Romans 6:16
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Truth to Learn
We all obey whatever master we submit ourselves to.
Behind the Words
The word translated “slaves” is doulos, meaning “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other. It refers to a person who has no rights of his own; one who exists only as the property of someone else.”
Meaning Explained
Paul has made a number of points in the past five verses:
· Count yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God
· Do not let sin reign in your mortal body
· Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present your members as instruments of righteousness to God
· Sin will not have dominion over you
We know what we should do but sometimes we can’t figure out how to do it. In the current verse Paul is beginning his explanation of how to do it. In answer to his own rhetorical question, he uses a word picture that everyone in the Roman Empire at that time would understand: slavery.
The whole concept of slavery was well known because it was widely practiced. The Romans saw slavery as an integral component to developing and building its society. The institution of slavery permeated all of Roman culture. The Italian economy depended on abundant slave labor, with slaves constituting 40 percent of the population. It even reached a point in the third and fourth centuries after Christ when slaves outnumbered citizens five to three. At the time that Paul wrote this letter it was simply a way of life.
Slaves were considered property; they had no rights and were subject to their owners’ whims. If they did not obey their masters, they were subject to punishment, including beatings, although the murder of slaves was forbidden.
In light of this, now consider what Paul is saying about not letting sin reign in our bodies. He says, Don’t you know that the one whom you obey is your master and you are his slave? The difference for the Christian, however, is that we have already determined who our master is. He says we used to be the slave of sin, which produces death, but now we are the slaves of obedience as a result of our righteousness.
Paul says this in answer to his rhetorical question because the born again Christian is not the slave of sin since he or she has been declared righteous and, therefore, is now the slave of God. And God, as our master, wants us to produce acts of righteousness demonstrating the fruit of our salvation. Therefore, we can’t continue to live in sin because we are not under the Law (which produced sin) but under grace (which produces righteousness).
Application
Are you living the life your master wants you to live? The answer, of course, should be yes. But, the real question is – Who is your master? Who are you submitted to?
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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