Free To Live and Love Like Christ

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. – Romans 7:1-6 ESV

In this section of his letter, Paul seems to be addressing his words to believing Jews in the church in Rome; to “those who know the law.” To drive home his point about freedom from sin and the law because of our death with Christ, he appealed to their understanding of how the law worked. According to the law, if a woman attempted to marry another man while her husband was alive, she would be a lawbreaker and guilty of committing adultery. But if her husband were to die and she remarried, she would not be committing adultery because his death would have freed her from the condemnation of the law. That particular law would no longer apply in her case.

So it is with those of us who have died with Christ. As Paul stated earlier, “our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6 ESV). Not only has the old self been crucified and put to death, but the condemnation of the law has passed away as well. That does not mean that when we sin, we are not breaking God's law. When you lie, you are violating God's command against lying. When you covet, you break God's command: “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17 NLT).

But even when we knowingly or unwittingly break God’s law, there is no longer any condemnation. Paul makes that perfectly clear in the very next section of his letter.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1-2 ESV

For the believing Jews to whom Paul was writing, their lives prior to coming to know Christ were marked by a constant need to keep God’s law perfectly. To fail to obey all of His laws was to come under His just and justified condemnation, a fate that brought the penalty of death. Just prior to his death, Moses warned the people of Israel about the gravity of failing to practice perfect obedience to God’s law.

“If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees he has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed.” – Deuteronomy 28:45 NLT

Centuries later, James picked up on this warning in his letter to believing Jews.

But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law. – James 2:9-11 NLT

That is why Paul refers to it as “the law of sin and death.” The law could not save; it could only expose and condemn. It could not sanctify anyone or make them more holy; all it could do was show them their sin. In fact, Paul states that very fact in verse seven of this chapter.

…am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” – Romans 7:7 ESV

As he stated in Chapter 6, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV). This ties back to his earlier statement in Chapter 5.

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. – Romans 5:12 NLT

Adam’s sin didn’t result in the immediate termination of life, but it did result in the first couple being expelled from the garden and their loss of intimacy with God. Their relationship with God was permanently and irrevocably changed because they had chosen to disobey God’s prohibition against eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

So the death Paul refers to is not just physical; it has a spiritual dimension. Violation of God’s law produces alienation from Him because He is holy. God had made His expectations of the people of Israel clear.

“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” – Leviticus 19:2 ESV

“…if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” – Exodus 19"5-6 ESV

Their holiness was non-negotiable. As God’s children, the Israelites were to live set-apart lives that clearly differentiated them from all the other nations. But God knew they would never live up to His righteous standards. That was the whole purpose behind God giving them the sacrificial system. He knew they would violate His law, so He provided them with a means for restoring their damaged relationship with Him. He designed the sacrificial system to provide atonement for their sins. The blood of innocent lambs and bulls had to be shed to pay for their sins. Breaking the law brought condemnation and a death sentence. And the author of Hebrews describes the redemptive nature of God’s sacrificial system

…under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. – Hebrews 9:22 ESV

Speaking to his Jewish brothers again, Paul reminds them that they had “died to the law through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4 ESV). Like the widowed woman in Paul's illustration, they had been freed from the law so that they could belong to another. In their case, their new “partner” was Jesus Christ. They were no longer obligated to keep the law because they had died to it. Through their death with Christ, they had been set free from the law. As a result, they were no longer condemned by the law.

In their case, they were the ones who had died. The law still existed, but their death had nullified their covenant relationship with the law. So now, when they violated God’s law, there was no longer a death sentence hanging over their head. All their sins, past, present, and future, had been paid for by the blood of Christ. He had paid the penalty for their sins with His own life. And their newfound freedom allowed them to “bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4 ESV).

Prior to their salvation, Paul's Jewish brothers found themselves doing battle with the law and the flesh. While they knew what the law demanded of them, “the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death” (Romans 7:5 NLT). Despite knowing God’s laws, they ended up violating them and producing “fruit for death” (Romans 7:5 ESV).

But Paul reminds them of the good news of the gospel:

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. – Romans 7:6 ESV

Now we have the Spirit of God to convict us when we sin. Rather than condemning us, the Spirit provides us with a new way of responding to our sin.

