Romans 6:12-14 "Will You Present Your Body for Sin or Righteousness?"

Romans 6:12-23 "Will You Present Your Body for Sin or Righteousness?"

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 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, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Video Notes:

You have died to sin and been raised in Christ. So, now what?
Sin no longer reigns over you. You now have a choice. How will you use your body and your mind? Will you once again offer them as instruments for unrighteousness, sin? Or will you now offer your body and mind as an instrument of righteousness, obedient to God.
Present – Presenting to the king (royal connotation)
We have this choice because we have been brought from death to life by our baptism.
We need to distinguish between our being righteous (a gift from God) to presenting our members as instruments for righteousness. This is the equivalent of walking in the newness of life (Romans 6:4) or walking with the Spirit (Galatians 5) We are acting in a way consistent with the new creation we are.
Sin rules us through the Law, the commands of God. It either rules us by using the Law as an opportunity to multiply sin (Romans 5) or as a means to condemn us for disobeying the Law.
Grace, the unmerited favor of God, a gift, however, is different. It does not look to ourselves either for our righteousness or unrighteousness. It looks solely to God through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Being under grace frees us from the Law as a means of righteousness and frees us from the reign of sin and death, thus it allows us to offer ourselves freely for righteousness as a response to the righteousness, salvation, and life we have been given.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the command, here, is two-fold. Don’t offer yourself to sin. Do offer yourself to righteousness. The command is not just to avoid sin, but to do what is good and right in the eyes of God

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Romans 6:12-23 "Will You Present Your Body for Sin or Righteousness?"

Video Notes:

Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL serving Lutz, Zephyrhills, Land O’ Lakes, and New Tampa, FL