Slaves of God - Explaining Romans 6

Most believers want an
easy way into heaven and therefor they avoid the Scriptures that tell
us to be servants of God. Churches love to preach an easy grace
gospel that only requires you to believe in Jesus for salvation. They
pick and choose scriptures from the Bible and twist the truth to
support their deviant doctrines, that are aimed at pleasing people,
rather than leading them to the truth.

I want to read and discuss
Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 6.

“1What then shall we
say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2Certainly
not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? 3Or
aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death? 4We therefore were buried with Him
through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in
newness of life.

5For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we
will certainly also be united with Him in resurrection. 6We know
that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin
might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to
sin. 7For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”


Paul here explains the meaning and significance of water baptism,
for those who have believed in Jesus, have repented of sin and wish
to follow Him all the way until the end. Through their faith in Jesus
and their obedience to Him they have been united with Him. They
reckon themselves dead to sin. Through baptism in water, they “are
buried with Him through baptism into death” so
that when they emerge from the water they are “raised from the
dead” in order to “walk in newness of life,” with Jesus.


Verse 8 “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will
also live with Him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised
from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over
Him. 10The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the
life He lives, He lives to God. 11So you too must count
yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.


12Therefore do not let sin control your mortal body so that you
obey its desires. 13Do not present the parts of your body to sin
as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of
your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin
shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under
grace.


15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under
grace? Certainly not! 16Do you not know that when you offer
yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey,
whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience
leading to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though
you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of
teaching to which you were committed. 18You have been set free
from sin and have become SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.”


Paul makes it clear that those who are born-again and baptized in
water, into Christ Jesus, are not sinners any more. They have by
their own choice and confession of their unity with Jesus Christ,
become SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.


Verse 19 “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness
of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in
slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them
IN SLAVERY to righteousness leading to holiness.


20For when you WERE slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to
righteousness. 21What fruit did you reap at that time from the
things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is
death. 22But now that you have been set free from sin AND HAVE
BECOME SLAVES TO GOD, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the
outcome is eternal life. 23For THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, but
the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”


We are called to be SLAVES OF GOD, SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. No man
can serve two masters. Either we serve righteousness in obedience to
God, or we keep on sinning, which leads to death.


The gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus, as long as we
stay IN CHRIST, IN OBEDIENCE to Him, but if we turn from
righteousness and practice sin, we have despised His gift of eternal
life and will receive the due reward for the sins we committed.


Through Jesus Christ and our unity with Him, we have become SLAVES
to God, SLAVES to RIGHTEOUSNESS.



Paul wrote in Ephesians2:8 “For by grace you have been saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may
boast. 10FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS FOR
GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND SO THAT WE WOULD WALK IN
THEM.”


Those who believe in Jesus and follow Him have been saved from the
bondage of sin, saved from sin, to do good works, to bear good fruit,
in Christ Jesus.



Jesus said that every branch that does not bear good fruit will
get cut off and burned. The grace of God, through Christ Jesus leads
to repentance from dead works, dying to sin to live for Jesus. We
become SLAVES of God.



Those who refuse to serve Him are not worthy of Him and will not
inherit the kingdom of God. They will not have eternal life.



Have you, since believing in Jesus, repented, been baptized in
water and become a SLAVE OF GOD?


May Jesus bless you