Slaves to Righteousness


Romans 6

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we are IN CHRIST, we are no longer slaves to sin. That is a very liberating statement. Sin has no longer any power over me. It doesn’t mean I will not be tempted but every temptation that comes my way is something I have the power to overcome.

Grace has more power than the law. A Christian who is moving in the grace of God has more power to say no to sin because he understands his weaknesses and relies on the power of God to save him from sin. On the other hand, the man that is under the law will have to rely on his own power to prove to God that he can overcome. A man under the law is a slave to sin because we are humanly incapable of resisting sin.

A man under law is convicted of sin but a man under grace is convicted of righteousness. A man under law would base his identity on his work while a man under grace based his identity in Christ.

Brothers and sisters, we are to be convicted of righteousness. We need to know who we are in Christ. You are made righteous already because of the blood of Christ. Preach that to yourself every single day.