Are you serious about saying "No" to sin? One of the marks of a Christian is overcoming the world. "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith" (1 John 5:4). John describes the love of the world as "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life" (1 John 2:16). Overcoming the world, then, is overcoming the ongoing practice of sin. It is saying "No" to sin.
Yet we have considered that while man has great powers of mind and body, he is quickly brought low by sin. Sin's tyranny rules and controls. Man's natural course is submission to sin. Only in union with Jesus Christ is there power and strength to say "No" to sin.
This is why Paul emphasizes doctrine before practice. If we do not understand our union with Jesus Christ then it will only frustrate us to face the giant threats of sin. We see this in a remarkable way in First Samuel. Day after day, as battle lines were drawn between Israel and the Philistines, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines would taunt and intimidate the Israelites. Every day they saw Goliath, heard his taunts, and fled! They were defeated by the threats and intimidation of this giant that towered over them. The taunts continued with Goliath demanding that Israel serve the Philistines if no one could defeat him.
But how did David face the giant Goliath? He began with a reliance on the Lord: "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." David knew that because of God's covenant of grace with him that the Lord was for him. He saw God's redemptive work in his life. The size of the giant made no difference because of the certainty of the Lord as his God. He approached the Philistine with the declaration: "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted." The rest of the Israelites had forgotten who the Lord was and to whom they belonged. Israel had forgotten their redemption by the Lord. They had forgotten their doctrine! David's doctrine assured him that he could face the giant without fear or threat.
Now, did this mean that David did not have to approach the giant and sling the stone? Certainly not; but he could dispatch the giant because he stood firmly on the sound truth of his union with the Lord.
The practice that Paul calls for in Romans six is quite similar. He does not tell us to run forth and resist sin. First we are to understand our union with Christ in His death and resurrection, understanding that His death for us defeated sin and His resurrection for us gave us life in the place of the dominion of death in which we lived. The one who has died is justified from sin, so he is not trying to slay sin in order to acquit himself before God and gain divine approval. Rather he slays sin in his life because he is now equipped to do so as one in union with Christ. Jesus did not give in to sin; neither should we who are in union with Him. Jesus lives to the glory of the Father; so should we who are in union with Him. "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." As the Father is for His Son, even so the Father is for those in union with His Son. So the strength, power, and grace needed to deal with sin in our lives is found in our union with Christ. The call to action against sin and for righteousness is rooted in our union with Jesus Christ. What kind of action is called for in our battle against sin?
Keep in mind that our theme in this section is sanctification, the ongoing process of growth in holiness in the one justified by Christ. It is a process not an achievement. It involves growth not arrival at a particular level of supposed spirituality. It is growth in holiness so that the believer is more and more conformed to the life of Christ in his thoughts, words, and deeds.
We considered in our previous study the first command of this paragraph: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts." The present tense command reminds us that this is a daily practice. Each day we must guard against the intrusion of the reign of sin in our bodies. Our souls cannot be taken by sin but our bodies might be savagely attacked. So we are urged to vigilance and action. What does this action involve? Paul explains it in both the negative and the positive.
Again, a present tense verb indicates that the command refers to something that is prevalent, something that happens regularly. The normal pattern of life before Christ was to present the various members of our body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. We gave ourselves to sin. That is characteristic of lostness. Sometimes we get so incensed with the behavior of unbelievers, wondering how they can do the most sadistic, cruel, and wicked things! Yet should we be surprised? Have we forgotten our own history before union with Christ? A lost person acts like a lost person. He has no righteous standing before God. He has no crucifixion of the "old man" of sin. He has no "new man" implanted in him. He has no indwelling Holy Spirit that empowers and strengthens him. He has no union with Christ to assure him of victory in the battle against sin. So let us remember our lost friends with compassion and pity; since but for the grace of God, there go all of us.
Yet we are not to remain in that same condition with relation to sin. You have been presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness before the grace of God in Christ put to death the old man and gave you new life. So stop doing what you were doing before.
'Well, that's easy for you to say,' someone might chime, 'but you don't know what sins I've been accustomed to doing.'