…we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9 NLT

The Spirit also provides us with a new capacity to refrain from sinning in the first place. St. Augustine wrote, “The doctrine through which we receive the commandment to lead an abstinent, virtuous life, is the letter. This kills unless there is with it the Spirit, which makes alive” (St. Augustine, Concerning the Spirit and the Letter).

Without the help of the indwelling Spirit of God, the law can only condemn us to death. But with the Spirit's help, we can live according to the law, not out of a fear of condemnation or the threat of death, but out of love and gratitude for the grace of God as expressed through the gift of His Son.

Father, You haven’t lowered Your standards. You didn’t decide to grade on a curve or dumb down Your expectations. Instead, You offered Your Son as the solution to our longstanding problem with sin. He did what we couldn’t do; He kept Your law perfectly and established Himself as the sinless, unblemished sacrifice, worthy of shedding His innocent blood as atonement for our death sentence. As a result, we are no longer on death row awaiting the just condemnation for our sins against You. Instead, we are fully forgiven and totally acquitted of any and all crimes we have committed — for all time. We stand before You as righteous and pure because we have been covered with the blood of Christ. And You made it all possible. Thank You! Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Often Overlooked Gift of Eternal Life

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:20-23 ESV

When we choose to live as slaves to sin, obeying the desires of our sinful nature, we are “free’ when it comes to doing righteousness. Giving in to our sin nature can make us feel as if we are getting the sense of satisfaction and self-fulfillment we long for, but the real outcome is far from pleasant.

Paul says, “the end of those things is death” (Romans 6:21 ESV), and the “things” to which he refers are not immoral acts. He is addressing the deeds of men who are living apart from a relationship with Christ and attempting to gain a right standing with God through their own human efforts. Their efforts are fruitless because, as the prophet Isaiah reminds us, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT).

Without faith in the saving work of Christ, men are incapable of doing anything to gain God's favor. Even their best efforts on their best day are soaked in sin and ultimately deliver the penalty of death. But even believers in Jesus Christ have the capacity to be enslaved to sin again. We can even find ourselves attempting to earn a right standing with God through our own efforts, which, in God’s eyes, is nothing short of sin because it is an act of self-righteousness. Paul warned the Gentile believers in Galatia about this very thing.

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. – Galatians 4:8-10 NLT

He was concerned they were going to return to their old way of trying to work their way into God's good graces. But their good deeds, when done in the flesh and apart from the saving work of Jesus Christ, end up being sinful in God's eyes.

Paul reminds his readers that they “have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God.” They were not just free from the sins of immorality, but also the more dangerous sin of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. They were now slaves of God because He had redeemed them out of slavery to sin, and the price He paid was the death of His own Son.

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14 NLT

Paul wanted the Galatians to know that they had been bought out of slavery to sin and death, and now they belonged to God; He was their new Master. They lived to do His will, not their own. They had been freed from having to do the will of Satan and their own sinful natures. They were free to obey God and had been given the power to live obediently by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Paul tells us that “the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (Romans 6:22 ESV). Living as slaves of God results in our progressive transformation into the likeness of Christ. By living in the power of His indwelling Spirit and according to His will, we grow in holiness; we become increasingly more set apart and distinct in our spiritual maturity. And ultimately, we will experience our final glorification when we become like Christ – completely sin-free and no longer encumbered by these natural bodies that are driven by sinful desires and prone to decay, disease, and death.

Living under the control of sin and our sinful nature produces nothing but death. In this life, it results in “sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these” (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT). And for those who have not accepted God's free gift of grace made available through His Son's sacrificial death, living enslaved to sin in this life will produce spiritual death in the next one because the wages of sin are always death. And the worst form of death is eternal separation from God.

The real outcome of a life enslaved to sin is eternal, never-ending separation from God and His love, grace, and mercy. But “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT). When we stop relying on self-salvation and turn to God's plan for making us right with Him, we gain the ability to walk in newness of life now and the promise of eternal life to come. And it is all provided for free; it costs us nothing. However, it cost God the life of His Son.

