Slaves of Righteousness, Not Sin

October 31st, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Oct 31, 2024

Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 6:18-19 …and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 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.

In keeping with the metaphor of slavery, Paul speaks of the Roman Christians as “having been freed from sin.” “Freed” (Gr. eleutheroō) is an aorist passive verb, meaning that their emancipation was a past action, accomplished by Christ. Prior to conversion they were dominated by sin, personified here as a slave-master. Though they thought they were free, they were enslaved to their sin inherited from Adam (cf. 5:12-14), sin that ultimately leads to death for all humanity. Yes, they had freewill, as does every human, but a freewill enslaved to sin! Man is thus free only to sin since he is born in slavery to it and in need of Christ who alone can set him free. It took a sovereign act of God apart from dead human works to free the Roman Christians from the rotten fruit of sin—true also for all Christians. Hence, in v. 18 Paul points backward to the Roman church’s emancipation from slavery to sin when they first believed.

Jesus used the slavery metaphor in the first century when speaking to the Jews: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-36). Now those set free by Christ from the slavery of sin are delivered over to “the form of teaching” (Rom. 6:17) and “have become slaves of righteousness.” They are still slaves, but they are now slaves of righteousness, which Paul personifies as God. Jesus Christ becomes their new taskmaster, and those who love Him now serve Him “from the heart” (v. 17) which guides their “members” (vv. 13-14), or body parts, to serve Christ so as to honor Him perpetually.

In v. 19 Paul indicates that he was speaking in human terms because of “the weakness of your flesh,” or natural limitations (ESV). Paul seems to have understood the offensive nature of his slavery metaphor—the humiliation, fear, degradation, and captivity of slavery. These are imperfect analogies to the slavery under Christ’s lordship, but the analogy is appropriate in its comparison. For what else could the pre-Christian state of being that unbelievers are under be compared to except a yoke of slavery? Yet after conversion they become slaves to righteousness in that they are given over to using their bodies to glorify and worship the living God.

Notably, the behavior of those freed into slavery under Christ leads to “sanctification” (Gr. hagiasmos), a term that means “holy,” or “set apart.” Sanctification could be translated here as behavior that leads to holiness, as the end product of living as slaves to Christ under His lordship, ultimately dying as holy people. Better, sanctification is a process of becoming holy. The moment a person is saved by Christ he is made holy, set apart from unbelief. But over the course of his life he uses his members to serve Christ (6:13), progressively growing in holiness as his righteousness leads to a process of ever-increasing sanctification. That is a true Christian!

Food for Thought

Though politically incorrect, we are all slaves to something, either to sin or to Jesus Christ. One way or the other we will serve a master, whether Christ or self. As Christians, we can say with the Psalmist who wrote, “O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds” (Psalms 116:16).