Romans 6:16-18 Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death… I. THE BONDAGE SUPPOSED. Those only can be made free who were the subjects of bondage. Many resent this charge and exclaim, as the Jews did, "We were never in bondage to any man." And so long as men remain under the infatuation that they are free, they will never welcome the tidings of a deliverance. We are in bondage — 1. To a law which we have violated. A perfect nature was capable of performing the requirements of a perfect law; but an imperfect nature never can meet these requirements. Those, therefore, who are seeking acceptance with God by the works of the law, are under the curse — bound and sentenced by it. 2. To a God whom we have displeased. Perfectly sensible that "God is love," we also believe that He is a God of justice. God's character, regarded as a whole, demands that He should maintain the honour of His law; and therefore He is bound by every principle of His nature, and by every qualification of His office as the Ruler of the universe, to punish the sinner. 3. To corruptions which he has indulged. (1) Man has fallen under the government of the passions, of which there are three classes — the animal, which lead to all manner of impurity; the malevolent, which lead to all manner of cruelty; and the secular, which go to make men altogether base and sordid. (2) There are also intellectual sins under which men are bound, and even sold — pride, a presumptuous obtrusion into things sacred and prohibited, and infidelity in rejecting the testimony which God has given of His Son. But whether men are bound by the intellectual or sensual sins, they are alike slaves. 4. To the world which we have idolised. There are some who would not for worlds rebel against the laws of fashion. They would rather commit an enormous sin against God than they would violate the etiquette of this world. The man who is devoted to the love of money is just as much bound as ever one who was fastened to the galleys for life. The man who loves the pleasures of this world, though he turns from them with disgust again and again, yet tomorrow it is just the same thing over and over again. And as to the ambitious, see what slaves they are — how servile when they have an object to accomplish; how insolent when that object is once attained; and how dissatisfied with the highest pinnacle to which human ambition can soar. 5. To a death which we cannot shun. Some "are all their lifetime subject to bondage through fear of death," either the act itself or the consequences. II. THE FREEDOM THAT IS BESTOWED. 1. From the guilt of sin by virtue of the expiatory death and all-atoning sacrifice of the Divine Redeemer. 2. From the punishment of sin. The chain is broken — the debt is cancelled — the indictment is rebutted, and the justified believer can say, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" 3. From the dominion of sin. How can I love that which crucified the Saviour? 4. Ultimately from the presence of sin. There shall in no wise enter into the heavenly Jerusalem anything that defileth or that worketh abomination. III. THE SUBSEQUENT SUBJECTION OR SUBORDINATION. "Ye became the servants of righteousness!" 1. By faith in the doctrine of righteousness (ver. 17). All the doctrines of the gospel are according to godliness. They fix salvation on the great principles of eternal rectitude; for God does not forgive merely by an act of clemency; but by an act of equity. 2. Love to the principle of righteousness. 3. Submission to the rule of righteousness — God's will — not our opinion — not the laws of our fellow creatures. 4. Studious determination and constant aim towards the practice of universal righteousness. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? |
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