But 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, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. | Romans 6.17-19
We ended Sunday’s sermon by reading from Romans 6, where Paul declares that we have changed our allegiance from being slaves to sin and law to being slaves of righteousness; the obvious question to ask is: why is this good news?
The Bible refers to this process of shifting enslavement as: freedom. Not less demeaning or a better situation, but being a slave to righteousness releases you from oppression. How can this be? As Derek made clear, understanding our freedom requires understanding our bondage. If we go back to Genesis 1-3 (the beginning), we see that the life of freedom was relationship with God and an intimate understanding of His Lordship over all things. Part of freedom is worship; we can only truly be free when we are in loving submission to God.
What sin did is it enslaved us to passions of the flesh: the desire to do things that are in conflict with God’s design. This brings shame, which is why Adam and Eve hid from God and covered themselves to hide their nakedness. There is no going back. Adopting the law and obedience as a means of justification is a dead end; we can’t correct what sin has done. This leaves us in a helpless place; unable to overcome our shame in relation to God. Whether we embrace our sinful passions or act against them, we find ourselves burdened.
This is why being slaves to righteousness is such a good alternative. The gospel frees us from the weight of being the ones who overcome the shame of sin. When Jesus pays the price and invites us back into right relationship with Him, it takes away the painful results of living apart from Him. Being a slave to righteousness is simply being given the ability to once again live as you were created.
We fail at living this way, which is what the sanctification that Paul talks about is all about. Being a slave to righteousness turns our failures into grace. They no longer define us or our relationship with God, but are tools by which we are perfected into true worshippers. Being slaves to righteousness is not easy in this broken world, but it is GOOD.