Do you find the typical description of Christianity confusing? Most view Christianity from one of three positions. First, there is the organizational view. Christianity consists of a structure of religious bodies that have their own unique practices, liturgies, and interests, and of course, headquarters with a bureaucracy. The organization is typically thought of in terms of either social service in the community or particular liturgical ceremonies.
Second, Christianity is considered to be an ideology or philosophy. It is a way of coloring the world of thought and conversation. So, when a particularly striking event takes place, running the gamut from gay marriage to hurricanes to the war in Iraq, a “Christian spokesman” will offer the philosophical slant of Christianity on that topic. Rarely, do any of these spokespersons come from a biblical worldview. But that does not matter in the world of media. Christian in name only suffices.
I was reminded of this so vividly by an interview that National Public Radio did with John Piper after the December tsunami that devastated parts of Indonesia, Thailand, and other countries a couple of years ago. Piper described the sovereign purpose of God at work in the tsunami, explaining that none of us deserve safety and comfort, warning of divine judgment foreshadowed in the tsunami, and providing a glimpse of the way it had opened doors for the gospel to get into those closed areas. He spoke of how God uses suffering and loss for His glory. The interviewer was stunned! She said, I’ve never heard anything like this but I want to know more. Her paradigm of Christianity collapsed with that interview!
Third, Christianity is more often defined in terms of a certain type of morality or ethic. Certain behaviors supposedly mark those of Christian orientation such as not killing others, not robbing banks, and not doing drugs. “Oh, you don’t kill people or do drugs? Then you must be a Christian!” Perhaps I am over-stating it bit but I think you get the point. Anyone that has a shred of morality about them is considered to be Christian.
Now, what’s wrong with these descriptions of Christianity? Is there an organizational structure to Christianity? Certainly, when we think of the particular gatherings or societies called churches that have morphed into denominations, there is organizational structure. But the structure does not make any of it Christian. Is there an ideology or philosophy to Christianity? Once again, if we mean that Christianity engages the mind with thought, distinct ideas, and knowledge, then certainly, it is ideological and philosophical. Yet that is not what makes it Christian. Are there certain moral practices that are common to Christianity? Indeed, when we look at the Ten Commandments and the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, we find common ground on Christian moral practice. Yet it is not the mere practice of a specific type of morality that makes one a Christian.
What the world fails to consider is that the foundation for true Christianity rises and falls upon the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. Unless one’s understanding of Christianity arises from the Son of God Incarnate, crucified on behalf of sinners, raised from the dead, and reigning as Sovereign Lord, then it is not Christian. If one’s view denies the necessity of repentance and faith as the means to personally receive the redemptive work of Christ, then it is not Christian.
At the core of this faulty understanding of Christianity is the failure to admit that humanity is a slave to sin. One can rock along with a nice organizational, philosophical, moral Christianity until he is gripped by the reality of his slavery to sin. Then organization, philosophy, and morality will not do. Deliverance alone will suffice. And that deliverance comes only through Jesus Christ. The message of Christianity is that Jesus Christ delivers slaves of sin to become slaves of righteousness. What does this deliverance look like? Paul uses the striking metaphor of slavery to help us understand.
I. Reactions to the gospel of grace
- The moralist reaction
- The antinomian reaction
II. Clarifications of the effects of grace
- Two choices
- Telling details
See Slaves of Righteousness, Pt. 1, February 1, 2009
Verses 17-18 present us with one of the clearest explanations of the gospel applied. How does one become a Christian? Paul answers that here. What happens when one becomes a Christian? The answer is found here. What does saving faith mean? It is stated clearly in this passage. What does one do now that he is a Christian? The answer is here. What happened to his old life? Again, Paul answers that in this passage.
Let’s focus on this verse by looking at it with five questions.
You entered the world in need of a Savior. “You were slaves of sin.” Before Christ delivered you by His own bloody death at the cross, you were in slavery to sin. You did not have to do anything to become a slave. Your birth united you to the sin of Adam, so that the curse that has followed all humanity through the centuries shackles you.
That, of course, is not a new subject in Romans. Chapter 5 describes the fall of humanity, with sin entering into the world through one man and death through sin so that the curse of death spread to all men (5:12). Sin reigned in death through Adam (5:17). That sin left the human race in slavery to sin. Paul’s use of the imperfect tense in our text shows him looking back, surveying the whole of a person’s life apart from Christ. All he could see was slavery to sin--bondage at every point. Does that mean that every person exhausts evil in his life? Certainly not, but it does mean that every part of his life evidences slavery to sin.
It is at just this point that we find most people balking. They object to this whole idea of slavery to sin. The thought that I could be in bondage and not in control of my life and my every decision seems preposterous. Yet, as we saw in our previous study, one is either a slave of sin or a slave of righteousness through Christ. Sin and Satan do not care how deeply we delve into sin as long as one remains a slave to sin. So we see plenty of good, moral, civic minded, generous people that are slaves to sin--and they do not even realize it. They put the weight of their personal evaluation on the good things they choose to do while failing to size up the wicked thoughts, selfish attitudes, prejudice, impurity, and pride that characterizes their minds. Additionally, they give no consideration to what they do not do. Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly states, “The real proof of the slavery of the whole of mankind is ultimately found, not so much in what men do, as in what they omit to do” [Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 6, The New Man, 210]. What do they neglect? They do not believe in Christ. They do not trust in His atoning death. They do not love Him with their whole hearts. They do not follow Him as disciples.