Paul puts no qualifiers on this, no caveats for especially sticky sin situations. "And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness." What does he mean by members? The term really stands for the whole body in detail. So members involves eyes, mind, ears, tongue, feet, hands, sexual organs, voice, capacity for relationships, etc. Anything that you think, speak, or do involves one of the "members of your body." So that helps us to think in more specific terms about how to deal with sin. It means that we have to evaluate how the various members of the body are given to sin and then take action about those kinds of actions.
The word "presenting" given in the negative is actually a word used in worship or sacrificial settings. It is the same word that Paul uses for presenting yourselves to God and later for presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice to God (12:1). We actually gain an important insight in 12:1 on what is involved in this presentation. "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." Paul compares the Christian's body to the sacrifice offered in ancient times. How is the body being presented to God? As a "spiritual service of worship," he tells us. This presentation of our lives involves worship. Let me put it like this: we give ourselves with fond affection to what we worship.
How does sin deceive us and begin to reign over our mortal bodies to obey its lusts? When we give ourselves to sin with fond affection we slip into the worship of sin. I am not speaking of an occasional giving over of oneself to sin. For if one only occasionally gives himself over to the Lord that is certainly not a presentation of fond affection nor an act of worship. Rather it seems that what Paul focuses on is the giving over and giving over of particular members of the body to sin. It is the repeated pattern not the chance offense that he references. If you run your hand over the fire you may see evidence of it by redness. But if you plunge your hand into the fire you will see the evidence of the fire's destructive might in your flesh. Any sin may "redden" us but it is when we plunge into a sin by repeatedly giving ourselves to it that we face its destructiveness in our flesh.
Yet having made this distinction, I hasten to point out that any foray into sin is dangerous and potentially destructive. We dare not trust our hearts when it comes to playing with sin. We still live in these mortal bodies that are prone to sin. The lusts linger in the flesh. We cannot excuse ourselves with sin.
What does this negative or prohibition against presenting our members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness involve? The word "instruments" is often translated, and perhaps better translated here, as "weapons." If we think of the failure to restrain sin as loading up weapons given in loyalty to sin to wage war within, then we get a good idea of what Paul describes. To give our eyes to sin by pursuing pornography or watching sensuous movies or reading sleazy books is to turn a dangerous weapon lose within, a weapon bent on our destruction. To give our voices over to sin in gossip, exaggeration, lying, or complaining is to arm sin within the castle of your mortal body so that you face inward spiritual anarchy.
What are we to do? We are to evaluate where we have tendencies toward sin. Is it with our eyes? How about our thought life? Or is it with our tongues? Then we must labor to set restraints on those particular areas of life in a special way. Is it your tongue that gives way to complaining? Then daily write down things that you want to verbally express thanks for. Keep that list posted where you will see it regularly. If you slip into a complaint then quickly retrieve your "thanksgiving list" and recite it. Ask anyone to whom you complained to forgive you for your complaining. Memorize passages that deal with this sin and recite them daily, such as 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
Is it your tongue that gives way to lying or gossip? Then follow the five-second rule. Think five seconds before speaking. Give yourself enough time to ask whether your response will be truthful and honorable. Retrace your steps if you have lied or gossiped by admitting your failure to the one you have used your tongue against, asking for forgiveness. Memorize passages such as Ephesians 5:29 and Exodus 20:16: "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Do you see the pattern of what I'm recommending? Take the time to get honest enough with yourself in light of Scripture that you have some tendencies toward sin in particular areas of your life. Zero in on those areas. Mark them; evaluate them; evaluate their effect on your sanctification and on others. Don't water sin down by calling lying "creative imagination," or complaining "expressing yourself" or gossip "sharing a prayer concern." Don't give sin a dressed up name to make it seem less harmful. Call it sin! Confess that this sin sent Jesus to the cross in order to secure your forgiveness of it and deliverance from it.
How far do we go in restraining sin in our lives? Go far enough until you look and act like Jesus Christ. I think that gives us plenty of room for work!
