New Patterns for a New Kingdom (Part 3) – Romans 6:19–23

PRAY & INTRO:

Here’s what we will see today as we finish Romans 6:

If we are under grace by union to Christ, then we will be submitting to God and growing in holiness, evidence that God has gifted us with spiritual life leading to eternal life.

Last week we closely examined verses 15-18, so today we complete this section with verses 19-23. But let’s read starting at least at v. 15 to maintain the flow of thought as Paul expounds the importance of progressive sanctification.

Romans 6:15–23 ESV

¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 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. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. 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. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What is Paul’s answer to the accusation that the gospel of grace through faith alone will lead to sinful, licentious living? He has these two lengthy sections in chapters 6 to explain that the opposite is true.

The reign of grace does not encourage sin but instead provides the power and persuasion for true obedience to God. (Romans 6)

(Verses 2-14 begin expounding this, and this second section continues it.) The reign of grace does not lead to lawlessness but to true righteousness.

So Paul aims to persuade the reader of two things: 1. that the reign of grace (by union to Christ) leads to righteous living (obedience to God) in a way that the law could not, and 2. to persuade the reader to submit ourselves to righteous living for progress in holiness (sanctification), proving that God is our Master and that he will gift us eternal life in the end.

If we are under grace by union to Christ, then we will be submitting to God and growing in holiness, evidence that God has gifted us with spiritual life leading to eternal life.

Believers must learn to live consistently with new life in Christ. The way to do that is to submit ourselves to God and his righteousness as our new Master so that we will grow in holiness.

At v. 19 specifically Paul teaches that…

In contrast to our former submission to lawless living, those united to Christ will grow in holiness by submitting wholeheartedly to God and his righteousness. (verse 19)

Progressive sanctification is produced by submitting ourselves to God for righteousness. Being united with Christ, if we submit ourselves to God and his righteousness, we will grow in holiness.

1. 19 relies on vv. 16-18 as foundational background to repeat an exhortation similar to the one in v. 13, but this time he continues employing the slavery metaphor with relationship to sin, or to God (and righteousness).

Paul knows that analogies are limited and imperfect, and that the slavery analogy is likely to produce a negative reaction, even for his audience. Although slavery was common, it was certainly far from desirable.  So it’s like Paul is saying, I’m speaking in human terms, because of “ the weakness of your flesh” to understand spiritual realities. Fleshly weakness and human frailty does not automatically mean sin, but is a part of our creaturely condition that can lead to sin. Here Paul seems to mean human weakness in grasping spiritual truth, which is why he is using the slavery metaphor to help us understand spiritual submission to God from something that is part of their way of life that they readily understand. In other words, a metaphor is as imperfect as a metaphor is, but still this one provides a limited but helpful comparison for us to get the point that we are either submitting to sin as a way of life or submitting to God as a way of life. You will either submit to sin in a battle against God or you will submit to God in a battle against sin. [repeat]

As slaves to sin, the negative connotation of a tyrannical master stands. But as slaves to God, we are not cursed but blessed. In Christ Jesus we are also his friends (Jn 15:15), even sons and fellow heirs (Rom 8:16-17). However, God’s word never shies away from the fact that God deserves our absolute, consistent, exclusive, and loyal obedience. That’s what the Master-slave picture captures for us, but with God as a worthy and benevolent Master. In Christ Jesus we are indeed more than slaves, but we are also not less than slaves to a perfectly benevolent Master who deserves our full allegiance.

So as Paul continues in v. 19, he connects this slavery metaphor to the central exhortation he gave in vv. 12-13, only this time in the comparison he says that you did formerly submit your members (as slaves) to impurity and lawlessness… leading to a full-on pattern of lawless living. This reference to impurity and uncleanness is often associated with moral impurity, as in sexual deviation, which draws our minds back to Romans 1 and the sin patterns that develop in pagan society. It can also refer to ritual impurity, which would make Jews think of their own heritage, knowing from the Mosaic covenant that humans are sin-defiled before a holy God, requiring cleansing. So too, Paul deliberately chooses “lawlessness” as reference to sin this time, which is wickedness that is openly defiant of God’s law. For example, any form of idolatry, giving one’s attention in worshipful devotion to anything other than the one true God, is a wickedness that is openly defiant of the written and unwritten law of God.

