I speak as a man because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness unto holiness.
Truth to Learn
We should stop giving ourselves to the lordship of sin; instead, we should be giving ourselves to the lordship of righteousness.
Behind the Words
The word translated “as a man” is the adjective anthrōpinos. This word is based on anthrōpos, which literally means “manfaced,” but is most often translated “man” or “human being.” The adjective form means “belonging to man; his manners, custom, nature or condition). Hence, it refers to “that which characterizes man, as opposed to animals, angels, or God.”
“Weakness” is from the Greek word astheneia, which is made up of the privative a, meaning “without” and a form of sthenos, meaning “strength.” Hence astheneia means “without strength,” “weakness,” or “sickness.”
Meaning Explained
Paul opens up this verse with an odd phrase, “I speak as a man.” What he means by this is that he is using an illustration from everyday human life that everyone will understand. You will recall that several verses back we talked about the fact that slavery was so universal in the Roman Empire that everyone understood it.
Paul now goes on to explain why he is using such a base illustration: “because of the weakness of your flesh.” There is some debate over what this expression means. Some say that “flesh” refers to the sin nature, which is how Paul uses this term in many other places; however, this doesn’t make sense in this particular context because the sin nature is not weak. In fact, it is very strong. Others believe that he is using the term “flesh” to refer to the spiritual intellect and what he means is that he is using such a base illustration because of the spiritual immaturity of the Roman Christians and their inability to grasp great spiritual truths in their present condition. I tend to favor this latter interpretation.
Paul’s current point is that we have believed a teaching (doctrine) that is molding us to the image of Christ. Because of that, we have been made free from sin and have become the slaves of righteousness. Therefore, just like we used to yield our members (the various parts of our bodies, including our mind) to uncleanness and to lawless acts (which lead to more lawless acts), so we should now yield our members as slaves to righteousness (or righteous acts) which results in holiness.
The concept that Paul is driving home over and over again is that we have no right to live in sin, under the total influence of our sin nature. After all, sin no longer owns us; God owns us if we are truly saved. And because God owns us, we should yield (or submit) ourselves to Him. As we do, we begin to acquire His holiness (we become molded into His image) as we become more and more set apart from sinfulness.
Application
This desire for righteousness and holiness should be the desire of all Christians. We should all want to become more like Christ by submitting to Him. Is this the desire of your heart?
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved