PRESUMING ON GOD’S GRACE

ROMANS 6:15-23

By David Woodbury

15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. (Romans 6:15-18 - NLT)

The heart of God is broken when Christians trade on his mercy and grace, living their lives as do many non-Christians and presuming that no matter what their actions, God will forgive. One of the great dangers of living under grace is the temptation to abuse it, to presume of God’s grace, referred to by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as cheap grace. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, he makes a contrast between "cheap" and "costly" grace. According to Bonhoeffer,” Cheap grave is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.  Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." … We gave away the word and sacraments wholesale; we baptised, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation without condition. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving... But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard."

Paul insists that we become, through our own decisions and choices, a slave of whatever we choose to obey. In the final analysis what we become is the sum total of our choices. We cannot go on making excuses for the lifestyle we have chosen to follow, particularly if that lifestyle takes us down the path of sin. It may well be that circumstances, environment and the actions of others have impelled us along a certain pathway, but the choice to remain there is ours. There is no doubt that certain hereditary circumstances can take us into a certain lifestyle that is contrary to God’s will. However, once we become aware of our situation, the choice to remain in that circumstance or, by the help of the Holy Spirit, to change those circumstances, is entirely ours. If we choose to continue in a lifestyle that is contrary to the will of God we cannot blame it on anyone else but ourselves.

Paul reminds his readers that of their former lives; once you were slaves of sin. Now that they have come into a right standing with God (justified) they wholeheartedly obey this teaching, and in a sense they have willingly surrendered their lives to God and become slaves to righteous living. There is a commitment here that non-Christian will difficult to comprehend and accept. Whether we like it or not, the Christian has a narrower focus to their lives; they are called to follow Jesus through a narrow gate and along a narrow path. 13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (Matt 7:13-14 - NLT)

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.  20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:19-23 - NLT)

Paul has a very insightful perception into human nature, even redeemed human nature, and he uses the illustration of slavery to highlight the effect sin has on a person. He understood that while salvation releases the power of God into the life of the Christian it does not mean freedom from struggle. Anyone who suggests that becoming a Christian will free us from the struggle with sin has never really confronted their inner self. Our new standing before God (justification) opens our eyes to understand reality in a new way. In the redemptive death and resurrection of Christ people are set free from the enslaving power of sin and declared righteous and enabled to achieve the lifestyle God desires for them. The Christian who puts their trust completely in Christ experiences a revelation in the rewarding understanding of their inner self.

Paul understood that at the core of the Christian’s life is an ongoing struggle with the power of sin. He reminds his readers of the power sin had over their lives and goes on to insists that the best way to break the slavery of sin is to give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living. In becoming slaves to righteous living we place ourselves in a completely new relationship where we intentionally seek a lifestyle that results, not in perfection, but in Christian maturity and an attitude of mind that focuses on our eternal status.

The salvation that the power of God brings (1:16) is, therefore, not freedom from struggle. Paul understood the centre of the Christian life to be intense struggle with the power of sin in one’s life. The new status before God (justification) opens one’s eyes to understand reality in a new way. The one who trusts Christ experiences a revelation in understanding. In the experience of faith it is “revealed” (1:17) that God came in Christ to set people free from the enslaving power of sin by enabling guilty sinners to be declared righteous and then to achieve it.