Romans 6:15–18 says, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 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? 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. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Paul has already answered the first wicked twist of grace at the beginning of Romans 6: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” His answer was “God forbid.” Now he answers the second crooked objection: “shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” The legalist hears “not under the law” and immediately imagines the church turning into a barnyard. The carnal professor hears “under grace” and starts shopping for a loophole large enough to drive his flesh through. Paul shoots both of them between the eyes with the same answer: “God forbid.”
Romans 6:15–18 shows that every man serves something. Fallen man loves to boast about freedom. He sings songs about freedom, waves flags about freedom, writes books about freedom, shouts slogans about freedom, and then obeys lust, pride, money, appetite, bitterness, envy, reputation, fear, pleasure, and the devil like a trained dog answering a whistle. The Bible does not flatter that nonsense. It says a man is the servant of whatever he obeys. The question is not whether a man will serve. The question is whom he will serve. Sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. The devil has always advertised sin as liberty, but the fine print reads slavery, corruption, shame, and death. Sin never frees a man. It changes his chains and teaches him to call the rattle music.
This passage also shows that salvation brings more than forgiveness from sin’s penalty. It brings deliverance from sin’s mastership and introduces the believer into a new obedience from the heart. Paul does not say the Romans were made free from sin because they joined a religious club, got sprinkled with ceremony, cleaned up their vocabulary, or started behaving like respectable citizens. He says they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered unto them. Doctrine reached the heart, grace changed the master, and righteousness became the new service. Real Bible salvation is not sin with a religious hat on. It is deliverance from the old master and enlistment under the right one. Grace does not leave the believer neutral. Grace frees him from sin so he can become the servant of righteousness.
Chapter One: What Then?
Paul begins verse 15 with “What then?” He anticipates the next objection because he knows the diseased reasoning of both flesh and religion. In Romans 6:14, he declared, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” That is one of the great liberty statements in the Pauline epistles, and because it is so strong, it will always be attacked. Flesh wants to abuse it; legalism wants to qualify it until it no longer says what it says. Paul does not back away from the truth that the believer is not under the law but under grace. He repeats the issue and answers the abuse.
“What then?” means, “What conclusion should be drawn?” If the believer is not under the law but under grace, does that make sin allowable? Does liberty mean rebellion is now safe? Does freedom from the Mosaic law mean the body can be handed back to lust? Does grace mean God has become soft on sin? Paul raises the question because any doctrine worth preaching will be twisted by somebody with either a corrupt heart or a corrupt system. Preach grace clearly, and someone will accuse you of antinomianism. Preach holiness clearly, and someone will try to drag you under Moses. Paul stands in the middle of both ditches and refuses to fall into either one.
The answer must be built from the whole argument of Romans 6. The believer is dead to sin, buried with Christ, crucified with Him, alive unto God, and commanded not to let sin reign. That is not a setup for loose living. The doctrine of grace does not weaken the practical command; it gives the command its foundation. Paul is not saying, “You are under grace, so sin lightly.” He is saying, “You are under grace, so sin has no rightful dominion.” The Christian life is not lawless wandering. It is grace-governed obedience flowing from a new identity in Christ.
Chapter Two: Shall We Sin Because We Are Not Under the Law?
Paul asks, “shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” Notice the wording changes from verse 1. There he asked, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Here he asks whether we should commit sin because we are under grace and not law. The first objection abuses the abundance of grace. The second abuses liberty from the law. The sinner’s heart is a clever little lawyer. It can take a verse meant to break sin’s dominion and try to use it as a permit for rebellion. That is not grace. That is the old serpent learning Bible words.
Not being under the law does not mean the believer is without authority. It means he is not under the Mosaic law as his covenant system. He is under grace, joined to Christ, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, instructed by apostolic doctrine, chastened by the Father, and constrained by the love of Christ. That is not spiritual anarchy. That is a higher and stronger life than law could ever produce. The law can say, “Thou shalt not covet,” but it cannot cure coveting. The law can expose the thief, but it cannot produce a cheerful giver. The law can condemn adultery, but it cannot create a clean heart. Grace reaches where law could only point.