…you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began… – 1 Peter 1:17-20 NLT

God offered His Son in our place as the sacrificial payment for our sins, and all we have to do is accept His offer of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. We no longer have to try to earn our salvation. Instead, we simply accept the salvation provided for us by God through Christ. When we do, we enjoy the fruit of our sanctification now and the guarantee of our ultimate glorification in the future.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. – Philippians 3:20-21 NLT

Father, we sometimes miss the whole point of our salvation by focusing all our attention on the here and now rather that the hereafter. We make it all about this life instead of the one to come. As temporal creatures, we have a difficult time grasping the reality of eternity, so we obsess over the cares and comforts of this life. As a result, we pursue heaven on earth. We want all our blessings immediately and are surprised when the trouble-free life we long for doesn’t show up. But Your Son died so that we might have eternal life, not our best life now. He was focused on the long-term benefits of our sanctification: our ultimate glorification. Even Paul reminded us, “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are” (Romans 8:18-19 NLT). Our best days are ahead of us. Your plan for our salvation is not yet complete because there is one last step in the process that needs to happen: Your Son’s return and our final transformation into His likeness. Help us focus on the reality of that promise because the best is yet to come. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Slaves to Sin.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to make a proclamation of liberty to them, that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother. And they obeyed, all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant that everyone would set free his slave, male or female, so that they would not be enslaved again. They obeyed and set them free. But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.’ But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name, but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

“Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you. Behold, I will command, declares the Lord, and will bring them back to this city. And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.” – Jeremiah 34:8-22 ESV

It is approximately 588 B.C. and the city of Jerusalem is surrounded. Things are not looking good. Outside the walls of the city, the Babylonian troops can be seen busily at work building siege walls and preparing to assault the city. In the midst of all the chaos and with the words of Jeremiah the prophet ringing in his ears, Zedekiah, the king of Judah, convinces the people to make a covenant with him to release any and all their fellow Hebrews that they owned as slaves. Now, it makes sense to ask why any Hebrew would have a fellow Hebrew as a slave. This was actually quite common in those days. In most cases, the enslavement or servitude was linked to indebtedness. If a Hebrew borrowed money from another Hebrew and could not pay the debt, he become the servant or slave of the lender until the debt was paid off. The book of Proverbs speaks to this situation, warning: “the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:17 ESV). We find some strong words from God regarding the abuse of this system in the book of Amos.

“The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals.” – Amos 2:6 NLT

The people of Judah and Israel had taken advantage of the poor and needy within their midst. Once again, the book of Proverbs speaks to this problem.

Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty. – Proverbs 22:16 NLT

Don't rob the poor just because you can, or exploit the needy in court. – Proverbs 22:22 NLT

God had made provision for those who found themselves in debt and in need of help. A Jew who found themselves with no means of income could voluntarily offer themselves as a servant to another Jew. If they owed a debt they could not pay, they could voluntarily become the lenders servant.

“If a fellow Hebrew sells himself or herself to be your servant and serves you for six years, in the seventh year you must set that servant free.

“When you release a male servant, do not send him away empty-handed. Give him a generous farewell gift from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Share with him some of the bounty with which the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were once slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you! That is why I am giving you this command.” – Deuteronomy 15:12-15 NLT

But notice that God made provision for their release. They were not to remain in servitude indefinitely. And the lender had no right to sell the debtor in order to profit from their sale. At the seventh year, all Hebrews were to release their Hebrew slaves or servants. Their debt was to be considered paid. And the lender was not to send them away empty handed. So, in this chapter, we see Zedekiah making a covenant with the people to release all their Hebrew slaves. We are not told why Zedekiah made this announcement, but we can speculate that he was hoping this action might appease God in some way. Perhaps it was an attempt to increase the number of free men able to serve in the army in the defense of the city. Whatever his motivation, Zedekiah convinces the people to agree to the conditions of the release. But then they change their minds. They renege on their commitment.

