Romans 6:20

"For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regards to righteousness."  Romans 6:20 ESV

Paul continues here to exhort us to pursue righteousness by reminding us of where we came from, who we were: slaves, willing servants, to sin - as he noted in the previous verse 'we presented (willingly) our members as slaves to impurity'

We have looked at these verses before, but I think it's important to look at them again. They are hard to read, and we tend to pass over them quickly. We view them as describing the past (and they are), but we slow down and let what God is telling us here really sink in...how bad we really were, how ugly our sin really was, how enslaved to these things that oppose God we really were, and how willingly we embraced these things. While we may not have literally, actively done all of these things, they are all same in their opposition to God -- and many of them we are guilty of in principle without recognizing, because we dress up our sin in pretty little bows and don't address it for what it truly is. So, as hard as it may be, take the time to read these passages and let God speak.

"...so they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
   Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
   For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For the women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving the due penalty for their error.
   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. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless."  Romans 1:20-31

"And you were dead in the trespasses in 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 mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."  Eph 2:1-3

"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and sins..." Col. 2:13

"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. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices."  Col. 3:5-9

Pretty ugly...and that describes who we were.

When we read those passages, we see a lot of 'bad stuff' we are guilty of, and glaringly is our lack of resistance to the 'bad stuff' - which brings to light Paul's next point - how good it can feel, how natural or normal it can feel - to the point that we don't/can't recognize how good, necessary the gospel really is from the outside looking in.

- This is because, as lost people, we are consumed with the things that 'belong to the earth', they belong to the 'course of this world', they satisfy the 'passions of the flesh' and 'the desires of the body and mind' which are 'dishonorable', 'impure', and 'debased'. As bad as that all sounds, it feels good because all of that stems from, at the core, us being consumed with us, which is our biggest problem.

- Because these things, as evil and opposing to God as they are, serve to satisfy the flesh, and feel good, we don't see ourselves as slaves to anything. We would never consider ourselves slaves based on what we know about the brutality of slavery throughout history...we would never willingly embrace slavery or make ourselves subject to it. We would agree with the Pharisees in their disbelief to Jesus pronouncing they needed to be set free. (John 8:33) How can we, who aren't slaves, be set free - we belong to no one.

But Paul is coming from a different perspective, a spiritual perspective...and spiritually, we belong either to God, bought by the blood of Christ, or to Satan and sin, in opposition to and at enmity with God. Slavery, as a positional description of our soul, describes who we serve. Ultimately who we serve will be revealed through the fruits that our lives display...nothing is hidden from God, and there is no 'middle' ground.

Paul has been covering the idea of being slaves to sin pretty extensively throughout Romans 6, but introduces a new thought here - the truth that, while we are slaves to sin, we are free in regards to righteousness. What does this mean, to be slaves to sin but free from righteousness?

- We just looked at several passages that talk about the condition of our heart and mind when we are slaves to righteousness, and the fact that we are, at our core, impure, dishonorable, and debased. The fact that our mind and heart are so corrupt means that we are unable to truly feel any spiritual conviction/battle within us. We are void of the Holy Spirit, and our heart and mind are in agreement in their pursuit of selfish and prideful things...all feels good and well! We are free in the sense that we have no conviction of our opposition to God...we exist to serve ourselves, and as a result we prove out our total enslavement to sin.

Think of it this way:

You are on vacation, taking a train ride with a group of friends, cruising down the tracks enjoying the trip. The scenery is beautiful, the food and drinks are great, its all fun and laughter. Everything is perfect - not an ounce of concern in the moment.
What you don't realize is just down the tracks, the bridge spanning a large river is out. The entire train is about to plunge into that river, but you have no idea...you are free in regards to the knowledge of what is about to happen.
It's that old saying...'ignorance is bliss'.

When Paul says we are 'free in regards to righteousness' - he doesn't mean we are truly free, true freedom is only realized through Christ, and he clearly describes in detail our enslavement to sin. Paul means that, as slaves to sin, we are on that train ride, headed for destruction, but not convicted, not concerned, free from the knowledge of what is actually good.

Friend, if you have not accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you have not given your life over to the God who created you, you are on that train headed for destruction...Paul will go on to tell us what the guaranteed consequence is for those who stay on that train, following the course of the world - eternal death.

BUT - There is another 'train' on another 'track'...it's adoption into family of God...with all the love, mercy, grace, and promises He gives us in His word, it's freedom from all of the 'bad stuff' we just read about, it's true freedom to enjoy God through serving Him...it's all made possible through His Son, and it starts with you crying out to Him, accepting Him as Lord and Savior! Living a life given over to God, to be used by Him for His glory, is blessing without compare!! 

Email me: agerber1983@outlook.com
Call or text me: 217-202-2890
Find me on facebook or twitter...I would be so blessed to help you start your journey on the new 'train', headed down the 'tracks' that are eternal life!