We can turn this phrase on a verb tense just as Paul does. Either “you were slaves of sin” or you “have been freed from sin.” No middle ground exists. And if you are still a slave of sin then your need is for the delivering work of the crucified and risen Christ!
Keep in mind that Paul uses grace as an encompassing term for the sovereign work of God in Christ in saving sinners. It emphasizes divine action coming out of His kindness and purpose for sinful men whom He has chosen before the foundation of the world to be a display of His glorious grace (Eph. 1:3-6). So what did you become by this work of grace? “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.” The phrase, “you became obedient from the heart,” is a staggering blow to the weak, faulty evangelism that has plagued the Christian world in the past couple of generations. Notice what is implied by that phrase.
First, “the heart” is involved. That takes us to the affections, that which drives the whole person from within; the foundation of one’s love, trust, and loyalty. It is the mind, emotions, and will focused upon that which it values most. You became obedient from the heart. You did not just mentally assent to the truths of the gospel. You were not merely stirred in your emotions. Rather, you thought upon the gospel of Christ, your love and desire moved to trust Him, and by an act of the renewed will, you embraced Jesus Christ as your Prophet, Priest, and King. Your “heart” had rejected Him and His way up to this point. Then, by the grace of God at work, “you became obedient from the heart.”
This is far different that just repeating a prayer or walking an aisle or getting baptized. The whole heart affections are moved to Christ. All of life pivots upon that point of trust and commitment to follow Him.
Sometime we get the idea that the heart only involves our emotions but that is not the biblical picture. It does engage the emotions but not apart from the mind first hearing and understanding with the will embracing and responding. Jesus describes this in the parable of the soils as “the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matt. 13:23).
Second, one would think that Paul should have said ‘you believed in your heart that form of teaching.’ But instead of using the word ‘believe’ he used the word obey. “You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” That is real faith! Faith does not just tip the mind in the direction of some particular teaching. Faith embraces. Faith relies upon. Faith obeys from the heart. The Apostle is not speaking of an obedience that earns justification but the obedience that characterizes saving faith. This is precisely what James emphasized in the second chapter of his epistle. It is a faith that springs forth in works of obedience to which the gospel calls us. “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (2:17). As the Reformers often noted, we are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone. That’s what Paul has declared for us in this phrase.
Third, this obedience from the heart is doctrinally focused: “you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” What is “that form of teaching?” It is the gospel of Christ that Paul has labored to explain up to this point in Romans. It is the reality that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” so that “there is none righteous, not even one,” indeed, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (1:18; 3:10, 23). It is the truth that “apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested...even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (3:21-22). And why is there now a righteousness that satisfies God? Because for all that trust in Christ, God “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (3:24-25). To this form or type or compendium of teaching, “you became obedient from the heart.” It all happened by grace!
Paul makes two staggering statements so that we are not left to wonder about how this great change in the affections took place. First, Paul expresses thanks to God for the transformation. “But thanks be to God.” He is the One that handed you over to the gospel. That’s what he declares in the literal translation. “But thanks to God because you were slaves of sin but became obedient to the form of teaching unto which you were handed over.” There’s an emphasis on the passive voice--that God did the action of handing you over to the gospel so that you might become obedient from the heart. You may have believed a thousand different things about God and your life in this world until God handed you over to the gospel.
It is interesting that this is the same word that is used negatively by the translation “betray.” When Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, He was handed over to the soldiers that came with Judas. We translate it as betrayed because that expressed the negative idea. But the word is also used positively. Paul wrote, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the night in which He was betrayed took bread...” (1 Cor. 11:23). What Paul had received from Christ he handed over to the Corinthian believers.
Now, come back to our text. “You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed [i.e. handed over].” Trapped in slavery to sin with no way of deliverance, God in mercy and grace, handed you over to the gospel. May I say it with all reverence? God mercifully betrayed sin by handing you over to the gospel! And that good gospel began to go to work on you, showing you your sin, and more importantly, showing you and convincing you of the sufficiency of Christ’s death for you to satisfy divine justice. No wonder Paul began with thanks, “But thanks be to God!”
Second, He handed you over “to that form of teaching,” or that particular type of doctrine. In other words, your obedience from the heart depended on the revelation in the gospel. The church father Origen wrote, “What is it which sets us free from sin? Knowledge of the truth, of course! This is what Jesus said to the Jews: If you believe my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [Gerald Bray, editor, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Romans, 170]. Apart from the revelation of God in the gospel you cannot be freed from sin and become a slave of righteousness. That’s why we place such emphasis on looking at the gospel from every angle, turning each phrase, parsing each word; because in this gospel you have life. Unless the truth of the gospel is the aim of your obedience from the heart, then you are not a Christian. There are many people that sincerely believe and follow particular teachings. They are extremely devoted to their teaching. But unless it is the gospel of Christ to which they are devoted then they are not Christians.
