Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Romans 6:23
Slaves to Sin
We serve that which we worship, and for a time, it was us that we worshipped, since “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” (Rom 6:16)? Thankfully, we’re not left as slaves to sin, so “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” (Rom 6:17).
Slaves of God
Just as we used to be slaves of sin, we are now slaves of God, and as slaves, all that we have is His. We are only stewards of our Master, so we own nothing, but our Master does bless us with material things, but if we are truly a slave of God, we will use our material things to help our fellow slaves. Our Master didn’t bless us with material things in order for us to cling to them, but rather, we’re to release them.
Fruits of Sanctification
The Apostle Paul writes, “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Rom 6:22). The fruit we bear as slaves of God leads to our sanctification, and although sanctification is a lifelong process, at the end, when we reach the kingdom, it leads to eternal life.
Wages of Sin
All our lives we work to earn wages, but as human beings, we earn the wages of death that and our paycheck is death. This comes from our sinful separation from God (Isaiah 59:2). We were the children of wrath (Eph 2:3) because all who reject Jesus Christ and believing in Him, have the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36b), ready to be revealed in the Last Day.
Free Gift of God
After reading all of this “bad news,” the good news is really good! Remember, we were slaves of sin and destined for wrath, but God stepped in and cancelled our sin-debt through Christ when we receive “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23), which comes without our help (Eph 2:8-9).
Conclusion
Here is our status before we knew Christ. We were headed for destruction, being slaves to sin, but our Master bought us and now we are His slaves. Now we begin to produce fruit in our sanctification, and the wages we had coming to us are now cancelled by the blood of the Lamb of God. It is the free gift of “eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
