Romans 6:15-23
Slaves to Righteousness

Today, March 20th, 2023, let us, together in the grace of God, rejoice and reflect on the Word of God in Romans 6:15-23.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be!

16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or obedience to righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin, but you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

18 And having been set free from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness.

19 I speak as a man on account of the weakness of your flesh. For as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawless act unto lawless act, so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as to righteousness.

21 Therefore what fruit did you have then in the things over which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Literal Translation of the Holy Bible]

Suggested Questions:

1. Verse 15 affirms that those who live under the grace of God cannot violate God’s laws. So, should God’s people continue to participate in churches that teach that God’s people in the Church do not need to obey the commandments of the Old Testament? What is the righteous attitude of God’s people towards such teachings?

2. Must God’s people in the Church obey all Ten Commandments of God, or can they choose to obey some and not others?

3. Should God’s people continue to participate in a church that does not observe the fourth commandment or arbitrarily changes the Sabbath from the Seventh day to the First day? Remember that the New Testament does not teach that the Seventh-day Sabbath has been changed to the first day of the week.

4. Is there any teaching in the Bible on how God’s people should respond to those who teach wrongly from the Bible?

5. What does it mean to submit oneself as a slave to obedience?

6. What is the “doctrine to which you were delivered”? Where does it come from?

7. What does “being free as to righteousness” mean?

8. How are the following propositions similar and different: “Slave to righteousness,” “Slave of God,” “Slave of Jesus Christ”?

9. Why is it called the “wages of sin”?

Suggested Applications:

1. Write a paragraph with the same idea as verse 19.

2. Are you a slave of God or not?

3. If you are a slave of God, how do you use your time every day?

4. If you are a slave of God, what fruit have you produced?

5. As a slave of God, do you obey the teachings of the Bible or the teachings not based on the Bible of some churches?