The legalist thinks the only thing keeping believers from sin is the threat of law. That tells you more about the legalist than it does about grace. If a man would plunge into sin the moment he is told salvation is secure in Christ, his problem is not that grace is too strong; his problem is that he does not understand the new birth. The saved man has a new Master. He is not sinless, but he is no longer sin’s property. Grace does not remove holiness; grace establishes it on resurrection ground. The law threatens Adam. Grace crucifies Adam and gives life in Christ. That is not weaker. That is infinitely stronger.
Chapter Three: God Forbid
Paul answers, “God forbid.” Again. The Holy Ghost repeats it because the flesh needs repetition and religious error needs a muzzle. The thought that grace permits sin is not merely incorrect. It is revolting. It takes the blood of Christ and tries to turn it into a cloak for the very sins that nailed Him to the cross. It hears “not under the law” and imagines God has opened a playground for the flesh. Paul says, “God forbid.” Grace is not God changing sides in the war against sin. Grace is God winning the war through Jesus Christ.
“God forbid” is the death knell to every cheap-grace counterfeit. The man who says, “I am saved by grace, therefore my sin does not matter,” has not understood either salvation or grace. Sin matters so much that Christ died. Sin matters so much that the old man was crucified. Sin matters so much that Paul commands the believer not to let it reign. Sin matters so much that the Father chastens His children when they walk crookedly. Grace does not make sin harmless. Grace removes sin’s condemning authority and breaks its mastership so the believer can walk in righteousness.
This phrase also rebukes legalism. Paul does not answer the abuse by saying, “Yes, grace is dangerous, so let us go back under the law.” He does not put Moses back in charge of the Christian walk. He does not correct carnal abuse by destroying Christian liberty. He says “God forbid” and then explains servitude, obedience, doctrine, and freedom from sin. The answer to abused grace is not less grace. The answer is a fuller understanding of grace. Grace saves from penalty, breaks dominion, changes masters, delivers doctrine to the heart, and makes the believer a servant of righteousness.
Chapter Four: Every Man Serves Something
Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” That verse strips man’s illusion of independence naked in broad daylight. Man likes to imagine himself autonomous, self-governed, self-directed, and answerable only to himself. Scripture says he is a servant of what he obeys. Whatever receives your obedience reveals your master. Not your slogans. Not your church attendance. Not your profession. Not your online profile. Obedience tells the truth after the mouth finishes campaigning.
Yielding is the act of presenting oneself to a master. It is not always dramatic. Most slavery to sin grows by small surrenders. A man yields his eyes, then his thoughts, then his habits, then his time, then his body, then his conscience. Another yields his tongue to gossip, and eventually his mouth becomes a sewer line running through the church basement. Another yields his heart to bitterness, and soon every conversation smells like old poison. Sin does not always kick the door down. Sometimes it asks for a chair, then a room, then the deed to the house. A man becomes the servant of what he keeps obeying.
This is why the believer must take daily yielding seriously. The issue is not merely whether a particular act appears small. The issue is which master is being served. The devil loves to isolate sin into “just this once,” “just a little,” “just a thought,” “just a conversation,” “just a private matter,” “just a habit,” “just how I cope.” Paul says obedience reveals servitude. If you keep presenting your members to sin, do not act shocked when sin starts giving orders like it owns the place. Grace has freed the believer from sin’s mastership, but the believer must not voluntarily behave like a slave on a plantation Christ already delivered him from.
Chapter Five: Sin Unto Death or Obedience Unto Righteousness
Paul gives the two roads: “whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” There is no third category where a man serves nothing and remains spiritually neutral. That is one of the devil’s favorite fairy tales. Men think they are neutral because they have not joined an obvious cult, burned incense to an idol, or signed a contract in blood. But every day they obey something. Sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. One road pays wages in death; the other follows the life and righteousness of God.
