Bible Truth #121 - Romans 6:15-22

Romans 6:15-22

15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

18  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19  I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

20  When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

21  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

22  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

From the human perspective, I just don’t don’t know where any Christian gets the idea that we have free will, I’ve never found it in the Bible. I am, of course open to consider the theory that we have limited free will as far as how we act within our spiritual nature; i.e. the lost, within the sinful nature, or the saved, within the saved, sanctified, quickened, redeemed spirit we received when God saved us. The lost man has a dead spirit and is restricted within that nature to make evil decisions. EVERY - SINGLE - THING he does is sin because he has not faith (Romans 14:23), no lost man has faith (2 Thessalonians 3:2). He is not able to choose righteousness, he does ONLY evil continually (Genesis 6:5). But I DID say I was open to “consider” the theory, but right now, that is NOT what I believe the Bible says.

Once we are saved we have so-called free will to make whatever decision we want, but God affects our “decision maker” every time in accordance with HIS pleasure. So IF free will and spiritual slavery can be reconciled, that is how I understand it at this point. Can the Holy Spirit show me more later? OF COURSE!!!

The Bible DOES say we humans ARE slaves - either slaves to sin, or slaves to obedience (v16). We Christians WERE slaves to sin but have been set free from sin and are now slaves to righteousness (v18), slaves to God (v22). Slaves do only what their master wants them to do, and Philippians 2:13 says that God is working in us to will (think, reason, believe) and to do (act, behave, live) according to HIS good pleasure, not ours. So where is this “free will” we humans are supposed to have?

Isaiah 55:11 says that God’s Word won’t return void and most Christians stop reading there. Nope, keep reading. His Word WILL accomplish that for which He sent it. A perfect example of this hard truth is the rich young ruler. You know what Jesus told him, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21, Luke 18:22) And yet he went away sad. That is exactly what God wanted him to do.

Do not try to understand God’s Will by the words spoken, look at the RESULTS. God’s Word will ALWAYS accomplish His purpose and what pleases Him, period. (Unless you believe Jesus wasn’t speaking God’s Word.)

Personally, I DO believe he was saved at a later time because the encounter in the Gospel of Mark is recorded that Jesus looked at him and loved him (Mark 10:21). God loves only the Elect. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25), not every soul who ever lived. (See Bible Truth #66 as to who God hates.)

Anyway, some would try to make the argument that verse 16 says we are slaves to the one we obey, so if we disobey God and sin, that proves we have free will since we ARE disobeying Him. Well, if you are “disobeying” God’s Word it is clear you are acting in the flesh, not the spirit. But because we have the Spirit of God, we ARE controlled by His Spirit (Romans 8:9). This reconciles perfectly with Philippians 2:13, it is God working in us to will and to do according to His good purpose. However, since the action we are doing is because of our flesh, and since we have evil intentions, it is sin. However, God is working it with everything else for His good and His glory (Romans 8:28). Yes, He made us do it but He didn’t make us sin.

It may sound contradictory to us and it may be an oxymoron to the secular mind but you have to accept it because it is spiritual fact. Two examples out of God’s Word follow: It was God’s intention that Joseph be sold into slavery (Genesis 50:20). Joseph’s brothers sinned when they did it because their intentions were evil but God intended the same action for good. He intended it to happen, He determined it to happen, He appointed it to happen, for the good, and for the Glory of His Name. Did God make them sin? Of course not, they did what they wanted to do but it was God working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure and purpose. The other example is Christ’s suffering and death. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8) so God crucified His own Son (Acts 4:28). Did God sin? No. Did those who were involved in Christ’s betrayal and death sin? Yes.

So if the Arminian disagrees, sorry. I believe, understand, and accept that it is God not only making me believe the way I do, but He also makes the Arminian believe as he does. (Philippians 2:13)

As a final note please consider the following truth about verse 17.  The Greek phrase that is translated “...form of teaching to which you were entrusted” literally means “you were delivered into the doctrine.” It does not mean the doctrine was delivered to you and you chose to obey it, it means that God delivered you into that doctrine.