…but later they changed their minds. They took back the men and women they had freed, forcing them to be slaves again. – Jeremiah 34:11 NLT

We do know from verses 21 and 22, that the Babylonians had evidently disappeared for a period of time. It could be that their unexpected departure led the people to change their minds. They could have believed that the siege was over and they had been delivered from destruction. So, they decided not to keep their commitment. What had appeared to be an act of repentance turned out to be nothing of the sort. Even though they had been faced with their own destruction and possible enslavement themselves, the people were not willing to set free their fellow Hebrews. This all reminds me of a parable that Jesus told in response to a question from Peter regarding the topic of forgiveness.

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

“That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.” – Matthew 18:23-35 NLT

The people of Judah were indebted to God. They owed Him for the sins they had committed against Him. And they would have longed for Him to show them mercy and forgive their sins. But here they were, refusing to forgive the debts of those who owed them so much less. It should bring to mind the words of Jesus in His model prayer found in His Sermon on the Mount: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12 ESV). And Jesus would go on to comment about the issue of forgiveness of debts. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV).

God reminds Zedekiah and the people that their actions were reminiscent of the sins of their ancestors. God had given them the command regarding the seventh year, but they had refused to obey. Now, the people of Judah had made a covenant with God and were breaking it.

“Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name. But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again.” – Jeremiah 34:15-16 NLT

So, God gives them the bad news. Since they didn’t keep their vow and set their fellow Hebrews free, God was going to set the offenders free to suffer at the hands of the Babylonians. “I will set you free to be destroyed by war, disease, and famine” (Jeremiah 34:17 NLT). At the end of the day, the people of Judah were slaves to sin. They were addicted to wrongdoing. They just couldn’t give up their love affair with evil, even when faced with their own destruction. And they would learn the hard way, that the wages of sin is death.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson≠≠

Free To Pursue Holiness.

Romans 6:12-23

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. – Romans 6:22 NLT

For many of us, a life of holiness seems impossible or, at best, elusive. While we may acknowledge and even agree that our "old man" died with Christ on the cross, we painfully realize that we have an active sin nature that results in us doing those things we know are opposed to a life of godliness. The fact is, we still sin – sometimes on a regular basis. But Paul gives us the good news that "when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin" (Romans 6:7 NLT). His death broke the power of sin over our lives. So Paul reminds us, even commands us, "Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires" (Romans 6:12 NLT). Sounds impossible doesn't it? Sin seems to come so naturally to us. We get angry. We grow impatient. We covet, lust, doubt, lie – even worship idols – at the drop of a hat. But the key word seems to be control. We are not to let sin control the way we live. The Greek word Paul used is basileuo and it means "to exercise the highest influence over, to control." It was usually used to refer to a king exercising his power. At one time, prior to accepting Christ as our Savior, we were under the dominion and control of Satan and sin. We were slaves to sin. We were condemned by the law of God because it exposed our inability to keep its holy requirements. But Paul makes it clear that "sin is no longer your master" (Romans 6:14 NLT). We live under the freedom of God's grace, which "has set us free from the law" (Romans 6:15 NLT). Prior to coming to Christ, we had no say in the matter. We were slaves, bound by the requirements of the law, but totally incapable of living up to its exacting standards. The law simply exposed our sinfulness and unrighteousness. It couldn't save us, but could only condemn us. But Jesus did what none of us could do. He faithfully and completely kept God's holy requirements found in the law. He lived up to God's standard and, therefore, became a fitting sacrifice or payment for the sins of mankind. His perfect life made Him the perfect, blameless sacrifice. And His death paid the penalty for our sin and satisfied the just demands of a holy, righteous God. And "when he died, he died once to break the power of sin" (Romans 6:10 NLT). As a result, we should consider ourselves dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

We don't have to sin anymore. We don't have to live as slaves to sin, captive to its control and at powerless to resist its influence over our lives. We can do what is right for the glory of God. Yet many of us live as if we are still enslaved to sin. Why? Because we willingly choose to obey our sinful desires. We give in to our sin nature and its constant call to satisfy our own selfish, sinful desires. We become the slave of whatever we choose to obey. But we have a choice to obey God or to obey our sin nature. We can become slaves to righteous living, obeying the call of God to live holy lives, through the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit. But it is a daily choice. "Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy" (Romans 6:19 NLT). We must choose to obey the will of God for our lives. We must choose to say, "Yes" to the Spirit and "No" to the desires of our sin nature. It is a constant, daily battle. But it is one we can win, because we have the power of God at our disposal. "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses" (Galatians 5:16-18 NLT). In other words, as long as you try to do what is right in your own strength, you will find yourself losing the battle with your sin nature. But if you rely on the direction and power of the Spirit of God, you will discover you have the capacity to live the life God has called you to live. You can do "those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life" (Romans 6:22 NLT). You don't have to keep on sinning. You don't have to live like a slave to sin. You will find that you have the power "to obey God, which leads to righteous living" (Romans 6:16 NLT). You can be holy. But it all begins with a willing submission to the Holy Spirit's direction in your life.