Resisting sin by taking specific action against it is only half of the equation. The other, the positive side, means that we consciously give ourselves to the Lord and consciously give the members of our body as instruments of righteousness for the glory of God. "But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." Consider the first part of that clause. The second "present" in this verse is not the present tense but the aorist. It points to a decisive, deliberate action calling for a break from sin in order to give yourself wholly to the Lord. Paul does qualify this presentation: you are doing it as one "alive from the dead." In other words, you have the capacity, now that you are in union with Christ in His resurrection, to present yourselves to God.
What a contrast! In the first clause we are warned about presenting our members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. Now we are told to do the larger part: present yourselves to God. Don't give yourselves to sin but give yourselves to God! How can you who are "alive from the dead" give yourselves to sin? Your sin met its defeat at the cross. You were buried with Christ. Your old man was rendered inoperative--the plugs pulled out of his engine. So why would you present yourselves to sin to obey its lusts when you have been brought to life with Christ?
But the text goes further. "Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead." If we go back to the sacrificial system when men would come and bring their goats, lambs, pigeons, or bulls to the Lord, they gave up jurisdiction of those things upon presentation to the Lord. Those sacrifices became "holy to the Lord." They were used in different ways. Some sacrifices were burned as a fragrant aroma to the Lord. Others were used to feed the high priest and his family. Still others were used to meet the needs of the whole priestly tribe of Levi. Yet once the bearer made the offering he had no more claim to it. The sacrifice belonged to God.
Think of this practically in your own life. Do you give yourself to the Lord to be an instrument for His glory, a sacrifice as a sweet aroma to Him? Do you give yourself to the Lord so that he might satisfy whatever kingdom purposes He may be pleased to use you? Remind yourself in the face of temptation: I belong to the Lord. I have presented myself to God as one alive from the dead, and thus one in union with His Son, so sin has no claim on me. When you present yourself to God then you belong to Him; you are His and His alone. The word the Bible uses to describe this is "holy." You are set apart to the Lord. Horatius Bonar gave a clear explanation of what that means:
Holiness...extends to every part of our persons, fills up our being, spreads over our life, influences everything we are, or do, or think, or speak, or plan, small or great, outward or inward, negative or positive, our loving, our hating, our sorrowing, our rejoicing, our recreations, our business, our friendships, our relationships, our silence, our speech, our reading, our writing, our going out and our coming in--our whole man in every movement of spirit, soul, and body [quoted by Joel Beeke, Overcoming Worldliness, p. 80, from Horatius Bonar, God's Way of Holiness (reprint, Pensacola, Fla.: Mt. Zion Publications, 1994), 16].
Notice what else we find in this clause: "and [present] your members as instruments of righteousness to God." First, we present ourselves to the Lord. Second, we present the individual members of our body as "instruments" or "weapons" of righteousness to God. That puts the fight against sin on a different level. We must concern ourselves with the negative, for sure, but we must not stop there. Legalists are concerned with the negative: not presenting their members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. But their purpose is for achieving righteous standing with God. That's not what Paul has in mind at all! The righteous standing with God is already secure. Jesus Christ made sure of that in the perfect work of redemption at the cross. So what does he mean by this presentation of our members as instruments of righteousness to God? If it is not achieving righteousness, then what is it?
What do you do with "instruments" or "weapons"? You use them. A master craftsman has a shop full of "instruments" by which he crafts an endless array of items that display his ability and skill. A military general has an array of weapons by which he assaults his enemies and achieves victory, displaying his might and skill. Each instrument and each weapon has a particular purpose at a particular time. The use of each ultimately reflects on the one to whom it belongs as he wields it for his purpose.
Your mind, eyes, voice, feet, hands, and indeed, every part of you, is to be presented to God as an instrument or weapon for righteousness so that He might wield it as a display of His majesty and glory. The Christian's tongue or voice belongs to God. It is His to use for the sake of encouraging the saints, speaking the good news to unbelievers, warning the wayward, comforting the grieving, rejoicing with the joyous, singing and praising with the body of Christ in worship.
