One of the most famous chimpanzees of all time is one by the name of Washoe. Some soldiers picked up Washoe in West Africa. In 1966 two doctors adopted her. For a number of years this couple raised her almost like a child. In 1970 she was turned over to another pair of doctors and taken to the University of Oklahoma where she went under rigorous training to learn to communicate with human language. Washoe has the distinction of becoming the first non-human to be able to communicate using American Sign Language. She learned over 140 signs! But she was just mimicking all that she had been taught. After several years the staff decided that she was able to try to conceptualize. “She is going to say what is on her heart!” the staff would say. In her safe and secure cage, well taken care of, Washoe said the first three words of her own initiative: “LET ME OUT!!!” She signed these words several times.

Even in animals, there is a desire for freedom. Most animals given the chance of freedom will leave and go out and do what they were created to do. Humans long for the very same thing: freedom. This is what God has created us for. This is our purpose in life; it is our destiny. We will learn in Romans 6:15-23 that the greatest freedom in life is slavery to the right master! To put it simply: Who we are should control who we serve. Why should we live radically for the Lord after becoming a Christian? So that we can experience the greatest sense of freedom we have ever known.

Our passage begins in 6:15 with two questions and an exclamation. Paul writes, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!” Paul returns to his original question in verse 1: Does grace encourage sin? Once again Paul’s response is, “May it never be!” or “What in the world are you thinking!” (My translation) The question may be asked: Why does Paul tackle this very same subject in back-to-back passages? After all, he was adamant and concise in 6:1-14. The answer is: It is not enough to be a new person and have a new position. We must cooperate daily with the Holy Spirit and give ourselves away as “slaves” to who we are.

1. Slavery is Inevitable (6:16-18). In 6:16, Paul informs us that there is no such thing as a person who is “free.” Everyone is a slave to someone or something — whether it is a person, possession, or activity. We become slaves of whomever or whatever we “present” or “yield” ourselves to.

In last year’s hit movie, “Remember the Titans,” Denzel Washington plays football coach Herman Boone. Set in 1971, the tale follows the forced integration of previously all-white T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA.

My favorite scene is when the bus of football players is about to leave for summer training camp. All of a sudden, arrogant, white, All-American Gerry Bertier starts giving Boone guff. Boone finally comes unglued and asks Bertier, “Who’s your daddy?” He then continues to ask the question, louder and louder, until Bertier quietly whispers, “You are.” Boone was making the point that Bertier was about to experience slavery in his final year of high school football. Each of us has a spiritual “daddy”! “Who’s your daddy?” Let me tell you, it matters who your daddy is. Verse 16 says there are only two types of daddys: sin and obedience. This means that there are also only two types of slaves: Slaves of sin, resulting in death or slaves of obedience, resulting in righteousness. There is no third option.

In 6:17-18, Paul expresses gratitude to God that, though we were “slaves of sin,” we have been “freed from sin” and made “slaves of righteousness.” This act is an accomplished fact. At the point of conversion we “became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” This is important and can be easily overlooked by a quick read through.

Paul does not refer to the “form of teaching to which was committed to you.” Rather he says the “form of teaching to which you were committed.” When we placed our faith in Christ, God instantaneously set us free from sin’s power and “committed” (lit. “handed over”) us to a new slavery/freedom.

You may be thinking I’m not sure I like this idea of being a slave — even if it is God’s slave. Keep in mind that slavery is inevitable. You are a slave, whether you want to be or not. Also remember, slavery does not have to be a negative image. Nearly eight years ago I flew my first kite on my honeymoon in Lincoln City. Lori enjoys flying kites and wanted to do that together while we were on the beach. Flying that kite taught me a very valuable lesson. A kite is free to fly only when it is a “slave” to the string. Cut the string and the kite’s freedom to fly is severed as well. In the same way, slavery to God frees us to fully be what we were created to be.

Think about it: If you accept a job to work for a new company, have a new boss, and have benefits that are “out of this world,” are you going to do wrong? Of course not! This is what Paul is saying: We work for a new company, have a new Boss, and have benefits that are literally “out of this world,” why would we ever want to sin? We are slaves to Christ.

[Not only is slavery inevitable, 6:19-23 also inform us that...]

2. Slavery is Intentional. In 6:19, Paul explains that he is using an illustration “because of the weakness of our flesh.” Paul then contrasts our former way of life with our present. Before Christ we presented our “members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in furtherlawlessness.” Now Paul urges us to repeat this behavior with a new master. This results in “sanctification.”