The point of doubling up the reference to lawlessness seems to indicate that such is in fact the way of life of all who are in sin apart from faith in God. Paul states that such is how you lived. So now, by faith having been united to Christ in his death to sin and resurrection to God, in a contrasting parallel, submit your members (all your created faculties and abilities) as slaves to doing what is right according to God’s righteousness, which will lead to sanctification (in contrast to a pattern of lawless living). Just as saints (hagiois, Ro 1:7a) are those who are set apart to God for his purposes, so sanctification (hagiasmos) is the process of being set apart to God as the pattern of our lives. It the process of becoming holy, of being more consecrated to God.

Even as we began emphasizing last week, here’s the question I think we must ask ourselves based on what Paul describes and exhorts:

- Are we persuaded that God is a good Master who will produce holiness in us when we submit to Him the very same faculties and abilities that have a capacity for sin?

Illust: As a young man (in junior high and high school) I was frustrated about my mouth being such a hindrance to me. In trying to be funny, I would sometimes say stupid things and hurt people’s feelings. When I was complaining about that pattern to my oldest brother, he patiently but helpfully asked me if I was humble enough to let God take that weakness and make it a strength for his purposes.

-In your own life, think about specific thoughts, words, and actions that you need to submit to God in order that he may bring them into conformity to Christ.

“Christians should serve righteousness with all the single-minded dedication that characterized their pre-Christian service of such idols as self, money, lust, pleasure, and power. Would that we would pursue holiness with the zeal that so many of us pursued these other, incomparably less worthy goals!” (Douglas Moo, NICNT Romans)

Let’s continue as Paul continues on in vv. 20-23 to explain the significant place of this progressive sanctification in the life of a believer, contrasting the former submission to sin and its negative results with the sanctification and end result of submission to God.

Sin’s apparent freedom from God’s righteousness actually yields shameful degradation and ultimately eternal death. (verses 20-21)

Paul first goes back to the negative reality of the way we formerly lived, before we were rescued by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus. He also emphasizes the product of such living and the ultimate consequence or destination to which that leads.

Interestingly, Paul notes in v. 20 that when you were enslaved to sin, you were in those moments and in that lifestyle free from God’s righteousness. But while that may sound enticing, to be free from God’s righteousness, Paul has already pointed out that any attempt at freedom from God means slavery to sin. It’s one or the other; autonomy is a delusion. “The question is not, then, whether one will have a master, but which master one will serve.” (Moo, NICNT Romans)

Plus, Paul says, this so-called freedom has devastating consequences. What fruit or benefit do you get from living in such a way… of which you are now ashamed? Clearly, Paul is addressing believers, who are now ashamed of the way they lived in submission to sin instead of in true submission to God from the heart. This is not about being shamed by religious or societal pressure, but about genuine remorse for dishonoring God in our hearts and behaviors.

And what is the telos, the end, the culmination of that way of living? Is it not death? By which Paul means eternal death because he is contrasting it with eschatological eternal life. This death is the separation from God that goes on in eternal torment in hell. That is the consequence of living in submission to our own sin and never responding to God’s gracious offer to save us and bring us into submission to his righteousness.

So Paul says, sure you were living free in regard to God’s righteous demands, but at what cost? Sin is truly shameful and always leads to destruction of our own humanity and harm within society. And ultimately it will yield eternal punishment.

- Are we persuaded of sin’s shamefulness and disastrous consequences, such that we increasingly desire to exchange it for the righteousness of God?

The falsely alluring attractiveness of sin is just that… false. It is a deception leading to destruction. One thing God gifts us with in saving faith is that we come to see our sin for what it is, which means we see our need for rescue from it (and from God’s wrath against it). Just as we repent of that sin in turning in faith to God in Christ Jesus, so also we continue striving to submit every aspect of our lives more fully to God so that he will give us right desires and make us more like Christ in thought, word, and deed.

So Paul has said, what you now know is that sin’s apparent freedom from God’s righteousness actually yields shameful degradation and ultimately eternal death.

By contrast, submission to God produces the fruit of progressive sanctification, confirming that we are destined for eternal life. (verse 22)

Progressive sanctification is the characteristic fruit of submission to God and is confirmation of our destination: eternal life. [repeat]

There are two things to notice in this verse that help us understand its power for the point Paul is making. 1. The fruit here is sanctification. And 2. Ongoing sanctification is evidence that eternal life has begun and will indeed be our final destination.

1. The fruit is progress in holiness. - I don’t know if you’re like me and you have normally thought of spiritual fruit as perhaps the results of ministry, rather than realizing that obedience and ministry is the fruit. In other words, how many converts there are and how many people are blessed by our generosity is not the fruit. Rather, the faithfulness and the evangelism and the generosity is the fruit. Sanctification, which is becoming more like Christ in his obedience and ministry, is the fruit. Listen to the following sampling of references from Paul to confirm this perspective.