Sin unto death is the natural direction of Adam’s kingdom. Romans 5 has already said sin reigned unto death. Romans 6:23 will say, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin always moves toward death. It may pass through pleasure, excitement, secrecy, pride, and temporary gain, but the destination is death. Physical death, spiritual ruin, dead fellowship, dead testimony, dead conscience, dead affections, dead service, dead homes, dead churches, and finally the second death for the unsaved. Sin is a hearse painted like a parade float. It looks festive until you notice where it is going.
Obedience unto righteousness is the mark of the new life. This obedience is not the root of justification, but it is the fruit of grace working in the believer. The believer obeys because he has been delivered from the old master and brought under the authority of Christ. This obedience is not servile terror but spiritual agreement with God. It flows from doctrine received in the heart. It is the practical alignment of the believer’s life with the righteousness God has already given him in Christ. The Christian does not obey to become righteous before God in justification; he obeys because righteousness has become the new direction of his life.
Chapter Six: God Be Thanked
Verse 17 begins, “But God be thanked.” Paul does not congratulate the Romans as though they rescued themselves from sin’s bondage. He thanks God. That is the proper response to real salvation. If a sinner is delivered from sin’s mastership, God gets the glory. If doctrine reaches the heart, God gets the glory. If obedience replaces rebellion, God gets the glory. If righteousness becomes the new service, God gets the glory. Salvation is not man pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Dead men do not wear useful boots. God intervened by grace.
“But God be thanked” also shows that Paul views the change in these believers as a divine work worth praising. They “were the servants of sin.” That was their past identity. Not merely occasional visitors to sin. Not merely struggling moralists. Servants. Before salvation, sin was the master. Some served respectable sins with polished manners. Some served scandalous sins with public shame. Some served religious sins behind stained glass. Some served intellectual sins behind degrees. Some served fleshly sins in the gutter. The uniforms differed, but the master was the same. Sin has both slums and cathedrals on its property.
Thanking God reminds the believer to remain humble. No saved man should look down his nose at sinners as though he escaped by superior wisdom, stronger character, or better breeding. “Ye were the servants of sin.” That past should kill pride. Grace found you in bondage. Grace delivered you. Grace taught you. Grace changed you. The believer can stand against sin without pretending he was never chained by it. The loudest testimony is not “I was always better than you.” The testimony is “God delivered me from the master that once owned me.” A rescued slave has no business boasting as though he forged his own emancipation papers.
Chapter Seven: That Form of Doctrine Delivered to the Heart
Paul says, “but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” This is a tremendous statement. Deliverance came through doctrine, and that doctrine reached the heart. Not entertainment. Not religious atmosphere. Not emotional manipulation. Not vague spirituality. Doctrine. The modern church often treats doctrine like a dusty attic for people who enjoy arguments. Paul treats doctrine like the mold into which the heart is delivered. The word “form” suggests a pattern, mold, or shape. The gospel and apostolic truth shaped the believers from within.
They obeyed “from the heart.” That separates true conversion from external religion. A man can conform outwardly while remaining a rebel inwardly. He can learn church language, adopt moral habits, repeat creeds, submit to rituals, and still have a heart untouched by grace. Paul is speaking of inward obedience produced by received doctrine. The heart that once obeyed sin now obeys truth. This does not mean perfect obedience in every moment, but it means the direction and master have changed. The word of God has entered the inward man and produced a real response.
The phrase “which was delivered you” is also important. The doctrine did not originate in them. It was delivered to them. Christianity is a delivered faith, not an invented spirituality. First Corinthians 15:3 says, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.” Jude speaks of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” God gives doctrine; men receive it. The heart is not saved by creating its own truth. The heart is saved and shaped by obeying the truth God delivered. A church without doctrine is not compassionate. It is starving people with mood lighting.
Chapter Eight: Made Free From Sin
Romans 6:18 says, “Being then made free from sin.” Freedom in Scripture is not the liberty to serve the old tyrant with fewer consequences. Freedom is deliverance from sin’s mastership. The believer has been made free from sin. That does not mean he cannot be tempted or cannot stumble. It means sin no longer owns him. Its dominion has been broken. Its legal claim has been answered by the death of Christ. Its lordship has been replaced. The believer is free from sin as a master, not free to sin as a hobby.
