In chapters 5-8 we learn of the "newness of life" that is ours in "union" with Christ Jesus, a life that is a natural consequence of a person's eternal right-standing in the sight of God by faith. In our passage for study Paul explains how a believer is free from the slavery of sin. Once we were slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God, and as a result, we tend to live in a way that honors our master. We were all once "slaves to sin" which promoted an "ever-increasing wickedness"; our end was inevitably "death". Yet, we are now "slaves to God" which promotes an abundance of right-living; our end is now "eternal life."

v15. As in verse 1, Paul outlines a criticism that was made against him by law-bound believers. They had argued that his teaching on justification (the free gift of right-standing before God by faith, apart from obedience to God's law) promoted careless-living in the Christian life, not right-living. The implication, they suggested, of Paul's teaching, was that since believers live under the canopy of God's saving grace (his covenant mercy), rather than under the direction of his law, then obviously a bit of unrestrained sin, from time to time, is of little importance. "No way", says Paul. In the rest of the passage Paul sets out to make the point that a person who stands right before God is naturally orientated to live in a way that is honoring to God. A believer's acceptance of justification by faith promotes right-living, not careless-living.

v16. The logic of Paul's argument is simple; a slave is subject to their master. There are two slave-masters; we may be subject to one master, or subject to the other. If our master is sin, then our slavery is to sinning with death as its end. If our master is God, then our slavery is to obedience with a life lived to God ("righteousness") as its end. Paul's language is a little confusing since he has us obeying obedience, but his point is clear enough.

v17-18. v17-18. Paul is thankful that his readers have properly heard the gospel and therefore are transferred from the possession of sin (a state of rebellion against God) to the possession of "righteousness" (a state of right-living for God). A person who puts their trust in Christ stands eternally right in the sight of God. Such a person, through the renewing power of the indwelling Spirit, begins to express that righteousness in their lives.

v19a. Paul here qualifies his use of the slavery image. A Christian's relationship to God is not at all the unjust, humiliating and degrading, as is slavery; it is a service of perfect freedom - liberation.

v19b. So, as free men and women, standing approved before God, Paul encourages us to enslave ourselves, not to "ever-increasing wickedness", but rather to "righteousness", right-living, thus shaping in our lives the "holiness" we possess in Christ. In simple terms, "be what we are." Here then is the nub of Paul's argument: "Righteousness leading to holiness" is a natural by-product of a believer's justification by faith. Willy-nilly sinning is not the fruit of justification.

v20. On the other hand, a person who is a slave to sin (eg. Paul's law-bound critics who seek God's approval by obedience to the law and who are therefore bound by sin and the curse of the law) are quite unable to live a righteous life.

v21. As slaves to sin, their end was death.

v22. As the "slaves to God", those who have been set free from sin, set free from its condemnation and its power under the law, the return we get leads to sanctification and ultimately eternal life.

v23. In summary then, the end of sin is death, the end of grace, through faith, is life.

Believers have always found it difficult to accept a full understanding of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. The doctrine seems to promote sin. If the believer has already been credited with perfect righteousness for eternity, if all their good works, all their faithfulness to the law of God, cannot in any way either gain or maintain their salvation, nor in any way please God or progress their Christian life, then why worry about sin? why try to do good? why strive to live a righteous life? Why not sin that grace may abound? v1. Why be fussed by a few sins here or there? v15.

The truth is that not only does our faith in Christ gain God's eternal forgiveness and approval for us, but it results in obedience rather than disobedience. It results in faithfulness, good works. A believer is blessed with the indwelling presence of Christ. His compelling love, when activated through the instrument of faith, leads the believer, not to a life of sin, but to a life of grateful service to God. Sure, we will fail, and sometimes fail badly, but our whole orientation will be toward faithful service, to be that person we are already in Christ.

If there is nothing we can do to make God either love us more or less, why bother trying to please him?