Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.
No wonder God tries to warn us to stay away from sin because it leads to death - physical, emotional, spiritual, and eternal.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways for man to be considered righteous before God: (1) By obedience to the law down to the last word, (2) By grace. No can be saved by obedience to the law because no can can perfectly follow it. However, God's grace is our other option. To be saved by grace means that you don't have to be perfect to be saved. Yes, you read it right. Even if you are the worst person in the world, if God grants you grace then you would be saved. Grace is something that you don't deserve yet by God's unfathomable love He decides to give it to you. The the 'priceless' question now is, "How to receive God's grace?" We are all sinners so we all need God's grace. The answer can be found all over the Bible, but let me just state on passage - John 3:16. To attain salvation all he have to do is believe in Jesus and the work of salvation he has perfected in the cross.
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