This freedom is “made” by God, not achieved by self-reform. Men try to free themselves from sin through resolutions, discipline, religion, philosophy, therapy, fear, shame, and comparison. Some may change outward behavior for a season, but only Christ can break sin’s dominion at the root. John 8:36 says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Real freedom requires the Son. Otherwise, the sinner simply changes masters within Adam’s prison. He quits one vice and becomes proud of quitting it. He escapes one gutter and moves into a cleaner cell called self-righteousness.
Freedom from sin must therefore be understood as both positional and practical. Positionally, the believer is no longer sin’s slave. Practically, he must yield to God and refuse sin’s commands. A freed man can still act like a slave if he listens to the old master’s voice. Many believers live far beneath their liberty because they do not reckon what God says and do not yield themselves unto God. But the fact remains: they have been made free from sin. Christian growth is learning to live out the freedom Christ has already secured. Grace does not tell the believer to create freedom. Grace tells him to stand in it.
Chapter Nine: Servants of Righteousness
Paul concludes, “ye became the servants of righteousness.” Freedom from sin is not independence from God. It is servitude to righteousness. Modern flesh hates that because it wants salvation benefits without divine ownership. It wants heaven without holiness, forgiveness without authority, grace without government, and eternal life without Christ’s lordship. Paul gives no such monstrosity. The believer is made free from sin and becomes the servant of righteousness. He changes masters. He does not become masterless.
To be a servant of righteousness means the believer’s life is now claimed by what is right before God. Righteousness is not merely a doctrine in the ledger of justification; it becomes the direction of practical service. The believer’s tongue should serve righteousness. His eyes should serve righteousness. His mind should serve righteousness. His home, work, money, body, time, relationships, and testimony should serve righteousness. He is not his own. First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Bought men are not independent men. They are redeemed men.
This service is not bondage like sin’s bondage. Sin enslaves unto death. Righteousness serves unto life, holiness, peace, fruit, and God’s glory. Sin degrades the servant. Righteousness ennobles him. Sin chains a man to corruption. Righteousness aligns him with God’s purpose. Sin uses the body and throws the soul into ruin. Righteousness receives the members and turns them into instruments for God. The believer’s highest liberty is not doing whatever he wants. It is being free from the tyrant that corrupted his wants and being brought into glad service under the God who saved him.
Conclusion
Romans 6:15–18 answers again the abuse of grace. Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Grace does not permit sin. Grace changes masters. It frees the believer from sin’s dominion and brings him into obedience unto righteousness. The issue is not whether a man will serve. Every man serves something. The issue is whether he serves sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. Sin’s liberty is slavery with a smile painted on it. Grace’s service is freedom under the rightful Lord.
Paul reminds the saints what they were: servants of sin. That is the honest past of every believer. Some were religious servants of sin, some moral servants of sin, some immoral servants of sin, some respectable servants of sin, but servants nonetheless. But God be thanked, the gospel did not leave them there. They obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered unto them. Doctrine reached the heart, the heart obeyed the truth, and grace broke the old master’s chain. Bible doctrine is not dead information. Delivered to the heart, it becomes the mold of a new life.
Being made free from sin, believers become servants of righteousness. That is not legalism. That is grace doing what law could not do. The law could command righteousness and condemn failure, but grace delivers from sin and produces obedience from the heart. The believer is not under Moses as a covenant master, and he is not under sin as an old tyrant. He is under grace, alive unto God, and called into the service of righteousness. Do not let the flesh turn liberty into mutiny. Do not let religion turn grace into law. Stand where Paul puts you: free from sin, servant of righteousness, obeying from the heart the doctrine delivered by God.
