Part 5 - A Practical Prohibition Against Sinning

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called The Necessity of Sanctification .

 (Rom. 6:15-23)

Not only is there a positional reason as to why the Christian should not continue to live in accord with Sin, there are practical reasons as well. One reason is discussed in Romans 6:15-23. The question is essentially the same as that in v1; “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace? God forbid!” (Rom. 6:15). Paul’s answer follows with the facts in v16. Here is that real-world reason.

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants (Gk., doulos, slaves) to obey, his servants (Gk. doulos, slaves) ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Rom. 6:16)

Paul lays down a very significant principle in v16, which is after having believed and been regenerated, we may yield to become the momentary slaves of whoever we choose to obey. If we submit and serve to Sin we are being ‘the slave of Sin’ in that moment. If we submit to God we become His slave. When we were unsaved we had no choice, we were “by nature” the slaves of Sin (Eph. 2:2-3). The fruit of such Sinful service was deadening to us and those around us; the things we once did, now would make us deeply ashamed (Rom. 6:21). But when we received Paul’s “gospel of grace of God,” and turned to God by faith in Christ’s Cross and we were then ‘freed from bondage to Sinand made the Servants of God.

We should not deceive ourselves to think that there are more than these two alternatives—slavery to sin, or slavery to God; these are only two options for the Christian. We are either a ‘slave of Sin’ or the willing ‘slave of Lord’! Everything we do can be attributed to either the false ‘master’ of our crucified Adamic man, or “the Lord of heaven.” The word Lord means, “master.” The first man (Adam) is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47)

The fact is that we never have been and never will be independent of a “master.” We could say that Adam was created as a driverless car, needing a driver. After Adam’s fall we are born with a master, the Serpentine nature of the Devil. This is why from birth nearly all our thought have revolved around self-seeking. However, as “regenerated” believers (Titus 3:5), we are free to choose whether we will be the slaves of sin or the ‘willing slaves of God.’ We’ve been deceived and assumed all our lives that we were self-ruling selves, but that’s not true at all. There’s never been a you ruling you as a master of yourself. We all needed liberation from the ‘false master,’ and this liberation comes only by faith in the crosswork of Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament Law provided for “voluntary” slaves even past the 7-year time of liberation. If the slave chose to stay with his master by free will choice…Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.” (Deut. 15:17) An aul was the instrument only referred to in connection with the custom of boring the ear of a willing slave (Exo. 21:6; Deut. 15:17), as the mark of his volunteering for perpetual service to his masterwhen he could be free. (Psa. 40:6; Isa. 50:5). This Old Testament truth is a metaphor for our choosing today to be bound to “the Lord” as our Master.

We should understand that we as humans were created and were meant to have an inner master (Lord) to guide and empower us in our living. Before salvation we had “the law of Sin” operating in us by the “Sin (nature) in the flesh” (cf. Rom. 8:2-3). But now as believers, we are freed from Sin’s dominion… to be the willing slaves of Christ. We are willing in appreciation for His love and care that saved us, freed us, forgave us of all our sins, knowing that He will leads us to living with Him “eternal in heavens” (2Cor 5:1b). We are the “heirs of God” (Rom. 8:17) who will “co-reign with Him” (2Tim 2:12).

Paul contrasts the two kinds of servitude. There is the servitude of God and there is service to sin. While servitude to sin produces unrighteousness and shame, servitude to God produces the fruit of righteousness by sanctification. The end result of one is sin unto death, while the outcome of righteousness is the fully blossomed eternal life.

Not only does continuing to live in Sin contradict our position in Christ as one who is dead to sin” and “alive to God,” it also violates every principle of common sense. For a believer to be the willing slaves of Sin, only results in shameful unrighteousness and following that path that leads to an unfruitful death.

So, what we see in Romans 6 is not the method of sanctification but the motive for it. We must leave the life of sin behind and offer our bodies to God, so His righteousness may be lived out in us. Rom. 6 gives us the basis for our sanctification being found at the same place as we found the provision for our justificationat the Cross of Christ. Just as our Lord died for sin and was raised for our justification (for justice to be served), so our Lord Jesus died To Sin ‘As Us’ and He was raised ‘As Us’ to now live our lives unto God.

We know there’s no work which you or I can perform that could earn our salvation. That work has already been fully accomplished on the cross of Calvary. And… there’s no work which you or I can perform to attain to sanctification. Our ‘practical’ sanctification is actualized only by faith expressed in our identifying with Christ,” both in His Death To Sin ‘As Us,’ and in His Resurrection to Newness of Life. 

“… ye THROUGH THE SPIRIT do mortify (put to death) the ‘deeds’ of the (Sinful) body ...” (Rom. 8:13)

If you are reading this you know you sin-laden body is not dead, but you can put to death the “deeds” that “Sin in the flesh” would prompt us to do... since Sin’s power is defeated by Christ’s Cross to which we cling.

Again, I say we ought not to seek some kind of formula in Rom. 6 for us “to do,” such as know, to reckon, to yield, this are too easily perverted into a kind of ‘work’ that ‘we’ try to perform in order to be sanctified. Romans 6 doesn’t focus on ‘the how’ of sanctification so much as it does the why,’ not the method of sanctification, but the motive for it… in that we’ve been elevated positionally by Christ’s Crosswork… on our behalf.

We learn from the Rom. 7 account of Paul trying to keep the holy law that although sanctification is Absolutely Necessary, it also is Absolutely Impossible to Accomplish Through Human Striving. Sanctification cannot be produced through revivals, rituals, seminars, step programs, consecrations, vows, and dedications. The message of Rom. 8 is that we can’t do in and of ourselves (read 8:3) what God has Already Accomplished through the Cross-work of His Son, which is appropriated only through the Power of “the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”by Faith.

We must recognize the necessity of ‘sanctification in the Christian’s life. All too often we present the gospel of our salvation as though it were some insignificant modification or add-on to our life. The real message of the gospel calls for a Radical Transformation of our Lives. The call of the gospel is to accept of God’s provision of righteousness in Christ, which in turn demands the outworking His righteousness in our lives.

The great stain on Christianity today has been the lives of those who fail to realize that the gospel calls for radical change in their lifestyle. BUT again, it’s not a change that we initiate, it’s a change the is by the power of the Spirit, and with which we simply co-operate. The consistent challenge of Paul’s letters is that our practice should conform to our real position “in Christ.”