that we can't serve two masters. We can't serve both God and Satan, we can't be on the same side of both God and Satan, we can't present ourselves as to both God and Satan as our authority.

 "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. You cannot serve God and money. Mathew 6:24

In the verse above, Jesus tells us that we can't serve God and money because when we show our devotion to one, we are showing our lack of devotion to the other. When we show our devotion to money over God, we show that we despise God as our authority. When we show our devotion to God, we show we despise anything else as our authority...including money.

To answer our question then: can we choose to serve God, Satan, both, or neither? - we know we cannot serve both. I think the way Jesus explained it, he also alluded to the fact that we can't choose to serve neither - we love one and hate the other, we are devoted to one and despise the other - there wasn't a choice given to be neutral and serve no one. 

Paul has also laid out throughout Romans why it is impossible to choose to be neutral and not serve God or Satan. By default, we are sinful. By default, we are opposed to God. By default, we are condemned. This is because we are, by default, born of a fallen race - the descendants of Adam, who was a perfect representation of us.

Since we are born into this fallen race, we are automatically enemies of God - In the first few chapters of Romans, Paul went into great detail explaining how we hate God, we hate His design, His authority. In John we read that we are of the darkness, we despise the light. What does this mean? By despising God as our authority, we choose to present ourselves to Satan, as his willing servants.
When God saves us, we are able to love Him, and present ourselves to Him as willing servants - and at the same time we show that we now despise the darkness, we despise Satan and everything he is about.

We cannot choose to be neutral in this matter. By denying one, we present ourselves as willing servants to the other - or - by presenting ourselves as willing servants to one, we deny the other.

Paul then drives home the point that whoever we serve, we serve willingly - as obedient slaves. We are not forced to serve one or the other. The fact that we serve Satan because we were born into sinfulness doesn't mean we don't have a choice - that simply means that we are born into what we would have chosen from the beginning. Adam represented perfectly what we would have done - and therefore brought us all to the place we deserve - a place of condemnation and darkness, under the authority of Satan. 

If we are saved, adopted into God's family as His children, we then serve Him willingly. Neither God or Satan forces anyone to serve them. 

We present ourselves to one or the other as obedient slaves, not forced slaves - this is important to notice because, in our culture, we see the word 'slaves' in a negative light. Paul is talking about obedient, willing servants in this context. Slaves indicates that we have submitted completely to a higher authority. 

Who is the higher authority to whom you have submitted?

Romans 6:15

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!   
Romans 6:15 ESV

In verse 14, Paul explained that sin no longer has dominion over us. Sin has control to condemn only when one is being judged by the law, but we are under grace - God's unearned, undeserved gift of eternal life through His Son means that we have been given eternal life set free from sin and therefore no longer judged and condemned according to God's perfect law.

As we looked at what it meant to no longer be under the law, we talked about how this means we no longer need to try to earn salvation through doing good things, nor should we. Our attempt to obtain salvation through keeping God's law reveals our lack of faith that Jesus did it all for us. It's common for us as Christians to get caught up in this, but we can be aware and repent of it as God reveals it to us, continually re-centering and re-focusing our faith on Christ alone as Savior!

There is another incorrect way that Paul expects his at least some audience to respond to this truth of God's children being under grace as well, and he deals with this in verse 15. This question that Paul asks "Are we to sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" mirrors the question he asked in verse 1 "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?" - He asked that question immediately after explaining that God's grace is more abundant, more powerful than the sin that condemns us.

I think Paul knows something about us, about our flesh...when we realize that we are under God's grace, that sin can no longer condemn us, our flesh begins to work against us by attempting to justify our sin. We begin to convince ourselves that pursuing a life of holiness, completely free of sin, isn't really necessary - we aren't being judged by the law, sin can't condemn us anyway. God loves us regardless, He has promised He won't forsake us.

So, is it true? Can we sin all we want since we are not under the law? Can we live a life freely sinning since Paul told us God's grace is bigger than sin? Can we embrace sin knowing sin does not have the power to condemn us? Legally speaking, it is true that we are completely justified.

No matter how much sin, or what type of sin, is present in the life of a born again child of God, he or she cannot be condemned because of it. 

This important to know, because it means we should never repent of sin in our life in hopes of obtaining salvation - we are perfectly and completely justified by the blood of Christ, in spite of the sin in our lives.