Romans 6:15–18 Commentary – Servants of Obedience
Servants of Obedience
Key Passage: Romans 6:15–18
Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 40: Servants of Obedience
Text: Romans 6:15–18
Introduction
Romans 6:15–18 says, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 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? 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. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Paul has already answered the first wicked twist of grace at the beginning of Romans 6: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” His answer was “God forbid.” Now he answers the second crooked objection: “shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” The legalist hears “not under the law” and immediately imagines the church turning into a barnyard. The carnal professor hears “under grace” and starts shopping for a loophole large enough to drive his flesh through. Paul shoots both of them between the eyes with the same answer: “God forbid.”
Romans 6:15–18 shows that every man serves something. Fallen man loves to boast about freedom. He sings songs about freedom, waves flags about freedom, writes books about freedom, shouts slogans about freedom, and then obeys lust, pride, money, appetite, bitterness, envy, reputation, fear, pleasure, and the devil like a trained dog answering a whistle. The Bible does not flatter that nonsense. It says a man is the servant of whatever he obeys. The question is not whether a man will serve. The question is whom he will serve. Sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. The devil has always advertised sin as liberty, but the fine print reads slavery, corruption, shame, and death. Sin never frees a man. It changes his chains and teaches him to call the rattle music.
This passage also shows that salvation brings more than forgiveness from sin’s penalty. It brings deliverance from sin’s mastership and introduces the believer into a new obedience from the heart. Paul does not say the Romans were made free from sin because they joined a religious club, got sprinkled with ceremony, cleaned up their vocabulary, or started behaving like respectable citizens. He says they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered unto them. Doctrine reached the heart, grace changed the master, and righteousness became the new service. Real Bible salvation is not sin with a religious hat on. It is deliverance from the old master and enlistment under the right one. Grace does not leave the believer neutral. Grace frees him from sin so he can become the servant of righteousness.
Chapter One: What Then?
Paul begins verse 15 with “What then?” He anticipates the next objection because he knows the diseased reasoning of both flesh and religion. In Romans 6:14, he declared, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” That is one of the great liberty statements in the Pauline epistles, and because it is so strong, it will always be attacked. Flesh wants to abuse it; legalism wants to qualify it until it no longer says what it says. Paul does not back away from the truth that the believer is not under the law but under grace. He repeats the issue and answers the abuse.
“What then?” means, “What conclusion should be drawn?” If the believer is not under the law but under grace, does that make sin allowable? Does liberty mean rebellion is now safe? Does freedom from the Mosaic law mean the body can be handed back to lust? Does grace mean God has become soft on sin? Paul raises the question because any doctrine worth preaching will be twisted by somebody with either a corrupt heart or a corrupt system. Preach grace clearly, and someone will accuse you of antinomianism. Preach holiness clearly, and someone will try to drag you under Moses. Paul stands in the middle of both ditches and refuses to fall into either one.
The answer must be built from the whole argument of Romans 6. The believer is dead to sin, buried with Christ, crucified with Him, alive unto God, and commanded not to let sin reign. That is not a setup for loose living. The doctrine of grace does not weaken the practical command; it gives the command its foundation. Paul is not saying, “You are under grace, so sin lightly.” He is saying, “You are under grace, so sin has no rightful dominion.” The Christian life is not lawless wandering. It is grace-governed obedience flowing from a new identity in Christ.
Chapter Two: Shall We Sin Because We Are Not Under the Law?
Paul asks, “shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” Notice the wording changes from verse 1. There he asked, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Here he asks whether we should commit sin because we are under grace and not law. The first objection abuses the abundance of grace. The second abuses liberty from the law. The sinner’s heart is a clever little lawyer. It can take a verse meant to break sin’s dominion and try to use it as a permit for rebellion. That is not grace. That is the old serpent learning Bible words.
Not being under the law does not mean the believer is without authority. It means he is not under the Mosaic law as his covenant system. He is under grace, joined to Christ, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, instructed by apostolic doctrine, chastened by the Father, and constrained by the love of Christ. That is not spiritual anarchy. That is a higher and stronger life than law could ever produce. The law can say, “Thou shalt not covet,” but it cannot cure coveting. The law can expose the thief, but it cannot produce a cheerful giver. The law can condemn adultery, but it cannot create a clean heart. Grace reaches where law could only point.
