Romans 6:15-23
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, 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? 17 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. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 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. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 8:34-37
Slaves to Sin
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.
Romans 7:25
Slave to Sin
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
St. Paul studied the Law of Moses and the Scriptures under Gamaliel, and was trained thoroughly by him (Acts 22:3)...The Law of Moses points out what sin is and reveal to us our standard of the way the people were to live... However, the law did not give the people the spiritual power to overcome the sin, as revealed in the Old Testament scriptures...St. Paul knows this struggle of life...In Romans 7:17, he tells us "For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do -I keep on doing"...
But St. Paul gives us hope for meeting the daily challenges of sin...We are slaves to our sins...And sin can become our master...
Sin was around when Jesus talked to the descendants from Abraham and sin is still around today...Sin makes life a struggle and gives us real problems and troubles...The grace of God is how we overcome sin... Back in the days of St. Paul and even today, we need the grace of God to overcome sin, which we are all susceptible day in and day out...We needed Jesus to die for our sins, because we just cannot help ourselves...
St. Paul goes deeper and teaches us that we as man, we can be slaves to different things...It might be a job, wealth, lust, food, or some other temptation, because we are weak in our natural selves...We like pleasure and comfort...When we are slave to sin, we are not in control of righteousness...We see a temptation and lost track of the Truth...Being a slave to sin results in our death...But because of God's grace, we can break free from this sin and become slaves to God...
Being a slave to His Son and His grace and holiness is along the path to eternal life...For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our LORD...
Sin carries with it, its own punishment...Sin can become our master, if we let it...Letting God be our Master, we can live and have hope...Focusing on Him allows us to be free from sin...The more we focus on Him, the more we are away from sin and the temptations sin brings us...
Our flesh is weak, but the LOVE of Jesus gives us the power over sin...This LOVE is more powerful than any sin...We must always remember why He died...All He did was show us how to live through His teachings and deeds...He was not taken to the cross for any of His sins, He was sin free...Jesus died for our sins...My sins put Him on the cross, and yet He died for me and forgives me...That is LOVE...
Knowing the Living God and following this gift is what frees us to be what we really created to be...Let go of sin, and let God's grace free you to be what you should be...God sent Jesus to pay for our sin debt... Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our LORD! ...My LORD and my God....