Can We Sin Now That We Are Not Under Law But Under Grace? (Part 3)

Romans 6:19-23 says,

"I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

In Romans 6:19-23, Paul concludes his response to those who are considering sinning more since the more they sin, the more grace they receive, and since they are not under law but under grace.

In Romans 6, Paul used the illustration of slavery to convince this group of people that whatever they offer themselves to, sin or righteousness, will control their lives.

Paul states in Romans 6:19 that the reason he used the illustration of slavery was because slavery was a part of their everyday lives.

The majority of those who read Paul’s letters where slaves to the Roman Government.

Therefore, they understood the term slavery.

Paul says in Romans 6:19 for this group of people to offer themselves as slaves to righteousness, which leads to holiness, rather than to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness.

What did Paul mean by “lead to holiness”?

The moment a person believes in Jesus, he is made holy before God through the blood of Jesus.

The blood of Jesus purifies from all sin.

This means we stand before God clean and pure...holy.

In Romans 6:19, Paul says that by offering themselves (the group considering sinning more) to righteousness, it will lead to holiness.

In the context, he is referring to a moral lifestyle where one is free from the domination and destruction of sin’s control.

The word holiness often brings up images in our minds and emotions in our hearts.

To some, holiness has to do with a denomination where certain clothing and hairstyles are required for holiness.

To others, holiness has to do with an imagined restrictive lifestyle where one lives a boring life, absent of pleasure and excitement.

A holy lifestyle in the Bible is a moral lifestyle, produced by grace, where we say “no” to sin and “yes” to living an upright and pure (holy) life as we await the return of Jesus (Titus 2:11-14).

This holy lifestyle leads to true happiness where a person is free from bringing pain into his own life, and the lives of others, due to immoral choices.

This holy lifestyle, produced by grace, brings peace into a person’s mind and heart.

An unholy lifestyle leads to unhappiness...shame...guilt...
misery...regret...pain...hurt...heartache, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of others.

Paul refers to the consequences of a sinful lifestyle in verse 21 when he asks, “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!”

In this verse, Paul is asking the group desiring to sin more because of grace about the previous destructive results of sin in their lives and why they would want to return to that same hurt, heartache, and regret by misusing grace.

Grace was given to rescue them from that destructive lifestyle.

Paul reminds them in the verse 22 that they have been set free from sin.

Sin is not their Master.

Sin is not their King.

Sin has been dethroned by Jesus.

They were free from the tyrant rule of sin in their lives, yet were considering placing him back on the throne of their lives.

They are now enslaved to God...under the control of the God of grace, peace, and love, resulting in holiness (a morally pure lifestyle) freedom from sin’s destruction.

Because they have been set free from sin and enslaved to God, the King of love and grace, they have eternal life.

In Romans 5:12-21, Paul spoke extensively about eternal life that grace produces.

Eternal life is both a quantity and quality of life.

It is a life that begins the moment a person receives God’s abundant provision of grace and his gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17).

Paul strongly encourages this group of people who are seeking to use grace as an excuse to sin to get rid of that mindset.

He encourages this group to view grace in the way God intended, which is to reign in life (Romans 5:17-21), or to experience the quality of life on this earth that is free from the heartache of sin and is filled with the happiness of a holy lifestyle.

This group of people had received God’s gift of righteousness and eternal life by faith in Jesus, yet where now seeking to live in a way that was completely opposite of the gift they had received.

This gift of grace was purchased for them by the blood of Jesus, yet they were willing to receive this gift and live as if they had never received it.

This would be like a wife who received a valuable and beautiful diamond ring from her loving husband, but then threw it in the mud, though it was still hers, choosing to offer herself to other men who abused her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

In Romans 6, Paul encouraged this group of people desiring to accept God’s gift of righteousness and eternal life but then choosing to live in rebellion to it by offering themselves to sin and its abuse to put that life to death and to offer themselves to God, the one who loved them and gave them the gift of righteousness and eternal life.