I don’t stop to consider the concepts of sin and righteousness all that often. I doubt most others do either, even those of us who spend a great deal of time in religious work. But work does not always lead to contemplation, and so I gloss over my attitudes and actions displeasing to the Lord.

Paul discussed sin and righteousness using the metaphor of slavery. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 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.

Horribly strong word—slavery. Paul uses the concept to pound home his point. We live as either a slave to sin or a slave to God. No middle ground, no room for passivity, and no third way to escape the dichotomy.

Paul’s concludes with this well-known verse: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the context of his argument we see the fullness of Paul’s thought. We either cash in our paycheck—we earn death, we’re not victims in a spiritual ponzi scheme—or we let God gift us eternal life as we enslave ourselves to Jesus the Lord.

Either way were slaves—whose chains do you prefer?

Romans 6 in reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Miltiadis Fragkidis