Father, the life of holiness is impossible – as long as I try to do it in my own strength. When I do that, it is just as if I am trying to keep the law of Moses. I find myself in the same spot as the Israelites, trying to live up to Your righteous standard in my own strength, and failing every time. I become a slave to the law again. But Your Son died to free from the law. I don't have to do this in the flesh. My old man died with Christ on the cross. I have been given a new life and a new capacity to live differently. Help me to live in the power You have provided through Your Holy Spirit. Show me how to experience Your life-transforming power and enjoy what it means to live righteously in Your strength, not mine. Amen.

Re-enslaved.

Galatians 4:1-20

Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. So now that you know God (of should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? – Galatians 4:8-9 NET

Why would anyone who had been set free from slavery ever voluntarily subject themselves to it again? That is Paul's question in this section of his letter. He reminds the believers in Galatia that they were at one time slaves to the basic principles of this world. In other words, they had been subject to the sad state of affairs made possible by the fall. They had been under the constant influence and control of Satan, their own sinful flesh and the world. At one time they had been slaves to their so-called gods – gods that didn't even really exist. Theirs had been a pointless and hopeless existence attempting to search for release by turning to false gods that offered false hope. But Paul reminds them that "in the fulness of time" – at just the right time – God sent his Son to buy them freedom. Jesus Christ had bought them out of slavery and set them free. As a result, they were no longer slaves, but God's own children, adopted into His family. They knew the one true God and He knew them. But now, as a result of the influence of the Judaizers, these so-called Jewish believers who were attempting to convince the new converts in Galatia that they must keep the law and adhere to the rituals and requirements of Judaism, the Galatian Christians were becoming enslaved again. Paul accused them of "trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years" (Galatians 4:10 NLT).

Paul plead with them to live in freedom, not slavery. He begged them to not return to the same kind of slavery from which Christ had set them free. Paul's greatest desire was that Christ would be fully developed in their lives. But he knew that a return to those basic principles of this world would hinder their spiritual growth. Even as believers, we are all still under the influence of Satan, our sinful flesh, and the world. We can still fall prey to the temptation to earn favor with God through our own self-effort. The enemy would love nothing more than to enslave us again to a life of works and pride-based effort. He wants us to see God as a task-master who demands what we can't deliver. He wants us to live in fear of God, not as children, but as slaves. Satan doesn't want us to see ourselves as God's children, but as His powerless pawns, condemned to try to keep Him pleased in order to escape His punishment and earn His favor. But Paul won't stand for it. And while he can't personally visit them, he does the next best thing – he writes them and pleads with them. He speaks truth to them. He exposes those who would do harm to them. Because unless they learned to embrace their freedom in Christ, they would never truly grow in Christ. Those who see themselves as slaves will tend to live and act as slaves. But those who truly understand that they have been freed from the basic principles of this world will enjoy all that freedom brings. They will relish their status as children of God. They will take advantage of His indwelling Spirit and allow Him to do in them what they could never have done on their own.

Father, we live in a fallen world and we are surrounded by the basic principles of this world. Ever since the fall, mankind has been in a hopeless quest to rectify their relationship with You. They have been searching for You. They have been trying to figure out to fix all that is wrong with them and with the world in which they live. But You have provided the solution through Your own Son's death. You have set us free from having to search for a solution or from having to earn back Your favor. But it is so easy to fall back into that old mindset. It is so easy to think that nothing is free and we must do something to get You to love us. But it's all a lie. Keep us focused on the truth. Keep us aware of the fact that we are free in Christ. Amen.