The legalist thinks the only thing keeping believers from sin is the threat of law. That tells you more about the legalist than it does about grace. If a man would plunge into sin the moment he is told salvation is secure in Christ, his problem is not that grace is too strong; his problem is that he does not understand the new birth. The saved man has a new Master. He is not sinless, but he is no longer sin’s property. Grace does not remove holiness; grace establishes it on resurrection ground. The law threatens Adam. Grace crucifies Adam and gives life in Christ. That is not weaker. That is infinitely stronger.
Chapter Three: God Forbid
Paul answers, “God forbid.” Again. The Holy Ghost repeats it because the flesh needs repetition and religious error needs a muzzle. The thought that grace permits sin is not merely incorrect. It is revolting. It takes the blood of Christ and tries to turn it into a cloak for the very sins that nailed Him to the cross. It hears “not under the law” and imagines God has opened a playground for the flesh. Paul says, “God forbid.” Grace is not God changing sides in the war against sin. Grace is God winning the war through Jesus Christ.
“God forbid” is the death knell to every cheap-grace counterfeit. The man who says, “I am saved by grace, therefore my sin does not matter,” has not understood either salvation or grace. Sin matters so much that Christ died. Sin matters so much that the old man was crucified. Sin matters so much that Paul commands the believer not to let it reign. Sin matters so much that the Father chastens His children when they walk crookedly. Grace does not make sin harmless. Grace removes sin’s condemning authority and breaks its mastership so the believer can walk in righteousness.
This phrase also rebukes legalism. Paul does not answer the abuse by saying, “Yes, grace is dangerous, so let us go back under the law.” He does not put Moses back in charge of the Christian walk. He does not correct carnal abuse by destroying Christian liberty. He says “God forbid” and then explains servitude, obedience, doctrine, and freedom from sin. The answer to abused grace is not less grace. The answer is a fuller understanding of grace. Grace saves from penalty, breaks dominion, changes masters, delivers doctrine to the heart, and makes the believer a servant of righteousness.
Chapter Four: Every Man Serves Something
Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey.” That verse strips man’s illusion of independence naked in broad daylight. Man likes to imagine himself autonomous, self-governed, self-directed, and answerable only to himself. Scripture says he is a servant of what he obeys. Whatever receives your obedience reveals your master. Not your slogans. Not your church attendance. Not your profession. Not your online profile. Obedience tells the truth after the mouth finishes campaigning.
Yielding is the act of presenting oneself to a master. It is not always dramatic. Most slavery to sin grows by small surrenders. A man yields his eyes, then his thoughts, then his habits, then his time, then his body, then his conscience. Another yields his tongue to gossip, and eventually his mouth becomes a sewer line running through the church basement. Another yields his heart to bitterness, and soon every conversation smells like old poison. Sin does not always kick the door down. Sometimes it asks for a chair, then a room, then the deed to the house. A man becomes the servant of what he keeps obeying.
This is why the believer must take daily yielding seriously. The issue is not merely whether a particular act appears small. The issue is which master is being served. The devil loves to isolate sin into “just this once,” “just a little,” “just a thought,” “just a conversation,” “just a private matter,” “just a habit,” “just how I cope.” Paul says obedience reveals servitude. If you keep presenting your members to sin, do not act shocked when sin starts giving orders like it owns the place. Grace has freed the believer from sin’s mastership, but the believer must not voluntarily behave like a slave on a plantation Christ already delivered him from.
Chapter Five: Sin Unto Death or Obedience Unto Righteousness
Paul gives the two roads: “whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” There is no third category where a man serves nothing and remains spiritually neutral. That is one of the devil’s favorite fairy tales. Men think they are neutral because they have not joined an obvious cult, burned incense to an idol, or signed a contract in blood. But every day they obey something. Sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. One road pays wages in death; the other follows the life and righteousness of God.
