Fuel for our lives

“What follows from this? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May this not be inferred!”
Romans 6:15-23

What follows from this?

With these words, Paul picks up on something he mentioned earlier: He wrote at the beginning of the chapter:

“What then shall we plead? That we should persist in sin that grace may increase? May this not be inferred!”
Rom 6:1-2

In verse 15, he seems to repeat the question. It is always about new aspects of the same findings. – All that happened with Christ is for us and we should count on it. However, we should not misinterpret this basis. We should not set up false inferences.

The law, as Moses had given it to the people of Israel, had only made sin visible. Previously, Paul made it clear that through the law comes only knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). The law never brings about justice. Why this repeated comparison between law and grace?

Some love the law, and would like to stick with it. It is a religious concern. Religiosity – as an expression of the human endeavor to become righteous before God – does not get us anywhere. But it obviously corresponds to Paul’s experience in the churches, which is why he calls it here. Thus, on the one hand, he declares the grace of God in Christ Jesus and, on the other hand, warns against one’s own striving, which stands in the way of grace.

Consequences

In verse 15, the apostle now goes a step further, as he builds on the knowledge he has now gained that “we are not under law, but under grace.” Against this background, he asks , “should we sin? Because whoever is free from compulsion can come to the wrong conclusion that now everything does not matter. But may this not be inferred! Paul now talks about the consequences in everyday life. Because in everyday decisions we show who we belong to:

“Know ye not, to whom ye present yourselves slaves to obey, to him ye are slaves, and to him ye obey, either as slaves of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”Rom 6:16
Again Paul mentions the word “provide” here (cf. Rom 6:13).

It is about the context in our spiritual life: What we build on will become visible. What we believe we will reckon with, and what we reckon with will shape our thoughts and actions. Therefore, the following should be clear to us:

“But thanks be to God that you, who were once slaves to sin, now obey from the heart the example of the teaching to which you have been delivered. For freed from the dominion of sin, you are now enslaved to righteousness. I say this, humanly speaking, for the sake of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you as enslaved to impurity and lawlessness provided your members for lawlessness, so now as enslaved to righteousness provide your members for sanctification.”
Rom 6:17-19

Here Paul speaks “humanly, for the weakness of your flesh”. For although God’s Word has a clear message of grace, we are always weak in the face of it. He speaks humanly to pick us up where we are lacking in our daily lives. Happy, then, the one who puts God’s message of grace directly into practice – and for those who can’t do that right away, he doubles down here. His point of view here is not from God’s side, but he speaks from his own human experience. He addresses the believer as a human being, but as a human being called to better things:

“For when you were slaves to sin, you were free as to righteousness. Therefore, what kind of fruit did you have then? Such as you are now ashamed of, for the end thereof is death. But now, freed from the dominion of sin, but enslaved to God, you have your fruit for sanctification, and as a conclusion, eonian life.”
Rom 6:20-22

Two times face each other – we were once slaves to sin, but now we are not. Sanctification corresponds to life before God, dedicated to Him through the grace experienced in Christ Jesus. There is now, according to our decisions a logical consequence, each with its own conclusion:

At that time fruit of sin, conclusion: death
Now fruit for sanctification, conclusion: aeonian life

The pay (food ration) of sin

We should always keep in mind that Paul is speaking to the church here. This is not a message to the world in general, but it is about the way of life of the believers in Rome – exemplary also for our situation. They are held up to life and death for everyday life – as a consequence of action. It is about the direction of our lives, and Paul is speaking to us about making our lives available before God. Only this makes sense.

“For the food ration of sin is death; but the gift of God’s grace is eonian life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Rom 6:23

This verse is often taken out of context and therefore misinterpreted. In most translations, it says something like “the wages of sin is death.” This is interpreted as a general statement on all mankind – as if it is sin that causes us to die. However, we have already seen that this is not the case. Paul had already clarified this. We die because we are descended from Adam, who became a mortal, and this affects every human being without distinction, regardless of the measure of sin (Rom 5:12).

Sin, Paul explained, is the consequence of our mortal life, not the cause of our death. So why is this verse about?

Paul is speaking to the church here, and the sentence must be interpreted in context. This is not a statement that all who sin will die one day. Paul’s point of view was clearly explained in the previous verses: he presents to us that we should choose how we want to live. We either continue to make ourselves available for sin, or we make ourselves available for God. Let’s just put this in terms of consequences:

The “food ration of sin” is death.
The “gift of God’s grace” is eonic life.

The word “food ration” is not a wage in our understanding, but it is the rationed food of a soldier (Gr. opsonion, cf. Luk 3:14, 1Cor 9:7). Better understandable would be this word, if you write it with hyphen: Kost ration. It is not a merit obtained by working, but the meager salary of one serving in war or of a slave. There is no abundance here, but food is rationed. And this little, according to Paul, is simply death to sin. Death is what comes out as a meager result in sin.

In contrast to this, however, according to the grace of God, there is the aeonian life. Life and death stand here opposite each other. The difference is enormous: with sin, death is the meager result, but life by grace is an overflowing gift.

Paul first gave us a glimpse into God’s heart and actions and has now supplemented this with an outlook for our everyday lives. If we have an anchor for the soul, which we recognize in God’s work and action, we can hold on to this anchor and align ourselves with it. To reckon with this and to make oneself available for God according to this realization is his concern. This is how we transform the Gospel into fuel for our lives. We experience, so to speak, the aeonic life already now, far before the actual fulfillment.

Let’s go all out.