However, Paul twice responds to his questions with this phrase: "By no means!" As God's children, we must not sin all we want, we must not live a life freely sinning, we must not embrace any sin in our lives. Not only that, but as God's children, we are told many times in the World that we wont live this way - if we do, we prove that we may not have experienced regeneration, we may not be saved!

In the beginning of Chapter 6, when Paul first asked this question, he then explained why we cannot continue to live in sin because of what has happened to us spiritually as born again, regenerated, resurrected children of God through Jesus Christ. All of this should reveal to us that sin is no longer something we ought to pursue, it is in opposition to God, it's in opposition to the desires of our regenerated heart and mind, and it provides nothing but momentary, temporary pleasure to the flesh. The damage it does, the hindrance to our relationship with God, should rack us with conviction.

Now, in the verses following verse 15, Paul is going to explain why we cannot continue to live in and embrace sin as God's children for another reason - how we live reveals who we are living for, who we serve. Through this explanation, we need to keep our eyes open, because he will also show us how we ought to live, in order that God can be glorified through us - which ought to be our deepest desire!

In light of what Paul has said in the last few verses, we need to keep this in mind as we read God's Word, so that we can stay centered on the truth of the gospel. We all look at some Christians and think "they live life to freely, they don't see their own sin" ... we look at others and think "they have too many rules in their life, they don't understand grace" ... but we need to ask our selves this: what are we basing these judgements on? They are too free based on what? They have too many rules base on what? If we are not using God's Word as the standard, God's Word that says we are completely free as His children, and as His children we are commanded to pursue a life of holiness - if we are not looking to God's Word as our standard, we have no business condemning anyone for their freedom or their rules.

If we aren't basing everything on God's Word, we begin to try to fix the way people are living by applying our own methods. We attempt to fix someone living too 'freely' by trying to put rules in place that will limit their freedom, instead of discussing with them God's holiness - as it is laid out in His Word, and the fact that we ought to be pursuing this holiness ourselves, as we are commanded to do. We attempt to fix someone with too many 'rules' by attacking their rules, instead of discussing with them God's grace, as it is laid out in His Word, and the fact that embracing God's perfect grace strengthens our faith in Him.

By revealing Himself through His Word, God perfectly lays out His own checks and balances - a Christian that understands God's holiness will not embrace a life of sin, and a Christian that understands God's grace won't live a life attempting to earn salvation through good works or by holding to a set of rules.

I said earlier that we should never repent of sin in hopes of obtaining eternal life, since we perfectly and completely justified, set free through Christ. This doesn't mean we shouldn't repent - repentance is crucial in the lives of God's children, it needs to be done with the right motive - the pursuit of holiness, resulting in a deeper, more intimate relationship with God!

We have been set free to pursue a life of holiness with God, through Christ!

Romans 6:14b

...since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14b ESV

The first part of verse 14 promised us that sin has no dominion over us - the second part of verse 14 explains how that is possible. Sin cannot control us or condemn us any longer because we are not under the law but under grace...grace - God's unearned favor towards us, giving us what we don't deserve - eternal life because His Son died on our behalf, paid our penalty and gave us His righteousness! 

I think it's also important to look at what is being said here about us before we were saved. If sin has no dominion over us because we are not under the law, we can also know that sin did have dominion over us when we were under the law.

We need to understand this in order to respond correctly to the gospel. When we were lost, sin had the power to control us, and ultimately condemn us - it had dominion over us. 

Sin controlled us because it satisfied the desires of our flesh, our heart, and our mind - it felt good, so we didn't turn from it but partook of it. Paul will talk more about this in a few verses - we are slaves to whatever we present ourselves to, in our lost state this is sin.

Sin condemned us because, while we were living in it, it put us at enmity with a Holy God. Because of our sinfulness, there had to be a payment in order for us to be reconciled to this Holy God who cannot have sin in His presence. We could not afford the payment, therefore sin would ultimately condemn us for eternity, we would be separated from God forever - had it not been for His Amazing grace, giving His perfect Son as payment for our debt.

So what does the law have to do with this? We know from this verse that the law has to do with lost people, and grace has to do with saved people. We were under law, but now we are under grace. The law is God's 'standard' - it reveals the debt that we were under, the payment that had to be made in order to be reconciled to God. God being holy and sinless, perfectly righteous, is revealed through His commandments, His attributes, His promises, throughout His Word.

