For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:5-7
Later this week, people across the United States will celebrate our country’s liberation from British rule. After a long, bloody war for independence, a new nation emerged with the freedom to determine its own destiny. Having lived our entire lives enjoying the freedoms that our forebears fought to secure for us, it is hard for any of us living today to imagine life under the control of another. However, the reality is that all of us who have come of age are living as the servants of another, whether we realize it or not.
In Romans 6, Paul addressed an issue stemming from his discourse on the power of God’s grace to save humanity from sin. Since God’s grace is greater than sin, and since God is glorified by this reality, some may have thought they ought to continue in sin that grace may abound even more (6:1). Paul responded with an emphatic rejection of this notion and a clear description of what Jesus’ sacrifice delivered to the sin-sick soul, death to sin (6:2). The thrust of this entire chapter is that when we make our moral/ethical decisions, we are choosing a master (6:15-18). It is not a question of if we serve a master, but which master we will serve. The choice has eternal consequences, so we must choose wisely.
Because of the changes that humanity underwent when we gained the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3), we are inclined to sinful behaviors. This is borne out in the biblical narrative and everyday experience in life. In Romans 7, Paul further discussed this issue with special emphasis on the need for Christ’s deliverance from sin’s dominion. The law, though perfect, was powerless to free humanity from sin’s dominion. All the law could do was expose the sinfulness of sin (7:7-12), but it had no power to release us from it. The result was an internal struggle ending in frustration at the impossibility of securing victory over sin for ourselves (7:13-24). In such a state, all we could do is throw up our hands in frustration and defeat.
However, through the death of Christ on the cross, and our death to sin through obedience to the gospel, we died to sin (6:7-8; 7:4-6). The result is independence from the overbearing power of sin in our lives. Now we are free to serve God in righteousness, knowing there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ because we walk (order our lives), not according to those fleshly desires, but according to the things revealed by the Spirit of God (8:1-5).
So, by all means, enjoy and appreciate to the fullest the freedom our forebears fought and died to grant us in this nation. In the process, let us remember the greater and eternal freedom Jesus willfully sacrificed Himself to grant us in His kingdom. Independence is the most precious gift imaginable, especially independence from sin’s dominion.