Posted on 10/18/2024 5:45:25 AM PDT by metmom
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:15-16).
Freedom from sin does not mean freedom to sin.
From Paul’s day until now, the gospel of grace has been accused of providing license to sin. If salvation is the gift of God’s grace, legalists argue, wholly apart from human works, what will motivate people to lead holy lives? In the face of such opposition, Paul never gave an inch on the vital issue of salvation by grace—and neither can we. The Bible teaches a salvation that is entirely by God’s free grace through faith and in which human works play no part.
But there is a second way in which the doctrine of salvation by grace may be perverted. Fulfilling the legalists’ fears, some believe that since God’s grace covers all their sins, they can live as they choose. In today’s passage Paul addresses that error.
The very thought of a Christian living in persistent, habitual sin horrified Paul. To the hypothetical question “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Paul responded emphatically, “May it never be!” As in verse 2, the apostle used the strongest form of negation in the Greek language. In our English vernacular, Paul was saying “Ridiculous! Impossible! No way!” He went on to point out the self-evident truth that no one can serve two masters. Everyone is either a servant of sin or a servant of God; there is no third option. And the one to whom people habitually yield their obedience is their real master, no matter what they may claim.
Don’t be deceived by those who claim that since Christians are forgiven, they can therefore sin at will. Such people know nothing of God’s grace, which, far from giving us license to sin, “instruct[s] us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12).
Suggestions for Prayer
Praise God for His grace, which is always greater than your sin (Rom. 5:20).
For Further Study
Read Joshua 24:14-27; Matthew 4:8-11; and 1 Thessalonians 1:8-9. Spend some time in prayer, asking God to help you renew your commitment to serve Him.
From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
Mainline protestant churches have taken just this view, to justify their acceptance of sexual immorality. Lutherans, piskies, etc treat Gods grace as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
[[, the gospel of grace has been accused of providing license to sin]]
Yep, but in reality, it gives us license to obey now- whereas before we were saved we were slaves to sin, our lives revolved around d sin and we were unrepentant and it bothered us not. Now we are free to walk away from sin if we so choose to. We still sin, but we no longer are slaves to sin, nor live in unrepentance and anger toward God. The holy spirit convicts us when we sin, and we willingly confess and try to abstain by grssping ahold of his grace towards us, wanting to be more and more like christ.
[[If salvation is the gift of God’s grace, legalists argue, wholly apart from human works, what will motivate people to lead holy lives?]]
The holy spirit will motivate us. He couldn’t motivate the unsaved because they were at enmity with God. The unsaved wanted no part of God, but the saved have the living God, the holy spirit, living within, motivating us to live for him. Many will listen, some will not, but those that don’t will pay the price through a broken relationship, plus whatever co sequences their rebellious lives bring, ie prison, drug addiction, broken families, aids, etc.
May God keep us who are his looking forward to his triumphant return
Spoken by someone, who, IMO, does not know the redeeming work of Jesus Christ in their lives. The simplest and most obvious answer is gratitude for what we've been saved from.
But there's also the fact that we now have a new heart, one that wants what God wants and WANTS to glorify Him by living holy lives. Someone who doesn't understand that motivation of being a new creature in Christ hasn't experienced it.
Exactly. As the holy spirit takes up residence in your inner life, you change. Some changes are immediate, some grow over time. You begin to think differently, you begin to have different motives, you begin to see life in a different way. As that happens the idea of a “license to sin” is just gibberish.
100%
You summed it up very nicely.
Matter of fact, mind if I abscond with it for use when the subject comes up?
Well stated! And that is the difference between those who are genuinely born again and those who claim to be Christians yet who never surrendered their hearts to Christ through faith. Those who seek to be justified by their works have truly fallen from grace.
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