As we read about God, and see all of these things, we should begin to realize we have a big problem - that problem being that we are under a debt we can never pay - we cannot satisfy the law, that is, we cannot measure up to God, we cannot adhere to His standard - and as a result, we are guilty as charged.

Think of it like this: we live in a land of many laws and regulations. These laws and regulations legally require us to do certain things and keep us from doing others. When we disobey the laws and/or regulations, we can be charged, and if we are found guilty, there is a payment to be made in order to satisfy the transgression. Since sinful, fallen man is involved, we know that with many laws and regulations, the line is gray - the speed limit for example. We also know that the payment for breaking the law is not always applied equally. This law reveals a 'standard', a way of living that is supposed to be correct - however filled with error it is due to man's involvement.

With God, however, His law reveals the perfect way to live - the way that will perfectly glorify Him, perfectly reveal who He is - and there are no gray lines or unequal payments. The slightest disobedience to God, the 'slightest' transgression against His perfection, that robs Him of being perfectly glorified and perfectly revealed through us, is sin - and in God's eyes, all sin is equally black, and all sin carries an equal judgement: eternal separation from Him, eternal condemnation.

The law, God revealing who He is through His Word, was meant to make us realize that we are sinful. Romans 5:20 tells us that the law came in to increase the trespass...the more we read God's Word, and realize who He is, the more we realize how much we have fallen short of keeping the law, and how sinful we really are, how in need of someone to remove this debt from us we really are.

Then we read the end of verse 14: we are not under this law, we are under grace. All of the beautiful truth that Paul described in the beginning of Chapter 6, describing what has happened to us as God's children...
- baptized into Christ Jesus
- baptized into His death
- raised to walk in newness of life
- united with Christ in His resurrection
- crucified with Him
- no longer enslaved to sin
- set free from sin, justified
- alive with Christ, alive to God
...all of that is God's grace being poured out on us as we are set free from the law, Jesus Christ was that someone who paid the debt we incurred for disobeying God's perfect law.

I said earlier that we needed to understand this in order to respond correctly to the gospel. This is why: as humans, we are conditioned to expect a result from things we do. We go to work, we get paid. We make the correct amount of payments on our house, we own it. We give to charity, we feel good. We obey the law, we expect to live in peace with law enforcement (usually). Our life is full of doing something in order to receive something, whether it's physically, emotionally, or some other way.

This makes it difficult for us to understand God's grace. God pours out His grace on us while we are doing everything not to deserve it - Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and in 5:10 - while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by His Son! God doesn't reward us with eternal life - that being a relationship with Him - because we did something good, or enough good things. Our attempt to do good things in order to cause God to love or accept us is our attempt to pay our own debt for disobeying God's law...the problem is we cannot even scratch the surface of paying this debt.

When we attempt to pay our own debt to God by doing something, we show our lack of faith that Jesus Christ paid the debt in full on our behalf.

Even though we live in grace, set free from the law, we live as though somehow God is going to reward us with eternal life if we live a good enough life - this is based on our interaction with other humans and how we are used to living, but is the wrong way to respond to God's grace.

Tragically, if we do not grasp the power of God's grace over the law, if we continue to live a life trying to satisfy a debt that cannot be paid, we can begin to water down God's law in our minds in order to feel that we are satisfying the debt we owe. We begin to think that some of the 'smaller', less obvious, hard to overcome sins aren't really sin. This is a dangerous trap, because it lines up so perfectly with what we are used to in our daily life: going 56 in a 55 isn't really breaking the law, it's kind of a gray area that can be overlooked, and doesn't usually require payment, maybe a warning. 

We need only to look at Adam and Eve to realize that with God there is no gray area, disobedience is disobedience, all sin is equally black and requires a payment that we cannot afford, all sin results in death, eternal condemnation as just judgement - unless we accept Christ's payment on our behalf, and have faith that it was payment in full. 

We need to realize we are free, so that we can live a life of pursuing God in love and appreciation, not a life trying hard to satisfy a debt that cannot be paid. We tend to argue, then, that if we are free and not required to do something in order to be saved or stay saved, can we just live according to flesh, expecting God to cover us with His grace...to overlook our sin because of His grace? This is what Paul addresses in the upcoming verses.

