Contributor: Clem Roberts

INTRODUCTION
From our last study we concluded that sin no longer has dominion over us. “Knowing this, that our old man [self] is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [done away], that henceforth we should not serve sin”. A few points to note:
• “Knowing this”: no doubts allowed here.
• “Destroyed” = might be rendered powerless. The word “destroyed” here is “to make of none effect, to be paralyzed or cancelled or nullified”— “that henceforth we should not serve sin.
• ” Old self is rendered powerless because of our union with Christ in His death. We no longer have to be a slave to sin; never again. Hallelujah!
As we study next few verses for today, it is important to know that the aim of these verses of scripture is to open us to the reality of Sanctification

PART 1: CHAPTER 6
VERSES 15 -16: WE BECOME SERVANTS TO WHO OR WHAT WE OBEY
“What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbids. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

There is no middle ground between being a slave to sin and a slave to obedience to God; you are either for one or the other

VERSES 17-18: A NEW NATURE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
“But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants [slaves] of righteousness.”

“Thanks be to God” because He did it. And Paul also admonishes us in Col 2:6: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him...”
The word servants here in Greek is doulos, which means slaves that are bond forever. Not temporary slaves or servants. So, our new nature should be to do God’s will and not the nature of sin

VERSES 19-23: CONCLUDING CHAPTER 6
“I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The wages
• Three times in this chapter Paul wrote that sin results in death (Verses 16, 21, & 23).
• This death is eternal separation from God in hell, in which unbelievers suffer conscious torment forever (Lk 16:24-25).
• This is the wages they have earned and deserve because of their sin (Rom 5:12; 7:13).
• By contrast, the gift of God is eternal life (John 3:16, 36).
• Eternal life is a gift that cannot be earned (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)

PART 2: CHAPTER 7
VERSES 1-3 AN IMPORTANT ILLUSTRATION
“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2] For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.”

Paul made a very powerful illustration, pointing out that if a wife marries (lit., “if she comes to”) another man while her husband is still alive, she is called (future tense, “shall be publicly known as”) an adulteress. Conversely, on the death of her husband she is free from that marriage. So, she is not an adulteress if she marries (lit., “even though she comes to”) another man. A widow who marries again is not guilty of adultery.
Speaking of the believer as the “Bride of Christ.” Paul applies his illustration of marriage to the believer and the Law. Since this is so
• Trying to live by the law that you are free from whilst being in Christ is adultery.
• Conversely, trying to follow the world whilst you are born again is adultery against Christ

VERSE 4: WE ARE DEAD TO THE LAW
“4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that [for the purpose that] ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” (Emphasis mine)

He said that you also died to the Law. Just as a believer “died to sin” (6:2) and so is “set free from sin” (6:18, 22), so he also died to the Law and is separated and set free from it (6:14; cf. Gal 2:19). As a wife is no longer married to her husband when he dies, so a Christian is no longer under the Law.
As a result, Christians belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead
Believers are, indeed, united to Him as His Bride (Eph. 5:25).
God’s purpose in all this is “that we might bear fruit to God “

VERSE 5: WHAT DID THE LAW DO FOR US?
“5] For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.”

This verse describes a believer before he was saved (Rom 6:19). The Law by its prohibitions aroused sinful passions. Sin, Paul repeatedly affirmed, leads to death (Rom 5:15, 17, 21; 6:16, 21, 23; 7:10-11, 13; 8:2, 6, 10, 13). The law energized our rebellion... The law cannot bring us into a righteous life. All it does is to demonstrate our sinful nature.

VERSE 6: WE HAVE BEEN DELIVERED FROM THE LAW
“6] But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

But now, being identified with Christ, believers are dead to the Law. Like the widow released from marital obligations, so believers are released from the Law and its arousal to sin. Like we read in Romans 5:20; Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
Man, through religion cannot reach God.
Philippians 2:12-13 says:
"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

SUMMARY
The Law has no place in us. We are justified in Christ Jesus. By this declaration we are Sanctified. Sanctification binds us to Christ. And this begins with regeneration, the implanting of spiritual life in a believer. It is God, progressively separating a believer from sin unto Himself and transforming his total life experience toward holiness and purity.
The process of sanctification for a believer never ends while he is on earth in his mortal body. It is consummated in glorification when that believer—through death and resurrection or through the Rapture—stands in the presence of God,” conformed to the likeness of His Son” (8:29).
Reading through the book of Romans, Paul’s intent was to help us believers understand who we are in Christ and the exact position we occupy. You will discover that Justification declares us holy and Sanctification makes us holy.