Paul, utilizing his clever dialectic (arguing back and forth between two opposing principles), shows the powerful grace of God and the foolishness of rejecting His gospel. Romans 6:15-23

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 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.When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Contrary to the popular belief that sinners are expressing their freedom by living in the sin that they choose, Paul states that sinners are not free, rather, they are slaves to the one to whom they give their members to obey. On this side of the argument, Paul presents a miserable picture of the sinner. The sinner who may think he or she is free is actually a slave. Just as slaves do not earn anything in the sight of their masters, but are completely dependent upon the mercy and grace of their master to provide the means to survive, those enslaved to sin are given only one thing by their master - death. The sin that holds so much promise of satisfaction not only fails to deliver that satisfaction, but it bears an insidious consequence - eternal separation from God. As Paul does elsewhere (Ephesians 2), he shows that the sinner is absolutely helpless. What can a slave do to become free from his or her master? The slave could escape, but then the slave would live in the shadows trying to avoid the truth that the slave master still owns the slave. In reality, the only way for a slave to be free is if another master purchases that slave. This is exemplified through the rest of the book of Romans as Paul explains the power of God to salvation - the gospel - to the point that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rom 8:1.

The other side of Paul’s argument here in chapter 6 involves the slavery of Christians. Believers are slaves to righteousness just as unbelievers are slaves to sin. The way Paul presents this argument is interesting, note the way he phrases the idea. “so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” The reformation has been extremely valuable in Christian history, and one of the tenets of the reformation, sola fide, is a truth found in Scripture - namely that we are justified freely by His grace through faith alone. This is true. However, God does not always present it so simply, and for this we should be thankful, as the doctrine of sola fide has undoubtedly been abused. Paul states that the act of presenting our members as slaves to righteousness leads to our sanctification. Is it not true that we are sanctified through faith alone? Yes, it is true, but it is also true that those who are sanctified by faith alone will live as slaves to righteousness. This is the truth Paul is getting at in Phil 2 when he writes, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you.”

The connection of the two strands of Paul’s argument is brilliant. The sinner is enslaved to sin, and the wages he receives are death. On the other hand, the believer is enslaved to righteousness, and not only is this righteousness more satisfying, but it results in eternal life. One other result of this salvation is sanctification. The believer is free to obey God and has the power to work because God is working in him. The believer has witnessed the beautiful exchange of masters. Though he once served the brutal master of sin, who never fulfilled him and only brought death. He now serves a gracious and kind master who not only gives him eternal life (positional sanctification), but also gives him present power to obey righteousness (progressive sanctification.) These two truths cannot be separated.

So what difference does this make in our lives? First and foremost, we need to be sure that we never ever use the gospel as a guise for sin, thinking that “because Christ died for us and our eternal life is not in question that we have freedom to sin.” This sort of thinking is opposed to the gospel and to what Paul is arguing. This is because Christ died not only to bring us eternal life, but also to bring us abundant life in the present. Therefore, to identify with one (eternal life), and to negate the other (present obedience) is foreign both to the gospel and to the biblical authors who present it. The bottom line is this: We need to get to work obeying God because if we really believe the gospel then He is at work in us. The Bible presents the Christian as a bondservant, a slave who is free from his former master, but who gladly serves a new master with all of his heart. This truth is behind every scriptural presentation of the gospel, even James’ “faith without works is dead.” Our works never save us, but the fact that God saves us can result in nothing other than good works. The two are inseparable.