 

Romans 6:14a

For sin will have no dominion over you...
Romans 6:14a

In verses 12 and 13, Paul has been exhorting us to take sin in our lives very seriously, to purge it as God reveals it to us so that it may not gain a foothold, recognizing the terrible hindrance it is to our relationship with our Father, who is to be our everything. Anything that affects our relationship with the One, the Great I Am, affects every part of our life.

To sin is to miss the mark - the mark being the standard that is God, which is to be perfectly sinless and perfectly righteous.

Obviously, the Bible has a lot to say about sin - it is what separates us from God at birth, and it will be the reason we are eternally separated from Him at death - unless we experience the forgiveness of our sin through the blood of Christ.

That being said, I want to look at some of the things Paul has stated about sin just in the first part of Chapter 6. It's very important that we have the proper perspective on sin as God's children, and the context Paul is working in here is crucial.

For one who has died has been set free from sin (vs 7)

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (vs 11)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions (vs 12)

What is Paul saying in these verses? As God's children, we have been set free from sin, meaning we have been justified, forgiven, saved! We are dead to sin, it no longer separates us from our Holy God! We can now see the ugliness of sin, and make the choice to not allow it to reign in this mortal body!

We must approach sin in our lives with confidence, knowing that, by the power of God, we can - and must - purge sin from our lives as He reveals it to us. While it's crucial to recognize the importance of moving away from sin and towards God, we cannot allow Satan to convince us that we are powerless over sin, or that sin has the power to do anything to us as God's children. If we do, we will begin to feel beaten and downtrodden, like we are losing the battle - which results in us not being the light of God to the world - a light that burns brightest when it is fueled by the boldness of victory in God through Jesus!

We need to understand that we are not losing the battle, and that the war has already been won - approaching sin with the confidence that it has no power over us and it can be overcome by the power of God in our lives will result in great sanctification!

So, with those three verses above in mind, Paul says again in here in verse 14: For sin will have no dominion over you...

The word 'for' is important, because it tells us that Paul is giving a reason for something. Here, Paul is giving us the reason for verse 13. We are not to present our members to sin, but rather present ourselves to God, and our members to righteousness, 'for' (or because) sin has no power over us.

Paul is saying that, since sin has no power over us, we have the power, by God, to choose what we are going to do with the members of our body. Sin cannot make us present our members to sin, nor can sin prevent us from presenting our members to righteousness. These are choices we have the power to make because sin has no dominion over us!

If we have sin in our lives, it's because we have not exercised the power of God in our lives over that sin! This should start build that confidence we ought to have as children of the Almighty God!

Sin has no dominion over us - sin can no longer control us because it does not align with the desires of our heart any mind anymore, it is in opposition to the Holy Spirit living in us, and no longer provides any pleasure or happiness that lasts or compares to the joy we find in a growing relationship with God!

Sin has no dominion over us - sin can no longer condemn us because it no longer separates us from God. We are eternally alive, we cannot die spiritually - thus sin has been emptied of all power over us!

Sin has no dominion over us - because we know the previous two statements are true, we also must know that any negative affects of sin in our life are our fault. We have the choice to overcome and purge sin as God reveals it to us, and we need to be constantly praying for Him to do so. When He does, and we don't respond correctly, we are refusing to approach sin with the confidence and power that God can work in our life.

Sin has no dominion over us - sin itself is never an excuse - we are always responsible for the results in our lives brought on by any sin that is present - this is true because we have the power to not allow sin to control us. 

Sin has no dominion over us - be confident! Take on sin with confidence that we have a God whose grace, mercy, and power are greater than any sin! Sure, we will stumble. Sure, we will slip. We will never be perfect this side of heaven, but oh the joy that comes from seeking God's face!

As we focus on God alone, sin will lose it's appeal, and it's influence in our lives...we must become completely occupied with drawing close to God!

