Romans 6,7 & 8 part 5

The second question
(Apologies if this is getting bit long, but this is all one subject and therefore hard to break down.)

In the first question Paul asked whether it was right to continue to sin, that is to deliberately keep sinning to bring about God's grace. His answer to that was that we are dead to sin and therefore it is nonsense to continue in it. The conclusion was that we are under grace not law. To carry on sinning would imply we are under law and need to invoke grace. But Paul points out that we are under grace, we do not need to invoke it. Just as when a person is under the law they can expect punishment, so those under grace can expect sanctification (remember that word from before? It is about us being put right now!)

Now he is asking a second question. On the surface it looks no different to the first, but it is not only different it is essential that he asks it:

"15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!" Romans 6:15

The first question asked, "Should we deliberately continue is sin to invoke grace?"

This second question asks, "May we occasionally indulge in sin if we are not under the law?" Again his immediate answer is "No!"

It follows that if we are not judged by the law then what does it matter if we occasionally indulge ourselves? Paul goes on to answer the question in more depth. (And can I say that understanding this question is key to understanding the brilliance of the answer!)

"16Do 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?" Romans 6:16

The point here is we become slaves to the one we obey.
If we obey sinful desires when they arise then we make ourselves to be slaves to sin again.
Joseph, when he was no longer Potipha's slave no longer popped back to serve Him. It would be nonsense for him to go and do a bit of cleaning for him occasionally whenever Potipha told him to.

When the sinful desire calls us, we must remember that we are not it's slave anymore and it is not our master anymore. We must become obedient to God and the result of that is all righteousness. When Sin calls us we must remember that we are a slave to righteousness. A slave is not free to serve who he chooses. A slave must serve his master. Therefore we must serve righteousness and not sin.

"17But 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, (Have we?!)
18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." Romans 6:17-18

"19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh." Romans 6:19 part 1

The human terms is basically using the analogy of slaves. But without such a black and white picture, we would not understand what he is talking about.

"For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification." The rest of verse 19

Here is the mention of the word “sanctification.”
We were justified by Christ in His death,We are being sanctified by making ourselves slaves to God and righteousness.

"20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."

While we served sin, we were unable to serve righteousness
Paul is not saying we were free from having to be righteous,
But we could not be righteous as we were slaves to sin

"21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death."

If we ask, “Can we still sin?” What is the point? We were ashamed of who we were as sinners.
The result of that was to be death. So what can we possibly get out of it?

"22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. "

There is far more benefit in submitting ourselves to God rather than sin. The results are far better! Sanctification and eternal life!

"23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

That famous verse! Concluding the answer to the question. The answer to the first question was,
“We should not continue to sin so that grace may abound because we are dead to sin through Jesus.” The answer to the second question is, “We should not occasionally indulge in sin because we are no longer slaves to sin and therefore should not obey it anymore. Shame and death are the benefits of sin Whereas, sanctification and eternal life are the benefits of being obedient to God.”