Remember the Lay’s potato chip commercial that challenged, “Bet you can’t eat just one.” Well this saying is also true for sin. “Bet you can’t do just one.” You say, “Oh yes I can. I can sin and I can quit sinning any time.” Of course, we know better, don’t we? Sin is the Lay’s potato chip of life. When it is done willfully it is not sampled, it is indulged in. The principle is: Freedom to sin means slavery to sin. Yet, this is not the way of those who have been touched by the grace of God. No! Believers have become slaves to righteousness and this means a very different kind of life for them.

The term “present” seems to be highlighted in this section. A form of the word occurs five times in 6:13-19. In this context, the word simply means “to put yourself at God’s disposal.” We are to do this with the “members” of our physical bodies, which play roles in the service of sin. Paul says we are to present our members “as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” In this context, the word “sanctification” refers to progressive holiness. Is Paul only referring to the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and self-denial? No! The concept of biblical holiness is used to describe a life of growing positive purity. This also includes a concern for the needy, for structures of society, for the unborn child, for the use of wealth. It has things to say about marriage, about being a neighbor, about property, about the widow, the orphan, the immigrant. It is an entire kingdom of righteousness. Paul intends for this to be a motivating, pleasant exhortation. He is attempting to emphasize the privilege of serving God because we are no longer who we used to be.

In 6:20-21, Paul now wants to motivate us even more. He does so by reminding us of our past. In 6:20, Paul writes, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” This verse does not mean that we were all as bad as we could be or that we were “free” in the sense that God does not care what we do. It simply means that we were not “slaves of righteousness” and we did not care one iota about righteousness. Therefore, we had no relationship with it whatsoever — we were “free” from it.

In 6:21, Paul then asks the question, “Therefore what benefit (lit. “fruit”) were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed?” Paul’s question is: Did your former life ever do you any good? His reply is: With fruit of which you are now ashamed! If we see the godless life as a fruitless life, we shall view it with intense repulsion and cry out, “Never again!” After all, nothing good came from our sin. It filled us with shame. We lost the peace of conscience. We grieved the Spirit. When we are reminded of our past, Paul’s hope is that we will view it with horror and seek to get as far away from the life of sin as we can get. He wants us to view sin as a deadly enemy. If we do, he believes that we will not return to our old way of life.

Maybe you remember Bill Cosby’s comedy routine about a group of co-workers who return on Monday morning talking about the great time they had drinking over the weekend. “I got knockdown drunk like a skunk, sicker than a dog, can’t remember what I said or did, and then was hung over next morning.” Cosby mocks this sad existence by asking the question: “You call that fun?” We can apply Cosby’s words to any sin in our past life: immorality, stealing, lying, fighting, gossiping, etc. Our past life was fruitless.

In the last half of 6:21, Paul states, “For the outcome of those things [our sin] is death.” The child of God who lives in the sphere of sin lives in the sphere of death (1 John 3:14-15). If sin persists, the result may be physical death (James 1:13-15). We must realize that the sin of a Christian is greater rebellion than the sin of the unsaved. It invites great chastening, great rebuke.

In his book, “The Grace Awakening,” Chuck Swindoll tells of a high school classmate who was the toughest, vilest, and most rebellious kid in the class. He was a star football and baseball player and an undefeated wrestler. One of his summer hobbies was racing speedboats in Galveston Bay. He was one of those daredevils who preferred to drive his boat full speed at night. Needless to say, the last thing on his mind was spiritual things. Nothing Swindoll and his Christian friends could say interested this young man — until the night God got his attention.

While speeding about 60 miles an hour under a summer moon, his boat hit a large wave near Galveston’s west jetties. The boat flipped and soon sank. Although pretty banged up, he was able to swim to some rocks where he grabbed hold. The sharp barnacles began to cut into his arms, chest, stomach, and legs. The waves and swells pulled him up and down, slicing his skin into ribbons which caused the blood to flow rather freely into the water. Realizing that sharks might be near, he was scared for the first time in his life. This led him to do something else he had never done before: pray. He told God that he did not deserve it, but he asked to be rescued. He told the Lord he would not only become a Christian, he would become a minister, which to him was the ultimate drastic sacrifice. God graciously intervened.

In less than five minutes a Coast Guard vessel spotted him with a searchlight and soon had him on board. He looked like raw meat — his arms, belly, and legs were shredded from the razor-like barnacles. In the hospital he did a lot of thinking. During recovery he truly trusted in Christ. No conversion was more amazing to those who had known him through school. As he healed, long and ragged vertical scars remained on his body, never allowing him to forget his narrow escape from death.