Romans 6:13b

...but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.  Romans 6:13b ESV

We have been looking at the commands God gives us in verse 13, and how they relate to the command in verse 12. From the last blog:

" So - the command here has to do with what we are doing with our body as God's children. Keep in mind the context here...Paul started this chapter by asking how any child of God could possibly think it's alright to live in a life of sinfulness. The command we read here also stems from a command giving right before it, in verse 12: 

 Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  

What is Paul doing by stacking up these commands? (and there is one more to come at the end of verse 13) - Not only is Paul driving home the importance of repentance, the turning away from sin, but Paul is also using verse 13 as instructions on how to obey the command in verse 12! We have no excuse now...look at it: 

  

vs 12: Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Paul...how do we make sure we are defeating sin in our lives, not allowing it control?

vs 13a: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

(and Paul goes even further in this verse, which we will cover later) 

vs 13b: present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. "
 

We see that if we focus on the decision we make concerning the members of our body, we will be experiencing the power of God in our lives which includes power over sin, and is in obedience to verse 12. As we focused on the first part of verse 13 in the last post, we looked at how we should approach this command, the seriousness of this command, and what the motivation for our obedience to this command should be. 

As he began verse 1, Paul told us - don't allow your body to be a part of sinful things. The question comes up then: do we occupy ourselves with not sinning? Absolutely not - or as Paul might say - by no means! Not only are we to be in control of our members by keeping them from sin, but we are to be giving ourselves entirely to God, for His service. Let's break down how Paul explained it. 

but present yourselves to God 

Paul doesn't jump right in talking about our members here, but talking about our entire being. Our focus, as God's children, should be giving ourselves over to Him entirely - starting with the heart and mind. As lost souls, our heart and mind (as Paul described in the first chapter of Romans) were satisfied with the lusts of the flesh, which were in gross opposition to God. Now, God is commanding us to present these inner parts of our being to Him as His children. 

What should be our motivation for doing this? 

as those who have been brought from death to life

Our motivation is everything that Paul talked about in the first part of chapter 6 - that he sums up here. We are to present our entire self to God, starting with our heart and mind, because God renewed both our heart and our mind by bringing us from death to life.

As humans, when we see these things described as commands from a holy God, we tend to have a negative reaction...as though these are things that we have to make ourselves do in order to please Him. This is a very dangerous way to look at God's commands because it's wrong. 

We looked, in the last post, at what God's commands do:

1. They serve to reveal Him.
2. They serve to glorify Him.
3. They are a blessing to us when we keep them! 

As God's children, who have experienced His power of regeneration that completely changes us, we should be noticing, and nurturing, a desire to know and love God more deeply, more personally - this should be the pursuit of our new heart and mind. We will battle the flesh no doubt, because it is of this world, but the battle should prove that the desire of our flesh is in opposition to the desire of our heart and mind. 

This desire to know and love God more each day is crucial, and it must be the root from which everything else grows. This is why the greatest commandment is this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Mathew 22:37. If we focus on loving God with all of our being, His commands will be a delight to us! We will see clearly how they reveal Him, how He glorifies Himself through them, and how they bless us when we keep them!

Our effort should never be in doing 'good' things for God, but drawing close to God so that we might experience His promise in James 4:8 "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you..." As we draw near to Him, and He draws near to us, our desire to know Him will grow, our love for Him will grow, and He will work through us. The natural result of Almighty God working through His children is spiritual growth! 

We draw near to God when we do as Paul commands here in verse 13, when we present ourselves to Him as those who have been brought from death to life, making evident our new heart and mind. The result of this drawing near to God?

and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

We begin to see the power of God take over our lives. The desires of our heart and mind to pursue God and the joy of being in His presence begins to outweigh the lusts of the flesh and it's influence in our decision making. God's influence on our decision making causes us to want to present our members to Him, that we might be used by Him for righteousness - this is His righteousness being revealed through His children - what a blessing! Thank you Father!

The final thing I want to look at is the order that Paul used here. Paul lays entire books of the bible out in a very specific order, but for now I want to focus on verse 13 - if we follow this order, we will experience a relationship with God that is more powerful and more life-changing than we could imagine - and by His power we can!

1. "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness"
Repent! That is - be moving away from sin and towards God continually. We must always be praying for God to reveal sin in our life, with the purpose of purging it from our life. We can never allow ourselves to have a nonchalant view of sin - all sin is dangerous.

2. "present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life"
As we move away from sin and towards God, we will find it possible to spend time reflecting on what made this new life possible - His Love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Power! We need to pursue God with all of our heart, mind, and soul! Presenting ourselves to Him completely, as His servants to be used by Him!