Sin unto death is the natural direction of Adam’s kingdom. Romans 5 has already said sin reigned unto death. Romans 6:23 will say, “For the wages of sin is death.” Sin always moves toward death. It may pass through pleasure, excitement, secrecy, pride, and temporary gain, but the destination is death. Physical death, spiritual ruin, dead fellowship, dead testimony, dead conscience, dead affections, dead service, dead homes, dead churches, and finally the second death for the unsaved. Sin is a hearse painted like a parade float. It looks festive until you notice where it is going.
Obedience unto righteousness is the mark of the new life. This obedience is not the root of justification, but it is the fruit of grace working in the believer. The believer obeys because he has been delivered from the old master and brought under the authority of Christ. This obedience is not servile terror but spiritual agreement with God. It flows from doctrine received in the heart. It is the practical alignment of the believer’s life with the righteousness God has already given him in Christ. The Christian does not obey to become righteous before God in justification; he obeys because righteousness has become the new direction of his life.
Chapter Six: God Be Thanked
Verse 17 begins, “But God be thanked.” Paul does not congratulate the Romans as though they rescued themselves from sin’s bondage. He thanks God. That is the proper response to real salvation. If a sinner is delivered from sin’s mastership, God gets the glory. If doctrine reaches the heart, God gets the glory. If obedience replaces rebellion, God gets the glory. If righteousness becomes the new service, God gets the glory. Salvation is not man pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Dead men do not wear useful boots. God intervened by grace.
“But God be thanked” also shows that Paul views the change in these believers as a divine work worth praising. They “were the servants of sin.” That was their past identity. Not merely occasional visitors to sin. Not merely struggling moralists. Servants. Before salvation, sin was the master. Some served respectable sins with polished manners. Some served scandalous sins with public shame. Some served religious sins behind stained glass. Some served intellectual sins behind degrees. Some served fleshly sins in the gutter. The uniforms differed, but the master was the same. Sin has both slums and cathedrals on its property.
Thanking God reminds the believer to remain humble. No saved man should look down his nose at sinners as though he escaped by superior wisdom, stronger character, or better breeding. “Ye were the servants of sin.” That past should kill pride. Grace found you in bondage. Grace delivered you. Grace taught you. Grace changed you. The believer can stand against sin without pretending he was never chained by it. The loudest testimony is not “I was always better than you.” The testimony is “God delivered me from the master that once owned me.” A rescued slave has no business boasting as though he forged his own emancipation papers.
Chapter Seven: That Form of Doctrine Delivered to the Heart
Paul says, “but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” This is a tremendous statement. Deliverance came through doctrine, and that doctrine reached the heart. Not entertainment. Not religious atmosphere. Not emotional manipulation. Not vague spirituality. Doctrine. The modern church often treats doctrine like a dusty attic for people who enjoy arguments. Paul treats doctrine like the mold into which the heart is delivered. The word “form” suggests a pattern, mold, or shape. The gospel and apostolic truth shaped the believers from within.
They obeyed “from the heart.” That separates true conversion from external religion. A man can conform outwardly while remaining a rebel inwardly. He can learn church language, adopt moral habits, repeat creeds, submit to rituals, and still have a heart untouched by grace. Paul is speaking of inward obedience produced by received doctrine. The heart that once obeyed sin now obeys truth. This does not mean perfect obedience in every moment, but it means the direction and master have changed. The word of God has entered the inward man and produced a real response.
The phrase “which was delivered you” is also important. The doctrine did not originate in them. It was delivered to them. Christianity is a delivered faith, not an invented spirituality. First Corinthians 15:3 says, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.” Jude speaks of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” God gives doctrine; men receive it. The heart is not saved by creating its own truth. The heart is saved and shaped by obeying the truth God delivered. A church without doctrine is not compassionate. It is starving people with mood lighting.
Chapter Eight: Made Free From Sin
Romans 6:18 says, “Being then made free from sin.” Freedom in Scripture is not the liberty to serve the old tyrant with fewer consequences. Freedom is deliverance from sin’s mastership. The believer has been made free from sin. That does not mean he cannot be tempted or cannot stumble. It means sin no longer owns him. Its dominion has been broken. Its legal claim has been answered by the death of Christ. Its lordship has been replaced. The believer is free from sin as a master, not free to sin as a hobby.
