August 25, 2002

WHOSE SERVANT ARE YE

Romans 6:15-23

   The declaration that "sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:15), finds its conclusion in 6:23, "for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." The wages of sin - death is according to law, but the grace of God makes eternal life a gift!

   Verses 16-18 consider our "freedom from sin" under the heading of "obedience" as "servants of righteousness." The question is simple: Whichever master we obey, that is the one we serve as a slave. It is evident that our freedom from sin is in order to obey and serve the Lord! "Ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13).

   The fact is that we are never without a master. We were not freed to serve ourselves--to do our own thing! Just as there was the freeing of a slave, there was also the exchange of one master for another. Even so we "are not our own, for we are bought with a price, therefore [we are to] glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

   Israel in Egypt "served with rigour," but their deliverance was not to exempt them from service. God said, "Let My people go that they may serve Me" (Exodus 8:1). Thus, "his servants ye are to whom ye obey." Service is decided by one factor? Obedience! "But God be thanked, that ye...have obeyed from the heart that form (mold) of doctrine whereunto you were delivered" (6:17). The pretence of love without obedience is hypocrisy, and obedience without love is real slavery!

   The believer is to be fashioned by a mold, and the original of that mold is not hard to find. As believers we are predestinated to be conformed to the image (mold) of His Son according to Romans 8:29.

   There are two molds in Romans: Adam and Christ. "for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous" (5:19). Obedience reveals the Master and the Mold. As with the physical, so should be the spiritual, "as we have borne the image of the earthy, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49). Whose servant are you?

Ivan L. Burgener