3. "and your members to God as instruments for righteousness"
As we draw close to God, and He draws close to us, it will become clear that our desire is to nurture this relationship! We need to make sure we do that! As we do, we will find joy in presenting the members of our body to God, to be used by Him to reveal His righteousness to a broken world!

 

Romans 6:13a

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness... Romans 6:13 ESV

Our first thought when we read this line should be that we have been given a command directly from Almighty God...what do we know about commands from God?
1. They serve to reveal Him. 
2. They serve to glorify Him. 
3. They are a blessing to us when we keep them! 

This is obviously very serious, and as is true with all of God's Word, this should never be taken lightly...the things of God are never minor. 

So - the command here has to do with what we are doing with our body as God's children. Keep in mind the context here...Paul started this chapter by asking how any child of God could possibly think it's alright to live in a life of sinfulness. The command we read here also stems from a command giving right before it, in verse 12: 

 Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  

What is Paul doing by stacking up these commands? (and there is one more to come at the end of verse 13) - Not only is Paul driving home the importance of repentance, the turning away from sin, but Paul is also using verse 13 as instructions on how to obey the command in verse 12! We have no excuse now...look at it: 

  

vs 12: Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Paul...how do we make sure we are defeating sin in our lives, not allowing it control?

vs 13a: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness

(and Paul goes even further in this verse, which we will cover later) 

vs 13b: present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 

Paul will expound on this idea of how we are to present our members a little later in chapter 6. We will look more in depth at how this plays out in our lives at that time. For now, we will look at the first part of verse 13 and how it relates to verse 12, as well as how it ties in to what Paul laid out for us in the first part of chapter 6 as a whole. 

We know, from verse 7, that we have been set free from sin, set free meaning justified. As a result, we are no longer controlled by sin, because sinfulness is no longer aligned with the desires of our heart and mind. Sin can no longer condemn us, because we have been declared righteous through the blood of Christ our Savior! 

This does not mean, however, that we are not vulnerable to sin, that we don't battle the flesh. Though we can no longer find long term satisfaction in the sinfulness that once defined us, our flesh still longs for it...and Satan is always lurking, hoping to convince us that what the flesh wants will provide satisfaction...IT WILL NOT. 

Because we still battle the flesh, we have a decision to make...as God's children are we going to be nonchalant about sin in our lives, trying to turn a blind eye to it, refusing to deal with it? If this is the case, we are in direct opposition to the command in verse 12...if we refuse to take on the sin in our life with the desire to purge it completely, we are giving sin a foothold...remember the analogy of the steep slope? We are putting a foot over the edge, and we are foolish to think we have control. The evil, demonic forces we are dealing with are much more powerful than us as mere humans - they will do with us what they want, and God will allow them some room - especially as discipline...

Paul is telling us in verse 13 that we need to take a look at what we are doing in our day to day life. I posted about this idea of the micro and the macro earlier this year, not realizing how perfectly it fits here. If we look at the macro (purge sin from your life) we can become completely overwhelmed...especially if how we see our self before God has even a small bit of accuracy.

We need to look at the micro, and allow that to shape macro. The micro here is what we are doing with our bodies on a day to day basis. Remember the song O Be Careful Little Eyes? 

O be careful little eyes what you see...
O be careful little ears what you hear...
O be careful little hands what you do...
O be careful little feet where you go...
O be careful little mouth what you say...
There's a Father up above
And He's looking down in love
So, be careful little mouth what you say

This is how we need to approach the command in verse 12 to keep sin from gaining a foothold in our lives! Take each verse, look at the part of the body, and ask yourself if you are protecting that member from sin...through the power of Christ these things ought to be under control, we are in God's hand. Jesus had stern words if we are allowing the members of our body to hinder us:

And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.  Mathew 18:8,9

This doesn't literally mean that we are to be mutilating our body, but that there is no room for a casual attitude towards sin. As God's children, we MUST exhibit control over the members of our body, and we can (Paul will explain as we study the rest of vs 13).

As we pray for God to give us a passion and power to be in control of the members of our body, to purge sin from our lives, refusing to give any control or power to the demonic forces around us, we cannot forget why we are doing this. It is NOT an attempt to earn God's love, and it is NOT an attempt to obtain salvation. Paul is very clear about this.