As time passed, however, he forgot his words to God and he chose to return to a carnal lifestyle — drinking heavily, chasing women, cursing, and the whole ugly scene. He was not happy in his carnal state, but he never let on how miserable he was. Late one night he was driving while intoxicated and struck head-on a concrete column of an underpass. He was thrown through the windshield, leaving his face mutilated and permanently scarred.

Finally, that got his attention. He went to college, then seminary, and for the remaining years until his death, he proclaimed the Savior whom he had ignored and whose grace he had abused. Swindoll writes that this man shared many years ago that every time, after a shower, as he stood in front of a mirror toweling off, those scars he bore silently shouted back at him — mute reminders of the wrong choices he had made, both before and after his conversion. He was forgiven, but the scars did not go away.

This powerful story is a reminder that it is possible for a Christian to sow to the flesh and “reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8). Paul’s mention of the way of death is not an idle matter. Our position has been changed forever — we are in Christ. Our person has also been changed forever — we are slaves of righteousness. But we are still capable of corrupting the life that God has given us. While our position is secure, our experience in life can wither and die (8:13).

Yet, Paul expects much more from us. Just in case we did not hear him the first time (cf. 6:18), in 6:22, Paul again tells us that we have been “freed and enslaved to God.“ As a result of being“freed from sin and enslaved to God,” we derive “benefit.” We benefit our spouse, our children, our boss, our co-workers, and our church. We benefit all who know us because they would rather be around someone who is growing to be more like Christ than like Attila the Hun. But it is also a benefit to us because slavery to God frees us to fulfill the destiny for which we were created by God. At the depths of our being as humans, we were created to love God and enjoy Him forever.

Once again Paul writes that this results in “sanctification.” Furthermore, he states, “and the outcome, eternal life.” Paul expands this thought in the final verse of this section. In verse 23, Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I want to pause here for just a moment.

How often we use this text evangelistically, applying it to the unbeliever. This is well and good, for the principle is true and surely applies to the unbeliever. But let us not overlook the fact that Paul is here applying the principle to the saint, not the sinner. He is applying the principle to the Christian who may be toying with sin, not the unbeliever who is living in sin.

The very first word of 6:23, “for” is often overlooked, yet it serves to connect Paul’s thoughts from 6:20-22 (and the whole of his argument beginning at verse 15). In 6:23, Paul uses an interesting word for “wages.” The word he uses refers to the daily food payment a Roman soldier would receive. There is another word that means money at the end of the pay period but that is not the word used here. It is the word for daily payment. So what are the death wages of sin?

• Instant breakdown of fellowship with God.
• Removal of God’s hand of blessing.
• Misery of a guilty conscience.
• Loss of personal integrity.
• Strained relationships with fellow Christians.
• Reproach brought to one’s family and to the name of Christ.
• Injury to the testimony of the local church.

The phrase “eternal life” is used 42 times in the New Testament, and it usually refers to something we receive as a gift at the moment we believe the gospel (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:40). But 11 of those 42 times, “eternal life” is presented as something to be attained. The solution to this paradox is simple: Eternal life begins as “a free gift” and with proper use can produce more of the same as an end. The principle is equally true of human life. The life of the newborn infant is always the gift of his parents, but that life proceeds to grow and expand by reproducing itself in grandchildren. Life, then, produces life, but never unless first received as a gift. This holds true for natural life and eternal life.

A number of years ago in Georgia, a family was driving down the road in a VW. They came across a farm that was burning down. As they passed the farm, they noticed a man, a woman, and two kids walking down the road in the rain. Yet, the car was so packed that there was no place to put the family. The man in the VW stopped and found out this family owned the farm that was burning down. The man then gave $50 to the farmer. The farmer thanked him and the family went on their way. The family went back and came up with $200. The man said, “Would you please give me the money back?” The farmer thought about it for a moment and then gave it back. The man then combined the two gifts and gave the farmer $250. This is what the Lord does in our lives. He takes what we give Him and gives us all of Himself. Who we are should control who we serve. Since slavery is inevitable, we had better choose the right daddy. Since slavery is intentional, we had better rely upon God’s strength to present ourselves to Him.

Copyright © 2001 Keith R. Krell. All rights reserved. All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, C 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Keith Krell, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Keith Krell, Timeless Word Ministries, 2508 State Ave NE Olympia, WA 98506, 360-352-9044, www.timelessword.com

All Scripture quotations, unless indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, and are used by permission.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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