“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.”
Paul, anticipating the natural opposition that some would level against his teaching asks the question, “What then?” Paul’s entire discourse seems not to expect an answer for the true answer is already known; as a slave to Christ, one has died to self and sin. In fact this is the primary thesis of the previous section about being dead to sin but alive to God. Paul’s purpose here is to emphasize at a much higher tenor the reality of salvation in tangible, concrete terms which serves to introduce his next body of teachings involving the doctrines of sanctification. As may be anticipated with the subject of slavery, the antithesis of bondage; freedom is the predominate theme here. In this passage Paul turns to this truth of salvation and says in verse eighteen, “and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” The use of “free” (ἐλευθερωθέντες) in the aorist passive participial form here communicates not just the position of the believer but his nature; he is free from the bondage of sin. This does not mean that the believer is free from the presence of sin but rather the bondage and overwhelming power of the depraved nature. In Christ, the believer is capable of those things that are seen by God as spiritually good or fitting. The ontological essence of freedom from sin is not produced by the human ability of the believer to do good; if this were the case the believer’s freedom would then be only positional. However, in light of the fact that even after regeneration the necessity of the Holy Spirit residing within the believer to produce good works shows forth the reality that it is the Spirit at work within the believer to produce good works. Furthermore, as the Father views such works He is not seeing the mortal creature but the righteousness of the Savior imputed to that creature so that even though the believer is in cooperation with the Spirit and the Son to produce such goodness, this is only possible because the believer’s ontology has been radically and irrevocably changed. In short, it is the work of the Spirit through the agency of the Son that is the locomotion of the goodness brought about with the believer. In this way the individual believer is no longer enslaved to the depravity of his natural condition but now is enslaved to the new essence of righteousness brought about by the working of God. One may be quick to question how then those who are regenerated by the indwelling Holy Spirit still seem to struggle with sin and rebellion even in their newly found regenerated state? Paul now turns his attention to answer this question directly as he discusses the doctrine of sanctification applied in chapter seven. Paul’s first point in the discussion of sanctification has to do with fidelity. He says in chapter seven verses one to three, “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.”
Paul’s purpose in citing this Old Testament code is to highlight the necessity of faithfulness. Paul’s assertion is as long as one’s spouse still lives, the one is bound by law to that spouse. It must be understood here that the context in which Paul offers this example comes from those who “know the Law” or specifically the Jewish portion of Paul’s audience who would have undergone the “premarital” observances of the Jewish community and who would have seen marriage from a uniquely Jewish perspective. Beyond this, fidelity is mandated in the marriage relationship and those who fail to maintain this fidelity are seen as adulterers subject to the judgments of the Law on such transgressions. In areas of sanctification, the same principle holds true. Paul says as long as one is bound to the Law they are under legal obligation to abide by the Law. However, just as one is released from their marital vows upon the death of the spouse and may in fact be joined to another without any further obligation; those who have died in Christ are now bound to Christ because the Law through Christ’s physical death has died in the life of the believer. To pick up on another Old Testament theme, Christ has become the Kinsman Redeemer in such cases. Though true it is the death of Christ on the cross that has brought about the demise of the Law as applied to the regenerated believer, there still by necessity must be one to stand in for the newly widowed believer. Without the Kinsman Redeemer protection, the believer who has now been released from their obligations to the Law, is without a covering and protection of the husband. The body of regenerated believers is the Bride who is now joined to her Kinsman Redeemer Husband Christ as He redeems, covers and protects her. In light of this spiritual truth, the redeemed believer though released from the bondage of the legal code is now joined in a “marriage” relationship with Christ that requires an even greater degree of fidelity. As Christ points out in the Sermon on the Mount, the transgression of God’s Law moves from outward expressions to inward attitudes of the heart. The believer is not only responsible for the outward conduct but also for inward heart condition. Paul speaks to this as he says, “But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” It would seem from a cursory reading of this text that the Apostle means to indicate that the Law would then be a source of sin; or at least the thing that causes men to sin. This representation of Paul’s teaching certainly misses the mark. Paul now explains why the Law is not sin nor a source of sin but rather the thing that drives the believer to Christ.
Older
Top