This freedom is “made” by God, not achieved by self-reform. Men try to free themselves from sin through resolutions, discipline, religion, philosophy, therapy, fear, shame, and comparison. Some may change outward behavior for a season, but only Christ can break sin’s dominion at the root. John 8:36 says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Real freedom requires the Son. Otherwise, the sinner simply changes masters within Adam’s prison. He quits one vice and becomes proud of quitting it. He escapes one gutter and moves into a cleaner cell called self-righteousness.
Freedom from sin must therefore be understood as both positional and practical. Positionally, the believer is no longer sin’s slave. Practically, he must yield to God and refuse sin’s commands. A freed man can still act like a slave if he listens to the old master’s voice. Many believers live far beneath their liberty because they do not reckon what God says and do not yield themselves unto God. But the fact remains: they have been made free from sin. Christian growth is learning to live out the freedom Christ has already secured. Grace does not tell the believer to create freedom. Grace tells him to stand in it.
Chapter Nine: Servants of Righteousness
Paul concludes, “ye became the servants of righteousness.” Freedom from sin is not independence from God. It is servitude to righteousness. Modern flesh hates that because it wants salvation benefits without divine ownership. It wants heaven without holiness, forgiveness without authority, grace without government, and eternal life without Christ’s lordship. Paul gives no such monstrosity. The believer is made free from sin and becomes the servant of righteousness. He changes masters. He does not become masterless.
To be a servant of righteousness means the believer’s life is now claimed by what is right before God. Righteousness is not merely a doctrine in the ledger of justification; it becomes the direction of practical service. The believer’s tongue should serve righteousness. His eyes should serve righteousness. His mind should serve righteousness. His home, work, money, body, time, relationships, and testimony should serve righteousness. He is not his own. First Corinthians 6:20 says, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Bought men are not independent men. They are redeemed men.
This service is not bondage like sin’s bondage. Sin enslaves unto death. Righteousness serves unto life, holiness, peace, fruit, and God’s glory. Sin degrades the servant. Righteousness ennobles him. Sin chains a man to corruption. Righteousness aligns him with God’s purpose. Sin uses the body and throws the soul into ruin. Righteousness receives the members and turns them into instruments for God. The believer’s highest liberty is not doing whatever he wants. It is being free from the tyrant that corrupted his wants and being brought into glad service under the God who saved him.
Conclusion
Romans 6:15–18 answers again the abuse of grace. Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Grace does not permit sin. Grace changes masters. It frees the believer from sin’s dominion and brings him into obedience unto righteousness. The issue is not whether a man will serve. Every man serves something. The issue is whether he serves sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. Sin’s liberty is slavery with a smile painted on it. Grace’s service is freedom under the rightful Lord.
Paul reminds the saints what they were: servants of sin. That is the honest past of every believer. Some were religious servants of sin, some moral servants of sin, some immoral servants of sin, some respectable servants of sin, but servants nonetheless. But God be thanked, the gospel did not leave them there. They obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine delivered unto them. Doctrine reached the heart, the heart obeyed the truth, and grace broke the old master’s chain. Bible doctrine is not dead information. Delivered to the heart, it becomes the mold of a new life.
Being made free from sin, believers become servants of righteousness. That is not legalism. That is grace doing what law could not do. The law could command righteousness and condemn failure, but grace delivers from sin and produces obedience from the heart. The believer is not under Moses as a covenant master, and he is not under sin as an old tyrant. He is under grace, alive unto God, and called into the service of righteousness. Do not let the flesh turn liberty into mutiny. Do not let religion turn grace into law. Stand where Paul puts you: free from sin, servant of righteousness, obeying from the heart the doctrine delivered by God.
Romans Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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Romans 1:1 Commentary – Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:2-4 Commentary – The Gospel Promised Beforehand
Romans 1:5–7 Commentary – Grace, Apostleship, and Obedience to the Faith