Your eyes are given to God for instruments of righteousness to display His glory. So with them you read the Scripture to fill your mind with thoughts of God and to instruct your steps in the ways of God. With them you look with compassion and kindness upon those in need. With your eyes you behold the beauty of creation and give vent to praise and worship. With your eyes you focus on tasks given to you, whether with work or school or duties at home or church. You use those eyes to accomplish what has been entrusted to you as a steward who must give an account to God so that your works give praise to the Lord.
The "members" of our body are either weapons of righteousness or weapons of unrighteousness; they either glorify the Lord or glorify sin; they either point others to the redeeming love of Christ or to the destructive nature of sin. You have daily negative and positive challenges: negatively, do not present yourselves to sin or the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness; positively, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and in so doing, present your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
This passage in context corrects a multitude of misconceptions and false teaching regarding sanctification.
Since Romans 6-8 is the lengthiest, sustained, systematic treatment of sanctification then we must not only see what it teaches but what it does not teach. What does this passage NOT teach concerning sanctification? First, it does not teach that we arrive at perfection or final sanctification in this life. Some in the Wesleyan tradition have slipped into that error. Second, it does not teach that Christ is inadequate so we must contribute to our salvation. On the contrary, because Christ is adequate, we can live in victory over sin's reign. Third, it does not separate sanctification from justification. As we noticed, the foundation upon which our sanctification is built is justification (6:7). Fourth, it does not teach separate levels of spirituality as though some Christians enter into an elite status in the Christian standing. The whole monastic tradition gave this impression whether intentionally or not. So there's no inferior or superior status as Christians. Fifth, it does not teach that you are more accepted by the Lord for the level of work at sanctification. Your acceptance is in Christ alone. Sixth, it does not teach that you gain merit with God by your resistance of sin; so you are freed from falling into legalism. Seventh, it does not teach passivity, e.g. "Let go and let God," rather it reminds us that sanctification calls for action; so the Christian life is never passive when it comes to growth.
What has Paul taught us about the Law? (1) It is not a successful means to justification and thus proves powerless to justify or declare righteous (3:20). (2) It holds all men accountable before God (3:19). Righteousness is revealed in the Law (3:21). (3) Those that would associate the Law with works as merit or the means to please God will fail in attempts to use the Law in this way (3:27-28). (4) Unless the Law is completely obeyed then the violator is under condemnation (2:23); thus only faith establishes the righteousness in the Law (3:31).
Now why does Paul make the assertion, "For you are not under law but under grace" in light of his declaration, "For sin shall not be master over you"? Sin will pick apart every flaw and failure of our lives, loudly condemning us for our sin. But the only ground that sin has to condemn is with the law and lawbreakers. But what has happened to the believer? He is no longer under the law as the means to righteousness! He is under grace because he is in Christ, relying upon the satisfaction of Jesus Christ in meeting the righteous demands of the law. So, sin's threats and condemnations are meaningless to the believer because we are no longer under the jurisdiction of the law (more on that in chapter 7) but rather we are under the jurisdiction of grace.
This highlights grace against the law as the means to righteousness, showing that in grace, that is, the grace found in the gospel of Christ, there is sufficiency for the believer's justification and sanctification. Our standing with God and the certainty of our continuance in the faith is secured by the gospel. While "under law" we were on our own, dependent upon our own power to deal with sin. But "under grace" we rely on the all-sufficient power of God in the gospel. "Under law" any breach puts one under the tyranny of sin's mastery but "under grace" assures the believer that he is under the Lordship of a New Master who treats him with kindness and mercy.
Does this mean that the believer can be careless with sin because he is under grace? That takes us back to the primary argument that the Apostle has given. "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" Grace does not encourage sin or give an excuse for sin but rather gives the believer courage to face sin in the triumph of Jesus Christ. To be "under grace" is to be in the sphere of the constant, faithful, reliable work of God who never stops until Christ is perfectly formed in us.
"Sin shall not be master over you," that's not a suggestion but a declaration. And how can Paul be so assertive? Because he understood the power and strength found in union with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection.
The work of Christ on our behalf calls us to a new type of action--one focused on living as a new man and new woman in union with Christ. It will involve some negatives and some positives. All is to be done out of the profound reality that you are no longer under law but under grace; and if under grace, you are in the favor of God who enables you through Christ in your battle against sin's reign.
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