Bound to a Master - Slave as Identity

Romans 6:19 (ESV)

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.

As we continue to look at Romans 6:19, we arrive at “as slaves”. To help us understand our identity as slaves we will look at a couple of verses that precede Romans 6:19.

Romans 6:17–18 ESV

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.

‌Thanks be to God… Why? Because at one time we were slaves of sin, but are now obedient from the heart to doctrine AND are slaves to righteousness because we’ve been liberated from the slavery of sin. In the past, we were slaves of sin. In the present and forever, we are slaves of righteousness. The weight of that reality is overwhelming. Furthermore, the beginning of Romans 6:17 repeats Romans 6:14 - “For sin will have no dominion over you.” God in His graciousness has made us slaves of righteousness. There is no amount of work that can make us righteous. Our righteousness is entirely dependent upon God through the work of Christ. We are slaves to righteousness or as Romans 6:22 states, we are slaves of God by His doing not ours. We are no longer under the wrath of God as slaves of sin, but are under grace as His slaves.

‌Whether in Christ or not in Christ, Paul makes a very clear point - our identity is wrapped up in us being slaves. We have to remember that this truth causes our sinful nature to rise. For in the Garden of Eden, Adam, our covenant head, willfully rebelled against the almighty God and His good law. Our flesh rejects the notion that we are slaves. In our sinful nature, we believe we are free of any rule, law, or person. Yet, Scripture makes it blatantly and brilliantly clear that we are either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness.

‌To appreciate this reality we must understand the nature of a slave in the New Testament. A slave gives total allegiance to another person and is bound to them. Thus a slave to sin is a person who gives total allegiance to the power of sin and a slave to righteousness is one who gives total allegiance to righteousness. Throughout this passage (Romans 6:15-23), slavery is key. Slavery determines what and who we are bound to and what and who we are freed from. Just because, in Christ, we are freed from sin does not mean we lose our identity as a slave. Instead, our allegiance is transferred from sin to God. We are now bound to the triune God and His standard of righteousness.

‌Paul writes that the Romans have become “obedient from the heart.” The heart is the seat where decisions, thinking, and feeling occurs. The transformation this church had was a real gospel transformation. At one time they served the god of sin. Now, through the power of God Himself, they are obedient to Him. This is not the “easy believe-ism” that is so prevalent in our churches today. There is no “pray a prayer and live however you desire.” These people have truly repented. They have turned from their sinful ways towards the living God and are obedient to Him from their hearts. The prophecies from Ezekiel 36:26-27 and Jeremiah 31:31-34 have become a promised reality for these people, and they are true for us today. God has given us a new heart and put His Spirit within us so we can follow Him. We are in the New Covenant and truly know God. This radical change reveals we are enslaved to God, freed from sin!

‌From the heart, the Romans became obedient to the “standard of teaching.” It is incorrect to believe the early church had shallow theology/doctrine. You can see the scope of doctrine even if you were to stop reading this writing and spent time reading Romans 5-8. Those chapters cover the entire salvific process from an unregenerate heart to glorification. What exactly is this “standard of teaching”? It most likely refers to the gospel and living life fully unto God. How did they become obedient to this teaching? They “were committed” do it. The wording here is passive. They did not become obedient to the gospel and live to God on their own. God is the active agent! The same is true of us today. God is the active agent who transferred us from the kingdom of darkness and sin to the kingdom of light and life. God, in His goodness, brought us out of sin and into everlasting life! We have been bought out of the power of sin by the Master of salvation.

‌In being set free from sin, we are liberated from the power of sin. Luke 4:18-19 gives us insight into His ministry being the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus, as the true Messiah, will bring liberty to the captives. Again, we are captives to sin, not free. In the context of Isaiah, the Messiah will be released from their enslavement in exile. Yet, there are deeper theological undertones in Luke 4. Jesus is proclaiming that He will liberate those who are enslaved by sin. He will set free the captives and bring them true liberty. This liberty is the liberty they’ve longed for since Genesis 3. In the person and work of Jesus Christ, we are no longer held in captivity by sin’s power. We are freed from the power of sin that has enslaved humanity since the rebellion of Adam!

‌Our identity is in being a slave. In Christ, we are freed from the power of sin and enjoy true freedom while being a slave to righteousness. As Paul writes in Romans 1:6, we are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Our slave identity centers on our calling to belong to Jesus. As a result of this calling, we are loved by God and called to be saints (Romans 1:7). Real and true freedom is found in being enslaved by God. In this enslavement, we find our liberation from sin as we live dependent upon our Creator as Adam should have in the Garden of Eden.