In The Word
Read: Romans 6:15-7:6
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace? Far from it! 16 Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were entrusted, 18 and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Believers United to Christ
7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is alive she gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she gives herself to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were brought to light by the Law, were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
There is an old spiritual song that begins, “Free at last, free at last I thank God I’m free at last.” As you read the text today you can almost hear that ringing in the background. Paul was encouraging the believers in Rome to embrace the freedom that they had in Jesus Christ. They, like many believers today, did not fully understand or embrace this truth in their spirit. Therefore, they kept being enslaved to the sin of their former lives. Jesus had set them free! Paul wanted them to experience that freedom to the fullest. After all, they had been set free from their former relationship with the law to enter into a new one with Jesus. It would be this new relationship that would bear fruit for God (Romans 6:4).
Many believers say they want freedom from sin but keep running back to their former slavery. This should not be. We have been delivered from the power of sin and death. To return to our former master means that we betray our Savior. As hard as that sounds, the reality remains. We are no longer slaves but co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). It was Jesus that paid the ransom for our freedom. He delivered us from darkness to light, from death to life. Therefore the anthem of our lives should be, “Free at last, free at last I thank God I’m free at last.” Dearly beloved, you are not obligated to sin. Embrace your freedom and live it to the fullness of God.