In the first seven verses Paul explained what has happened to us as God's children - in response to why we shouldn't live in sin. AFTER explaining this, Paul gave us the command to repent and continually be consumed with purging sin completely from our lives in verses 12 and 13 - using the very important word THEREFORE in verse 12.

 Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 

Using the word therefore reveals that we are commanded to do these things not in order to obtain a relationship with God, or eternal life, rather we are commanded to do these things because we have already been adopted into a relationship with God, which is eternal life! 

It's very important that we recognize this order, because we cannot begin to obey these commands of our own power. The only way this purging of sin and control of our members will take place is if we are in a relationship with an Almighty God, who can work His power in us as we pursue Him and submit to Him! When we seek God with a humble, sincere heart, in humility, and He will bless us with power over sin that we never knew existed.

 

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Romans 6:12 ESV

In verse 11, Paul explained that, as a response to the regeneration that God has worked in us, we ought to consider, or see ourselves, as dead to sin and alive to God.  Here, in verse 12, Paul explains further how this 'being dead to sin' ought to play out in our lives.

Keep in mind that these commands are very serious...they are about God getting glory for the powerful miracle that He has performed in the life of every single one of His children. We don't obey these commands as a way to earn or purchase something from God, but to reveal God, in all of His power and glory, to those around us.

When we refuse to pursue God, and instead embrace the sin that used to condemn us, we are in a terrible place. Two tragic results of our embracing sin:

ONE: When we embrace sin, we rob God of the glory He deserves, by hiding His presence in us from the world. Robbing God of His glory is not something He takes lightly. In Acts 12:22-23, King Herod was struck down and killed by an angel of the Lord...why? For one specific reason: "because he did not give God the glory" That is a pretty powerful warning!

We all fail to give God the glory like we should, and the fact that He doesn't strike us down immediately like He did Herod proves He is full of grace and mercy. As God's children, we dare not embrace sin - NO! Instead, we need to be aware that we are guilty of robbing God of His glory through our sinfulness, and repent! This repentance includes pursuing a life that displays 'death to sin'.

TWO: When we embrace sin, we give sin power. This is what Paul talks about in Romans 6:12: 

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions

Paul, leading off this command with the words 'let not', indicates that we have a choice to make...will we or won't we let sin reign? Paul says, since we have died to sin, do not let it reign.

What does Paul mean by not letting sin reign? - I think this is an important question since we are commanded not to do it. To reign means to rule over, like a king. We know that, since we have died with Christ, sin can no longer control us or condemn us - therefore any power that sin has in our lives is allowed by us. Paul is telling us, commanding us, not to give sin any power in our lives.

Giving sin any power in our lives is very, very dangerous. Satan would have us think that a little sin, sin that doesn't seem to have any lasting affects, is not a huge deal. Satan will deceive by convincing us that, by only giving in a little to sin, we are still in control...we can stop the flesh before the sin gets out of hand. This is not absolutely true...Paul says in Ephesians 6:12:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When we embrace even a little sin in our lives, we give power to these forces that are far more powerful than we are as humans...and as humans, we have no power whatsoever to stop them. This analogy came to mind as I thought about this:

Picture yourself in the Rocky Mountains. When one visits the mountains, there is always an element of awareness while there because of the ever present steep, dangerous slopes. Of themselves, these slopes have no power to harm us. The only way they can influence what happens to us is if we allow them to by getting too close...and by getting too close, we not only allow the slopes power to harm us, but we lose any control of stopping them.

That analogy is 'speaking in human terms' as Paul says, but paints a clear picture:

When we give Satan's powerful, evil forces a foothold in our life (which would be the embracing of any sin), we are allowing them power...power beyond our control to stop them. These evil forces have the power to cloud our minds, causing us to justify actions that hinder our relationship with God (who initially freed us from these forces), and robbing Him of His glory.

Paul says here in verse 12 that if we embrace sin rather than die to it, it will reign in our lives - making us obey its passions. We do not have the power to overcome this evil...only God does...and He did, making that powerfully evident through the death and resurrection of His Son!

It's painfully obvious that we all struggle with sin, especially the longer we walk with our Lord, and He reveals who we really are in light of who He really is. BUT we don't have to embrace this sin...we don't have to let it reign, we don't have to allow it any power in our lives. Since we are now living to God in Jesus Christ, we have the power to continually move away from sin, destroying its power and influence in our lives, glorifying God as His power, grace, and mercy is revealed through us!

