{"id":1602,"date":"2010-03-22T20:30:19","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T02:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1602"},"modified":"2010-03-22T20:30:19","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T02:30:19","slug":"romans-617-getting-into-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-617-getting-into-shape\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 6:17 – Getting Into Shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 6:17<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But God be thanked that<\/span> though<\/span><\/em> you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are molded into Christ\u2019s shape by Biblical teaching.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The words \u201cbe thanked<\/span>\u201d are translated from the Greek word charis<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201ca favor done without expectation of anything in return.\u201d However, this word is also used to express the joy or gratitude (thanks) arising from the favor received.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cobeyed\u201d is hupakou\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which we have looked at recently. It literally means \u201cto hear under.\u201d It refers to hearing, and obeying the teaching of an instructor.<\/p>\n

\u201cForm<\/span>\u201d is translated from tupon<\/span><\/em>, which is equivalent to the Hebrew word cabala<\/span><\/em>, meaning a mold that is used to create a \u201ccopy\u201d or \u201ctype\u201d of the original.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cdoctrine<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word didach\u0113<\/span><\/em>, a noun derived from the verb didask\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto teach.\u201d Hence, the word didach\u0113<\/span><\/em> refers to something that has been taught. It is frequently translated as \u201ca teaching,\u201d \u201ca precept,\u201d or \u201ca doctrine.\u201d Some Christians have a negative attitude toward doctrine, seeing it as unbending dogma. But, as you can see here, it simply refers to something that is taught.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In talking about this verse we have to begin with what Paul is not saying. He is not giving thanks to God that we were all slaves to sin. Being a slave to sin is neither desirable nor commendable. It is a state of helpless devotion to things that are contrary to all that God is. What Paul is saying is, \u201cThough you were slaves of sin, you have been delivered from that state.\u201d That\u2019s what Paul is giving thanks for. He is thankful for every one of us who has believed the gospel message and has been saved from our sins and from the mastery of sin.<\/p>\n

The second half of this verse has been misunderstood due to a mistranslation in the past. Literally, it says,<\/p>\n

you obeyed<\/span>, from the heart, unto which you were delivered, a form of teaching.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, obviously we don\u2019t talk that way in English, so we rearrange the words a bit. Now it says,<\/p>\n

from the heart you obeyed a form of teaching unto which you were delivered.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cform of teaching\u201d is that which was begun by Christ and taught to His apostles, who in turn taught it to others. It includes the gospel message (by which we were made into the image of Christ), but it also includes teaching about how to live our lives. This teaching acts like a mold or a form, shaping us into a copy of the original and that original is Christ himself. As we obey this teaching we become a \u201ctype\u201d of Christ (hence, we are called Christians). We were freed from sin and we were delivered to<\/strong> the new teaching. And because we have received the shaping effect of that teaching, we have been delivered from<\/strong> the bondage of sin.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I know this is a confusing verse and difficult to understand. What we need to learn from it, however, is that we need teaching from the Bible in order to allow ourselves to be shaped into an image of Christ. Let\u2019s all get into His shape!<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 6:17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. Truth to Learn We are molded into Christ\u2019s shape by Biblical teaching. Behind the Words The words \u201cbe thanked\u201d are translated from the Greek word charis, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[762,763,522,531,744,764,276,331,765,766],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-charis","tag-didache","tag-doctrine","tag-form","tag-hupakouo","tag-obeyed","tag-sin","tag-slaves","tag-thanks","tag-tupon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-pQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}