In Paul’s prayer for the Philippian believers, he includes this phrase that is pertinent to the point:

Philippians 1:11 ESV

¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The fruit is righteousness, or is the overflow of Christ’s righteousness, which would be obedience—sanctification.

Again in a prayer for the Colossians, Paul says,

Colossians 1:10 ESV

¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

The good works are the fruit, which are closely linked to increasing in the knowledge of God.

Finally, and perhaps the most obvious is this one, is in Paul’s teaching to the Galatians about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

These sanctified characteristics, that reflect the character of God… they are the fruit.

So the first thing to really grasp in this verse is that progressive sanctification is the fruit produced by our ongoing submission to God.

2. Secondly, this growth in Christlikeness is evidence that we have been changed, that the Spirit of God dwells within us, that we have begun the new spiritual life that will culminate in eternal life (which here Paul is emphasizing the eschatological aspect of eternal life).

Paul is saying that this is what is true of believers, those saved by grace through faith in Christ. You have been given a new status, a new way of life, and a new destiny. But what Paul seems to be highlighting is that this middle component is proof of the first, and is our reason for hope of the last. The proof that you have been set free from sin’s dominion and become slaves of God is that you have been united to Christ and are therefore growing in Him—in sanctification: making progress in becoming more personally dedicated to God. So also your hope of eternal life is confirmed by knowing that, what you could not do on your own, God is doing in you by his grace through the power of his Holy Spirit.

Once more, how might we apply this to our own situation in the present?

- Are we persuaded to confirm the legitimacy of our saving faith and eternal destiny by a submission to God that yields sanctification?

Obeying righteousness provides confirmation of progress, that we are on the road to our final destination, which is eternal life. 

When you doubt your salvation, ask yourself if you have repented of pursuing your own sinful and self-centered purposes and submitted to God as the only trustworthy Master of your life. Have you recognized that saving faith in Jesus is not just intellectual assent but is also a submissive commitment to Jesus as Lord?

So too, when you recognize stagnancy in your growth and ministry to others, ask yourself if you are lacking in a submissive dependence on God to yield obedience and growth in you. Progress is made by submissive dependence on God—according to his word, his will, his way.

Ok, so verses 20-21, and 22, set up a contrast of the outworking and end result… of a life of sin (even under the law), versus a life of righteousness by the grace of God.

And it is the emphasis on grace to which Paul returns in a concluding sentence, with a final contrast that re-emphasizes what our sin deserves versus the magnificence of God’s grace to gift us with eternal life in the achievement of Christ. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

It is grace that empowers and motivates our sanctification, knowing that the reward of eternal life is a gift, and not what we deserve! (verse 23)

It’s like Paul concludes by saying, but don’t be confused. Yes, the reward of sanctification is eternal life, but the Christian knows it isn’t because we’ve earned it. The fair payment for our life of sin is death. But thanks be to God! (v. 17) that by His grace he gifts us with the reward of eternal life, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord: all this by simple but sincere faith in God’s promise to redeem to himself those who commit themselves into the saving service of Jesus Christ. 

Grace does indeed put us under obligation to God, who is a good and benevolent Master, but God’s grace is also the powerful persuasion to live consistently with what Christ has accomplished for us and is accomplishing in us—our sanctification. [repeat]

[Conclusion] Again, Paul has shown us in Romans 6…

Rather than grace being an excuse to sin, grace is our power and persuasion to demonstrate our union to Christ in progressive sanctification.

Grace provides a hope for righteous living that the law cannot provide. God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus not only makes it possible to be righteous before God in a way that the law does not, but God’s grace also persuades us to depend on God for progress in holiness, confirming that He is our Master and eternal life our destination.

Comprehending grace yields a dependence on God not present if we think we can achieve righteousness on our own. - Picture a child trying to reach something good on the highest shelf. The child insists on trying to go it alone, while you warn them that the entire shelf will come toppling down on them. Instead, they must seek help, and Daddy will lift them up by his power and grace to enable them to reach out and take that which is on the top shelf. - Comprehending grace yields a dependence on God not present if we think we can achieve righteousness on our own.

So it is with God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus, that we may receive righteous standing by faith, AND that we may make progress in righteous living by faith. We must come to God for help that we may no longer desire the sins on the lower shelf, but to seek his help that He may give us eyes to see and hearts to desire the good that is higher, even his own righteous character and presence.

PRAY

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