Your Lifestyle Reveals Your Lifesource ~ Romans 6:13-17

Once you grasp what Paul is teaching throughout his writings and especially in Romans, you will be able to walk in the newness of life he speaks about. Instead of focusing upon your sins and asking for forgiveness for them every day and "dying to yourself," you can focus upon your Savior who has freed you from your sins!

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God {Romans 6:13}. Our members are our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, hands, feet, reproductive organs and head. Now that the believer is in Christ and therefore dead to sin, he has the power to not yield to lusts that still reside in the mortal body {now dead in Christ}.

For sin will not have mastery over you, because you are not under Law but under grace {6:14}. A person under the Law is enslaved to the habits of sin, whereas one who is under grace is freed from the dominion of sin. Though many think the Law so forcefully upholds righteousness, while grace is permissive {as many wrongly believe today}, it is GRACE that actually delivers us from sin's dominion! It's is God's grace that gives us the strength to walk in holiness and separated from sin.

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid {6:15}. This brings us back to what was asked in Romans 6:1. This is not an option any believer would consider. The Law comes as a crushing stone; grace comes as a loving embrace. Under the Law, one should not continue in sin; in Christ, based on the constraints of the Spirit and our participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, one cannot continue in sin.

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? {6:16} The bottom line is that your lifestyle reveals your life-source. If one yields his members to sin, then he is the servant of sin, and as such will die the eternal death of the damned. On the other hand, if one is under grace then he has the power and the will to walk in obedience, the end being righteousness. This is intended to satisfy Paul's accusers: "Shall we continue to sin?" His answer, "Don't be ridiculous; under any system, those that are servants of sin are damned."

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 {6:17}. Thank God that servitude to sin is a thing of the past. Your heart responded to the grace of God and you were in full compliance with everything you heard. Heart obedience is the opposite of obedience to the Law. The pressure and curse of the Law is lifted, leaving the sinner free to love God and respond in faith and thankfulness.

The next verse begins HERE. The study begins HERE.