No Longer Slaves

Romans 6:3-11

Let’s imagine, for a moment, a slave and his slave-master.  The slave is bound to his master to obey all of his commands and orders, or face the sting of the whip.  His life is one of misery.  Then one day someone purchases him and decides to set him free.  The man is no longer a slave, but is a free man.  Imagine then, how preposterous it would be if that man continues to obey his slave-master, doing everything he is told, continuing to be punished if he doesn’t!  That would be ridiculous!  That is how so many believers in Jesus are.  They have been set free, but continue to live in bondage, as we shall see in this passage from Romans.

This passage in Romans begins with Paul discussing the meaning of baptism.  When one is baptized, it shows the transformation of the person who is saved.   Baptism itself does not save anyone.  It is an act of obedience to Jesus after we are saved.  We are saved when we put our faith and trust in Jesus.  Baptism identifies us with the crucified and risen Savior (vs. 3).  When we acknowledge Jesus as Savior and confess our sins, we become saved.  Baptism symbolizes being buried with Jesus and then being raised with Him to live a new life that He gives us (vs. 4).  It is a public testimony of what Jesus has done in our life.  Since through salvation we are united by faith with Jesus, His death and burial become ours we are also united with Him in His resurrection.  We now have a new life.  Sin was our old life.  Our new life is now one of righteousness.

Before we were saved sin had a stronghold on our life, and we were compelled to follow and obey its every order.  We were truly its slave.  After salvation, Christ set us free from sin’s hold, and through His power we have a new nature (vs. 6).  We now have power to live for Jesus.  Our salvation unites us with Jesus, and just as He was crucified and died, so our old, sinful nature has been crucified and is now dead.  And as Jesus rose from the dead, united with Him, we have risen to a new life, as well.  Our old life of sin is removed.  No longer are we under sin’s control.  We are no longer its slave.  When a slave has been set free, he does not have to obey his master any more.  United with Jesus through salvation, we are set free from sin’s control (vs. 7).  Sin’s power and penalty died on the cross.  We are freed from its power.  

The term “body of sin” is not the human, physical body, but the rebellious and sin-loving nature.  This is what Jesus defeated on the cross.  We don’t need to live under it’s power.  Sometimes we will still feel like sinning, and will give in.  But we are no longer its slave, and we can choose to live for Jesus.

Jesus died to sin in regards to its penalty.  He met the legal demands for the sinner.  He also died in regards to sin’s power.  He broke it’s power for the redeemed (vs. 10).  Those who are saved now have the resurrected life of Jesus living in them.  We are no longer slaves of sin.  Sin is no longer our master (vs. 11).  When sin wants to raise its head in our life and regain its position as master, we need to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to put it back to death.  We need to embrace by faith, and put absolute confidence in what God has revealed to be true.

So how can we put this into practice in our life?  We need to draw upon the Holy Spirit’s power in our life, and His strength, not our own.  We need to give Jesus dominion, or complete rule in our life.  He has set us free from the rule and slavery of sin in our life, so let Jesus be the absolute Monarch in our life.  When sins start to pop up in our life, which they will for everyone, we should not allow them to remain.  We don’t want to allow any sinful attitudes to remain, or they will stifle the Holy Spirit’s power in our life.  Never have a soft attitude about sin.  It is a terrible task-master, and we don’t want to let it regain any power in our life.  Remember, we don’t have to obey sin any more than a former slave has to obey his former slave-owner.  We have been set free!