Choose Your Master
Romans 6:15-23
📖 Scripture
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
📝 Scripture Summary
Paul refutes the idea that being under grace means believers can indulge in sin. People are slaves to the one they obey—either sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness. Believers have been set free from sin and become slaves to God. The result is holiness and eternal life. The wages of sin is death, but God’s gift is eternal life.
📌 Memory Verse
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
– Romans 8:15
🔎 Reflection
The Nature of Our Freedom (6:15–18)
Paul addresses the paradox of grace and obedience. His question, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” echoes the common misunderstanding that grace excuses continued rebellion in sin. Grace does not give us permission to sin; rather, it liberates us from sin’s bondage so that we can live lives that are pleasing to God. A heart that has truly experienced God’s grace is transformed. It no longer finds enjoyment in sin. This is what enables us, as those bought with the price of Christ’s life, to become “slaves to righteousness.” Our freedom is not to do whatever we want but to fully live our new life, empowered by the Spirit, to genuinely honor God.
What evidence of slavery to sin do you find when you look back on your life before Christ? What evidence do you now see that shows sin no longer rules over you?
Changed Lives (6:19–23)
Paul uses the shocking image of slavery to illustrate the spiritual reality that our choices reveal. Our choices show whether we are enslaved to sin or to obedience to God’s command. Sin promises short-term pleasure but ultimately delivers death and despair. Serving God leads to freedom and lasting joy. The wages of sin stand in contrast with the gift of God in Christ: salvation is unearned and freely given, yet it calls us into a transformed life. We now live changed lives, not because we have to earn eternal life but because we love the God who set us free from sin’s power. We live Christ-like lives because this is the kind of life that the new heart within us produces.
What motivates you to obey Christ instead of sin? How is a life enslaved to sin different from a life enslaved to Christ?
💡 Today’s Inspiration
“When you choose to feed your righteous desires and starve your unrighteous ones, by God’s grace you program your life for righteousness.”
– Randy Alcorn
🙏 Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for freeing me from sin’s slavery through Christ. Empower me by Your Spirit to live a life of righteousness and obedience that honors You. May my freedom glorify You and bring me lasting joy. In Jesus’ name, amen.
🖋 Essay
The Path to Freedom
Ever since I was a child, I have had the bad habit of biting my fingernails. It is not a clean habit and my fingernails end up looking unkempt. It is also not a harmless habit as it could very well make me sick. But it is something that I do mindlessly most of the time.
We all have bad habits or addictions that we struggle to overcome. Initially, these habits and behaviors promise pleasure, freedom, or release. Such are the promises of sin. But soon, it becomes a controlling master that enslaves and destroys. When we try to break free from these habits and patterns of behavior with our own efforts, it rarely ever works. This is due to the fact that the root issue is not with our behavior but the object that we are worshiping. For instance, some of us might have a hard time reading the Bible because we value our own pleasure higher than God and His Word.
Healing from these habits begins not with more effort but with recognizing a new truth: that freedom comes from surrendering to God’s power and living in alignment with His guidance. Paul reminds believers that true freedom in Christ means identifying with Him, dying to old sinful habits and living a renewed life empowered by grace. Like a recovering addict finding purpose and health through surrender to treatment and rehabilitation, Christians experience real liberation when we serve God, not sin.
Written by James Eppley