God has set us free from the bondage that was our sinful, lost state - completely controlled by Satan's evil forces. Spiritually, as His children, we have entered into eternal life - that cannot be taken away. If this is true, as the Bible promises it is, why would we ever think its ok to give our mortal bodies over to sinful bondage again? Why would we let sin reign in our mortal bodies, making us obey its passions?

Father, cause us to fix our eyes on YOU...for YOUR glory! Every day, remind us of Your command...to die to sin and live to You - so that our relationship with You would not be hindered, that You will be glorified through us!!!

Romans 6:11

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:11 ESV

I had planned on moving into verse 12, but God really laid on my heart to dig a little deeper into verse 11, so that's where we will be for this post!

In verse 11, Paul transitioned from what has happened in us to how we are to respond as God's children. He introduced this transition with the phrase: "so you also must consider..." This is not an option, but a command. What is it that we are commanded to do? So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Two questions that might come to mind:

Question 1: Why are we commanded to do this? Because we are joined with Christ as one (as Paul explained in the previous verses), we have been brought into a holy communion with God, who lives in us through the Holy Spirit. Just think, anything we do, anything we see, anything we partake of...God is right there with us...are there things we do that we would rather God not see? Are there things we do that we know God would not partake of? We are forever justified by the righteousness of our Savior, but that doesn't mean God doesn't see our sinful thoughts and actions...He is right there with us, in us, all day everyday...are we showing Him how much we love Him by how we think and act daily?

Never forget the fact that every sin we have committed, are committing, and will commit, is the reason God crushed His Son physically. These sins are the reason God looked at His perfect Son as an ugly curse on a tree, completely separating Himself from His Son spiritually.  Never forget the absolute pain and agony Christ suffered in the midst of that physical brutality and spiritual emptiness, on our behalf, for our sinfulness.

Question 2: So, just how dead to sin are we supposed to be, and how alive to God? I think this is easiest understood this way...since the reason we are supposed consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God is because we are joined together with Christ, who showed us what dying to sin and being alive to God was all about, we ought to look to Him for the answer. As we go about our daily lives, we ought to ask ourselves continually, is this something Christ would find acceptable? Is what I'm thinking or doing showing that I am joined with Christ, that the holy God who has no sin lives in me? Are my thoughts and actions driven by who God is or by self satisfaction and pride? 

We are called to be completely dead to sin, so that we can be completely alive to God. Any sin we haven't let go of hinders our new life, our new relationship with God. By God's grace and mercy, perfect joy and peace have been made available to us, why do we continue to hold on to things that keep us from experiencing these blessings?

I think one of the biggest dangers for any child of God is the deception of perceiving God's view of sin as nonchalant. This plays out in so many ways, and can be so hard to see in our lives, but I know we are all guilty of it. It's so easy to justify our sinful actions with excuses like these:

- God wouldn't really consider that a sin 

- God still loves us no matter what

- Even Jesus hung out with sinners

- God's grace is bigger than my sins

- I'm saved no matter what 

There are obviously many other ways we could word these, and many other excuses like them. However, none of these excuses hold any weight...God's view of sin is absolutely not nonchalant, He views sin as sin, in Him there is no darkness - the biggest sinful action and the slightest sinful thought are both black, ugly stains - unacceptable to a God who is perfectly white and stainless.

Don't forget that Adam and Eve did not fall because they physically murdered someone, or because they committed adultery on each other, but because they disobeyed God...the same God that has commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, and soul...the same God that has commanded us to love our neighbor as our self, to put others before our self...the same God who has commanded us to die to sin and live for Him...have we disobeyed any of these commands?

To sin is to miss the mark, to not live up to the standard set before us (Jesus Christ) - we all do this daily...I don't say this to get us down on ourselves, but to create an awareness, so that we can be responding the way Paul is commanding us to...consider yourselves dead to sin...sin cannot control us or condemn us, Christ has set us free and given us the power to say no to sin - this is a lifelong process as God continues to reveal areas of sin in our lives, but it is possible to continually be moving away from sin and towards God!

I think its important for all of us to spend time pondering our heart...are we living in a way that shows we are dead to sin and living for God? If not, its absolutely crucial that we implore God to address our heart, to make us hungry for Him, so hungry that it changes the way we live!