Romans 6:15-23 - Holy Profits!
- Chad Werkhoven
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
You're an employee of the one you obey. You better examine your compensation package.
Romans 6:1–23 (NIV)
This week we've been working our way through this entire chapter. We read vss. 1-4 Monday and vss. 5-10 Tuesday, vss. 11-14 yesterday. We'll finish the chapter today.
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore 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 live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8Â Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9Â For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10Â The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11Â In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Â Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Â Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14Â For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
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.
19Â 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 holiness. 20Â When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21Â What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22Â 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. 23Â For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 13 - Assurance No Inducement to Carelessness
The renewed confidence of perseverance
does not produce immorality or lack of concern for godliness in those put back on their feet after a fall,
but it produces a much greater concern to observe carefully the ways of the Lord which he prepared in advance.
They observe these ways in order that
by walking in them they may maintain the assurance of their perseverance,
lest, by their abuse of his fatherly goodness,
the face of the gracious God
(for the godly, looking upon his face is sweeter than life,
but its withdrawal is more bitter than death)
turn away from them again,
with the result that they fall into greater anguish of spirit.
Summary
Paul returns to the literary device he began this chapter with as he now begins to wrap it up - the diatribe. That's where he baits the reader by asking a rhetorical question that echoes their own thoughts. Paul ended yesterday's passage with the revelation that you are not under the law, but under grace! What's your first inclination when you're told that you're not under the law?
It's probably not far from Paul's rhetorical question. If there's no law telling you 'no,' then why not just do what you want to do? Why not answer every salacious temptation with a resounding 'yes?' Or, as Paul puts it, shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? But just as this second rhetorical question is very similar to the first, the answer is exactly the same: by no means! No way. Absolutely not. Literally, may such a thought never exist!
Remember the primary point here in Romans 6 is that since you have been united with Christ in a death like His, you certainly also will be united with Him in a resurrection like His. You are united to Christ in every way. This certainly gives you all the benefits of Christ - His atonement and perfect righteousness - but it does not make you an equal with Christ. You and I remain subordinate; He's the Master, we're the slaves.
Slavery doesn't sound very appealing. But you need to understand it's your only choice. Pure, independent freedom isn't possible (for lots of good reasons which we don't have time for today). The only choice you do have is who/what you're enslaved to: either sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Your actions make the choice for you: you are a slave of the one you obey. The good news is that although you used to be a slave to sin, you have been set free and have become a slave to righteousness! So obey your Lord!
 Dig Deeper Â
Yesterday we noted the importance of spiritual accounting, in that you must count yourself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Paul picks up on this business metaphor to close the chapter out by asking another rhetorical question: what benefit did you reap from the things you are now ashamed of? What was the profit (literally: fruit)?
Once again Paul provides another reminder of your change in status. Since this time he describes it using economic language, we'll paraphrase using terms a bit more familiar to our day and age: You have been released from sin's employment and you now work for God. The profit you now reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. That's an unbeatable profit margin!
The final verse - one of the most famous in the whole Bible - continues with the economic imagery. The wages of sin is death. This demonstrates the absolute justice and fairness of God. If you keep working for sin, you will be paid exactly what you deserve.
But our economic paradigms are blown apart by the second half of the formula. Eternal life is not the wage of righteousness. You don't earn it. It's a gift. It can only be achieved in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, eternal life is only given to those who've been united with Christ.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father who has set us free from sin and made us slaves to righteousness;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will live and work hard in every regard for your Master;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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