Since God Forgives, Can We Sin As Much As We Want?

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Romans 6:15-23

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 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? 17 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, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 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.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 
 

THREE THINGS!

  1. We have readings this weekend. Normally, we take off Saturdays and Sundays, but I have assigned us readings this weekend only, so as to finish Romans Part 1 before October begins.

  2. Our new Romans books are in! Pick one up at Asbury, or email Sandie and she can mail you one.

  3. All-Church Bible Study Wednesday (10/2), 6:30-8:00 PM. We’ll be looking at what is arguably the greatest chapter in the Bible—Romans 8. Please make every effort to attend—it’s important.

 
 

Paul has previously made the point that Christians are no longer under (Old Testament) Law but are now under grace. Does that mean that they can sin as much as they want? NO. And he goes on to explain why.

Paul’s point is NOT that Christians are now completely free from control. No, they are not completely free from control; rather, they are now controlled by Christ. Christians are still slaves, but now they are “slaves to righteousness.” Because they are slaves to righteousness, it makes no sense that they would continue to serve sin.

You gotta serve somebody.

As Douglas Moo puts it:

Those who are joined to Christ by faith live in the new age where grace, not the law of Moses, reigns. This being the case, believers’ conduct is not directly regulated by the law. Under Jewish premises, such a “law-less” situation would be assumed to foster sin….But Paul sees in God’s grace not only a liberating power but a constraining one as well: the constraint of a willing obedience that comes from a renewed heart and mind and, ultimately… the impulse and leading of God’s Spirit. — from The Letter to the Romans, by Douglas Moo

Paul admits that the slavery metaphor isn’t perfect, but he’s trying to make his point in language they understand. He goes on to ask what good came from their slavery to sin, compared with their current slavery to Christ. Sin leads to death, but Christ gives life.

For Paul—and for us!—the point is clear: you gotta serve somebody, and it’s better to serve the One who gives life than the power that leads to death.

 

Is Sin Good Because It Shows God's Grace?

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Romans 6:1-14

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

 
 

Paul has hit this question previously in Romans. If God’s grace shows up wherever sin is present, and if the greater the sin means the greater the grace, then why don’t we just sin more so there is more grace?

Paul emphatically answers the question from the previous verse: NO WAY. We don’t sin to “increase” God’s grace because that would imply we are still under the slavery of sin. But, in fact, in a mystical way, we have been united with Christ through faith, and our old sinful self has been crucified with Christ. What this means is that there is no reason whatsoever that Christians must continue to sin. It’s like we’ve been let out of prison—there is no reason to walk back inside the prison walls. Or, to use the biblical example: once the Israelites have been delivered from Egypt, it would be insane to walk right back into slavery.

I find this passage really encouraging and convicting: there is no reason for me to be tolerant of sin in my life, because Christ has set me free from sin. This means there is nothing inevitable about my sin—through the work of the Holy Spirit, I can shut the door on past practices and live as a new man.

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. [6:14]

What do you need to walk away from today?