"I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness" (Romans 6:19)

It is amazing to me that God gives us a choice. We have a choice in everything. He does not dictate our every move. We are not His robots. We are however the recipients of everything he appropriated in Christ Jesus. He provided everything that we need to live free in Him on the cross over two thousand years ago. However, it is our choice whether or not we utilize what he has done.

In the previous verse, Paul tells us that "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." ( Romans 6:18 ). Meaning that this was an accomplished fact. However, Romans 6:16 says, "you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" ( Romans 6:16 ) Meaning that how we act dictates whether or not we truly experience this freedom from sin in our lives. It is a choice.

What Jesus did, was provide this freedom from your old sin nature in your born again spirit. So the natural side will still see some effects of the previous nature. However, It is important to know we have been freed as the starting point. So in today's passage Paul explains to us how to replicate this freedom into the natural realm of what we see and experience. The solution is to offer your body in slavery to righteousness which leads to holiness. The Amplified Bible puts it this way, "I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification." ( Romans 6:19 Amp ).

In today's verse, Paul makes a switch and talks about the natural realm so that we will see the fruit of what is currently in our spirit overflow into it. Remember It is a choice. The truth is that you have been freed from sin. The application is that you should no longer yield to the old sin nature that is foreign to your new nature. Instead you should yield to the new nature and become slave to that. Your new nature is a nature of righteousness through Christ Jesus. When we yield to him we see the leftover effects of the old nature disappear. The result of yielding to the new nature is holiness. Not obtained through works of the Law but obtain as an effortless byproduct of our new spirit.

Today, I pray that you yield completely to your new born again spirit and become a slave to that. May you experience true holiness branching out from this. God Bless you as you take His word into your heart and watch it grow.

Previous: Romans 6:17-18  Next: Romans 6:20-21

Original article published October 23, 2009.

"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:17-18)

Every thing that Jesus Christ offers us, was provided over two thousand years ago. Forgiveness of sins, eternal life, freedom from death, healing for our bodies... the list goes on and on... all of it was provided when he redeemed mankind from the power of darkness. This is not something we are waiting for, it is something we have in our spirits as born again believers. In today's passage, Paul gives us the key to how we receive this. He wrote that all of these things became present tense realities when we wholeheartedly obeyed what we heard. It happened by faith when we committed ourselves to Jesus.

It took faith. Jesus is what set us free from being a slave to sin, but it was our faith that activated this change in our own hearts and made it a present tense reality. The writer of Hebrews said that "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" ( Hebrews 11:1 KJV ) Which means that when you entrusted the Word of God into your heart, it took root and grew. When ready, by faith you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. It was faith in what Jesus Christ did, two thousand years ago that saved you. God provided the means, but it took faith or action upon our part to become a reality. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say in verse 6 of the same chapter, that "without faith it is impossible to please God" ( Hebrews 11:6 ) which means, that faith pleases him.

Today we can praise God that we are free from slavery because of our faith mixing with God's grace and mercy. No longer kept in bondage to our old nature but freed completely in order that we should become slaves to righteousness overflowing from our new nature. Today, I pray that this revelation sinks deep into your heart and yields much fruit! Amen

Previous: Romans 6:15-16  Next: Romans 6:19

Original article published October 22, 2009.