Romans 6.22-The Benefit Of Being A Servant Of God Results In Sanctification And Eternal Life
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday August 6, 2008
Romans: Romans 6:22-The Benefit Of Being A Servant Of God Results In Sanctification And Eternal Life
Lesson # 205
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 6:15.
The apostle Paul in Romans 6:22 teaches that because the Roman Christians have been freed from the sin nature and enslaved to God, the benefit that they now possess is that of being a servant of God rather than the sin nature, which results in sanctification and eternal life.
Romans 6:15-23, “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. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“But” is the “adversative” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which contrasts the Roman Christians’ pre-Christian days of serving the old sin nature with their present status as Christians that are in union with Christ and serving God.
“Now” is the adverb of time nuni (nuniv) (noo-nee), which emphasizes the present regenerate state of the Roman Christians in which the chief benefit is that of being servants of God.
“Having been freed” is the verb eleutheroo (e)leuqerovw) (el-yoo-ther-o-o), which means, “to be set free” from the dominion of the sin nature.
As was the case in verse 18, here in verse 22, the apostle Paul appeals to his readers’ frame of reference by employing the verb eleutheroo.
The image of a slave being set free would appeal to Paul’s readers since they were Romans and slavery was a major institution in the Roman Empire in the first century A.D.
The verb is “personifying” the noun hamartia, which refers to the sin nature meaning that Paul is ascribing the human action of a slave being set free from a cruel master to the Christian being delivered from the tyranny of the sin nature.
The participle form of the verb eleutheroo functions as a “participle of cause” indicating that the believers in Rome possess the benefit of being servants of God “because” they were freed from the dominion of the sin nature.
“From sin” indicates that the Roman Christians were “totally and completely separated from” from the tyranny of the sin nature in the viewpoint of God.
Romans 6:22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
“Enslaved” is the verb douloo (doulovw) (doo-lo-o), which is used in a figurative sense meaning, “to be enslaved.”
The participle form of the verb douloo functions as a “participle of cause” indicating that the believers in Rome possess the benefit of being servants of God “because” they were enslaved to God at the moment of salvation when they were identified with Christ in His death and resurrection.
“To God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the first member of the Trinity, God the Father as indicated by the articular construction that is commonly used to indicate that theos is a reference to the Father.
Romans 6:22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
“You derive” is the verb echo (e&xw) (ekh-o), which means, “to possess” the benefit of serving God.
The verb denotes that the Christian in a positional sense possesses the privilege and opportunity to serve God the Father because he has been freed from the tyranny of the sin nature and enslaved to God.
This is in contrast with the unregenerate state in which they served the sin nature as Paul teaches in Romans 6:20.
Romans 6:20, “For you see, when all of you were once in a perpetual state of being slaves to the sin nature, all of you were in a perpetual state of being free with respect to righteousness.”
Together, nuni and the progressive present tense of the verb echo emphasize the “present” position of possessing the benefit of serving God because of having been set free from the sin nature and enslaved to God.
“Benefit” is the articular accusative masculine singular form of the noun karpos (karpov$) (kar-pos), which refers to being a servant of God the Father since Paul is contrasting the Roman Christians present state with their previous unregenerate state of being servants of the sin nature that is noted in verse 20-21.
This service to God is in a “positional” sense rather than an experiential sense since in context in Romans 6:15-23, Paul is reminding his readers of their position in Christ in contrast with their previous unregenerate status as servants of the sin nature.
The command in Romans 6:11, the prohibition in Romans 6:12 and 6:13 and the command in Romans 6:13 are designed to have the Roman Christians “experience” their new position in Christ of being servants of the Father.
Only those who obey the Father’s will are serving the Father in an experiential sense.
All believers are servants of God the Father in a positional sense.
“Resulting in sanctification” indicates that the Roman Christians possess all three categories of sanctification “as a result of” possessing the benefit of being servants of the Father in a positional sense.
“Sanctification” is a technical theological term for the believer who has been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation in order to serve God exclusively and is accomplished in three stages: (1) Positional (2) Experiential (3) Ultimate.
“Positional sanctification” is the believer’s “entrance” into the plan of God for the church age resulting in eternal security as well as two categories of positional truth (1 Cor. 1:2, 30; 1 Pet. 1:2; 1 Thess. 5:23; Eph. 5:26-27; Heb. 2:11; 10:10; Acts 20:32; 26:18; Rom. 6:3, 8; 2 Thess. 2:13).
“Retroactive” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His death and burial (Romans 6:3-11; Colossians 2:12).
“Current” positional truth is the church age believer’s identification with Christ in His resurrection, ascension and session (See Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-4).
“Positional sanctification”: (1) What God has done for the church age believer. (2) His viewpoint of the church age believer. (3) Sets up the potential to experience sanctification in time. (4) Provides the believer with the guarantee of receiving a resurrection body.
“Experiential sanctification” is the function of the church age believer’s spiritual life in time through obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Spirit through the communication of the Word of God (John 17:17; Rom. 6:19, 22; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 Pet. 3:15; 1 Thess. 4:3-4, 7; 1 Tim. 2:15).
“Ultimate sanctification” is the guarantee of a resurrection body and will be experienced by every believer regardless of their response in time to what God has done for them at salvation.
Sanctification is experiencing the holiness or in other words manifesting the character of God through one’s thoughts, words and actions.
In Romans 6:22, Paul is speaking with reference to all three categories of sanctification, positional, experiential and ultimate.
This is indicated in that the result of possessing the benefit of being servant of the Father in a positional sense is positional sanctification, which sets up the potential to experience that sanctification and guarantees the ultimate sanctification of the believer in a resurrection body.
Again, Paul is speaking in the context of his readers’ position rather than their experience since in context in Romans 6:15-23, Paul is reminding his readers of their position in Christ in contrast to the previous unregenerate state of being servants of the sin nature that is mentioned in verses 20-21.
Therefore, Paul is saying to the Roman Christians that because they possess the benefit of being servants of God in a positional sense, they also possess all three categories of sanctification.
They are positionally sanctified and they have the potential to experience that sanctification by being obedient to the Word of God and they are guaranteed to be sanctified in an ultimate sense at the resurrection of the church.
“The outcome” is the noun telos (tevlo$) (tel-os), which refers to the result of the Roman Christians possessing the benefit of being servants of the Father in a positional sense with emphasis upon the resultant state or condition of possessing eternal life.
“Eternal life” speaks of the believer possessing eternal life in a positional sense, which sets up the potential for the believer to experience it in time and it sets up the guarantee that the believer will experience it in a resurrection body.