Romans 6:23

I again want to apologize to the readers of this blog for the two week gap between posts on this site. This gap will not happen again, I promise.

Today we turn to the fourth scripture memory verse that our church has meditated on in 2009. It is Romans 6:23. This is another of the great conversion verses in the Bible and should always be in your quiver when sharing your faith with others.

The verse says that the “wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (ESV). Today I want to focus on the context of this verse. This verse is actually quoted in the context of a passage talking about spiritual maturity and sanctification. Sanctification is the term used in Scripture that describes the process by which God sets the Christian apart for holy living. This is not a one time occurrence, but a lifelong process. This idea is different from justification, which is the immediate giving of righteousness upon the believer by God through faith because of the finished work of Christ on the cross. Justification is what was illustrated in my last blog covering Romans 3:23-25.

In Romans 6, Paul the apostle wants to answer two questions – both important to us.


#1: In light of our justification once for all from sin, are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase in us? (Romans 6:1)

#2: Because we are no longer tied to the law of sin but to the law of grace, do we now have the freedom to do whatever we want to do? (Romans 6:15)

The answer to these questions is a resounding NO!!!!!!!!!

Paul responds to the first question by issuing a rhetorical question: How can you, who died to sin – when you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, still live in sin? The obvious answer is you can’t. When you were baptized into the body of Christ, you died to sin and were raised into a newness of life in Christ Jesus. Your old self, your sinful nature, your carnal nature, was crucified and is being brought to nothing; and you have been brought to life to be free to live for God. We as Christians are therefore to present our bodies to God as members of righteousness, not sinfulness. This is sanctification.

Paul responds to the second question by saying that all of us are slaves to something. Each of us only has two options. We can be a slave to sin, or a slave to God, in obedience. This is a CRUCIAL thought. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOTAL FREE WILL. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ABSOLUTE FREEDOM. True freedom is only found in obedience to God. True freedom is ONLY found in total submission. True freedom is found in being a living sacrifice – giving our entire selves over to the LORDSHIP of Christ. A genuine conversion to Christ is one that yields Lordship to Christ Jesus. We no longer get a say in how we are to live – we are now God’s.

And yet we live in a world that reviles against this conditioned freedom. Even Christians want to assert that when you are saved Christ frees you in a sense that you have libertarian or absolute free will. This is simply not the case. Think of God. Is He totally free? Not necessarily. You see, God is conditioned by His own nature and attributes. God is Love, He cannot do evil. God is HOLY, he cannot do anything PROFANE. God conditions himself according to his Divine nature and the purposes of His will. How can we, as created beings of God demand a right that God does not even afford to Himself? We can’t. And yet, it is rampant in today’s society. We are definitely living in the ME generation.

Therefore, Paul in Romans 6:20-22 states that if you refuse to submit yourself to Lordship of God in Christ Jesus, then you are free. But, you are free only from righteousness, for you are a slave to sin and to death. But verse 22 gloriously shows all Christians that we have been freed from the slavery of sin and are now slaves of God, which leads to sanctification and eternal life. What a freeing thought!

Verse 23 is the ultimate answer to the two questions: if you choose a life of unrepentant sin, the consequence, the payment, and the wage is death. If you choose to submit to the Lordship of God in Christ Jesus, the consequence is the free gift of eternal life.

This is simply an offer I cannot refuse.