Slaves No More

For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

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, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

Those who are not saved are enslaved to their sins. They cannot help but sin. But Paul here is saying that those who are born again are no longer enslaved to sin. Though the choice to sin is in one sense always there, sin will not characterize the Christian’s life.

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. (Romans 6:22)

Where there is no holiness of life, salvation does not exist. The person who is not pursuing holiness is not saved. Sanctification is absolutely necessary in order for a person to receive eternal life. There are no “Carnal Christians”.

We then have to apply this back to Romans 2:6-11, “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”