Rom. 6:16-17 ... "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? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed."
This Scripture involves three ideas which have become quite objectionable to contemporary thought. First is the idea of opposing absolutes. Second is the idea of being in subjection to an external authority. Third is the idea of being delivered from sin by obedience. In recent decades we have generally come to accept the philosophy of relativism, which denies the existence of absolutes and holds that in everything there is a spectrum of reality. For example, in the sphere of morality there is no supreme standard. Rather, there is a range of moral behavior that depends on the situation of those involved. For a specific case, in certain settings it might be justifiable to commit fornication, or lie, or kill. Or, because of one's particular station or vocational responsibility it could be moral for him to engage in acts that are usually taken to be immoral. But our text above presents only two opposing alternatives, sin and righteousness. There are no relative positions in between. A given behavior is Biblically classified either as sinful or righteous. One of the objectives of God's word is to provide us with the criteria for discerning the two. We are urged, therefore, in I Ths. 5:21 to "examine everything carefully" and "hold fast to that which is good."
Our text also presents the idea that there are external authorities to which we are in subjection. We of the present generation rebel at the thought of having our liberties denied us. Our goal is unfettered freedom to do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it, and however we want to do it. Even when one's exercise of freedom intrudes into another's life to the extent it inflicts harm, or even causes death, we have a tendency to mitigate his action in all sorts of rationalizations. The featured text, however, proclaims that there are only two masters, sin and righteousness, which rule over the life of an individual. The choice we have is not whether to be absolutely free of all external authority, but rather to which of these two masters we will belong. Everyone is at liberty to choose whether he will be the servant of sin or the servant of righteousness, but no one can choose to be free of both. Those who think they can defy all authority and be "liberated people" are, in reality, enslaved to the lord of evil without realizing it.
It is commonly taught that obedience has nothing to do with deliverance from sin. Eph. 2:8 is often quoted: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." That is, when a person puts his faith in Christ, He bestows salvation upon that person as a gift. Thus, obedience is not an operable factor, for Eph. 2:9 continues: "Not as a result of works, that no one should boast." And yet, the same apostle who wrote those statements also wrote the words, "You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness," (Rom. 6:17-18). Freedom from sin came after their obedience to what they were taught (the Gospel). Salvation is indeed by the grace of God and comes through faith, but it also involves obedience. This obedience, however, is not a work that merits one's salvation; it does not obligate God to save its performer. It is God's will that a person should respond to His grace by faith and obedience. The ability to respond constitutes the essence of responsibility, and everyone bears responsibility in his salvation. One who will not accept that responsibility will deny himself the benefit of God's grace and continue his journey through life as a servant of sin.
