Romans 6.19b-Present The Members Of Your Body As Slaves To Righteousness Resulting In Sanctification
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 24, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:19b-Present The Members Of Your Body As Slaves To Righteousness Resulting in Sanctification
Lesson # 202
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:15.
This evening we will complete our study of Romans 6:19, in which the apostle Paul commands the believers in Rome to present the members of their bodies as slaves to righteousness just as they presented the members of their bodies as slaves to impurity and lawlessness prior to being declared justified through faith in Christ.
Last evening we noted that Paul informs them that he is appealing to their human frame of reference by using the analogy of slavery throughout this chapter since slavery was an institution in the Roman Empire in the first century when Paul penned this epistle.
Romans 6:15-19, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
In Romans 6:19, “for” is the “inferential” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a comparative clause that draws an inference drawn from Paul’s statements in Romans 6:1-18 in which he employs the slavery analogy.
Therefore, the word denotes that the command that Paul issues to the Roman Christians to present the members of their bodies as slaves of righteousness just as they presented their members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness is based upon what Paul taught by way of analogy in the first eighteen verses of the chapter.
In Romans 6:19, Paul draws a comparison between the Roman Christians’ lifestyle prior to their conversion with the lifestyle they are now free and obligated to experience after their conversion of presenting the members of their body as slaves to righteousness.
“Now” is adverb of time nun (nun) (noon), which is employed with the aorist tense of the verb paristemi in order to emphasize the present state or lifestyle the Roman Christians were now free and obligated to experience.
“You presented” is the verb paristemi (parivsthmi) (par-is-tay-mee), which means, “to place yourself at another’s disposal.”
Here in the protasis, it is used with respect to the lifestyle of Paul’s audience prior to being declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior where they always placed the members of their bodies as slaves at the disposal of and with respect to that conduct which is characterized by impurity and lawlessness.
Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
“Your members” refers to the different parts of the human body and is used with reference to the old Adamic sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the human body.
“As slaves” is the adjective doulos (doulo$) (doo-los), which emphasizes the “status” or “state” of being a slave to impurity and lawlessness.
Paul does not use the noun doulos, which we saw in Romans 6:17 but rather he employs the adjective doulos since he wants to emphasize the state of the Roman believers prior to their conversion.
“To impurity” is the noun akatharsia (a)kaqarsiva) (ak-ath-ar-see-ah), which refers to all types of sexual sins such as pre-marital sex (Gen. 1:18-24; 1 Cor. 7:2), adultery (1 Sam. 21:5), rape (Gen. 34:5), homosexuality (Lev. 18:20), other sexual deviations (Lev. 18:6-30).
It appears in Galatians 5:19 as one of the manifestations of the sin nature.
Galatians 5:19-21, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Akatharsia is found in the prohibitions regulating Christian conduct.
Colossians 3:5, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
The word appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, in which Paul teaches impurity is not the purpose for which God called the Christian but rather he was called for the purpose of sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:7, “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”
The human body was designed to serve and worship God.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
“To lawlessness” is the noun anomia (a)nomiva) (an-om-ee-ah), which means, “to conduct oneself with complete disregard and contempt for the laws and regulations of the law of God that govern society.”
Where akatharsia, “impurity” defiles the person, anomia, “lawlessness” violates the law of God.
“Resulting in further lawlessness” means that prior to their conversion to Christianity, the Roman Christians presented the members of their bodies as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which “resulted in” further or ever-increasing lawlessness.
This prepositional phrase indicates that lawlessness perpetuates or reproduces itself resulting in a never ending cycle of rebellion against God.
“Present” is the verb paristemi (parivsthmi), which again means, “to place yourself at another’s disposal” much like a servant or a slave would to his master.
The second person plural form of the verb denotes that Paul is addressing all of the believers in Rome as a corporate unit and means, “all of you.”
This is a “constative aorist imperative,” which means that Paul is saying to the Roman believers, “Make this your top priority” or “I solemnly charge all of you” to place the members of your human bodies at the disposal and with respect to that which is righteousness “and do it now!”
Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
“To righteousness” is the the noun dikaiosune (dikaiosuvnh) (dik-ah-yos-oo-nay), which refers to God the Father since its articular construction is “anaphoric” meaning that the word was used in verse 18 and that its meaning in that verse is retained here in verse 19.
In Romans 6:18, we noted that dikaiosune is synonymous with God as indicated by the fact that douloo is personifying it and that the verb douloo is used in Romans 6:22 with reference to God.
Paul is actually employing the figure of metonymy of effect where the righteousness of God is put for God Himself who is the source of the Christians’ righteousness since the righteousness of God was imputed to the Christian the moment he exercised faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Now, here in Romans 6:19, the articular construction of the word is “anaphoric” meaning that the word was used in verse 18 and that its meaning in that verse is being retained here in verse 19.
Therefore, dikaiosune is referring to the Father.
Also, furthering indicating that dikaiosune is a reference to the Father who as to His nature is righteousness is that the verb paristemi is personifying the noun.
Therefore, Paul is commanding his readers to place the members of their bodies as slaves at the disposal of and with respect to righteousness, which God as to His nature is.
“Resulting in sanctification” indicates that the Roman Christians will experience sanctification “as a result of” obeying Paul’s command to place the members of their bodies as slaves at the disposal of and with respect to God.