Paul states is clearly: “having been freed from sin.” He does not look at this as a future event to take place at the end of life. Yes, we are freed from the presence of sin on that day but Paul speaks of something that has already happened. You are already freed from sin’s penalty, grip, and power. You are no longer under its reign. You have no more loyalties to sin. You no longer need to listen to the coarse voice of sin calling you to bow and obey. You have been freed from sin through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!
That does not mean that we have reached a state of perfection. That will happen one day when we stand before the Lord. But until that day, we face the struggle of sin in our “mortal body.” This is the call in sanctification, to believe what Christ has done for you, to rest in the power of the cross of Christ in breaking sin’s reign in your life, and to go on in obedience to Christ.
Again, Paul does not state it in the future but as an accomplished work: “you became slaves of righteousness.” Your loyalties have changed. You hear a new voice calling you now, the voice of Christ through the Word. Your love and affections has changed. No longer do you love sin and its ways. You despise and hate sin, knowing that it stands against the Lord whom you love. So you love holiness and righteousness while hating sin. Sanctification grows you in your love for holiness, weaning you from the world and its enticements to love Christ alone from the heart, and in loving Him, to live as one set apart as His very own.
Have you become obedient from the heart to the gospel? Do you agree with God’s assessment that apart from Christ you were slaves of sin? Do you now rejoice that Christ has freed you from sin and made you a slave of righteousness? Our text shows us that the affirmative in each is biblical Christianity.
Paul offers an apologia or a reason for his use of the offensive metaphor of slavery. “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.” In other words, ‘I have been inclined to use such a picture so that you might really grasp what it means to make progress in your sanctification. You need to see the difference between life without Christ and life in Christ...so I am painting a picture for you that you will not forget.’ The Apostle segues to the application he has established on the foundation of the gospel rooted in the believer. He shows that justification and sanctification, while different in terms of their work, are indeed inseparable partners. The first affects your standing with God; the latter continues your progress in holiness and the practice of the Christian faith.
Christians do not need to dwell in the past. Sometime we may soak our thoughts in the regrets of our lives before Christ, so much so, that we become discouraged and despondent of pressing forward spiritually. That’s not what Paul calls for. We are to forget the things which are behind and reach forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13-14). Yet, having clarified that point, we still do realize some of the propensities and dispositions that we had apart from Christ. We lived for self and sin. We pursued our sin with vigor and delight. “For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness...” The Apostle brings up the term “members” once again, reminding us that sin affected every part of our being. He pictures our life in sin as a regular giving over of our eyes, ears, feet, mind, tongue, etc. to all manner of “impurity and lawlessness.” And what happened as a result? We grew in “lawlessness.” The more we sinned, the more sinful we became in our thoughts and deeds. Our devotion to following our self-centered desires left us more self-centered. Our devotion to the lusts of the flesh satiated us with more lusts of the flesh. Our swelling with pride led to greater arrogance and pride.
Do you see the principle that the Apostle is identifying? In the past you were devoted to sin, whether you realized it or not. You pursued the things that gratified the flesh, often without any thought of consequence. You followed what you loved with zeal. Realize that about your past.
But you are not to live in the past. You live in Christ’s now, “so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” It is not that you are to lose your desire or zeal for life. Rather the focus of your desire and zeal is now on Christ and His glory instead of on the pursuit of sin. You are a slave of righteousness, and no longer a slave of sin, so devote yourself to righteousness with the same determination, love, and passion that you pursued sin.
Keep in mind that your pursuit of the practice of righteousness is grounded in the truths of the gospel; otherwise, your pursuit is legalistic as an effort to persuade God to justify you. What you did before Christ led to more lawlessness. In the same way, what you do now as a Christian in presenting the members of your body for the practice of righteousness and holiness leads to progress in your sanctification. I found helpful the 2nd-3rd century church father Origen’s explanation of this practice.
Once your feet ran to the temples of demons; now they run to the church of God. Once they ran to spill blood; now they run to set it free. Once your hands were stretched out to steal what belonged to others; now they are stretched out for you to be generous with what is your own. Once your eyes looked at women or at something which was not yours with lust in them; but now they look at the poor, the weak and the helpless with pity in them. Your ears used to delight in hearing empty talk or in attacking good people; now they have turned to hearing the Word of God, to the exposition of the law and to the learning of the knowledge of wisdom. Your tongue, which was accustomed to bad language, cursing and swearing has now turned to praising the Lord at all times; it produces healthy and honest speech, in order to give grace to the hearers and speak the truth to its neighbor [Bray, Ancient Christian Commentary, 170].
Lloyd-Jones put the heart of what Paul is teaching quite simply: “If you look at a man’s conduct you can tell who his master is” [206]. Who do men suppose your master is as they look at what you are devoted to in life, as they listen to your speech, as they observe the way you treat others, as they see what you count most important? Will they see Jesus Christ? If so, then you are making good progress in your sanctification. Keep it up! If not, then what is the reason? Are you in Christ? Have you been freed from sin through the death of Christ? My friend, be slaves of sin no longer; Christ died to set you free!
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