Romans 6-7: A Servant or a Captive of Sin?

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
–Romans 6:23

ARE YOU A SERVANT OF SIN OR A CAPTIVE OF SIN?

There are many changes which take place once a person undergoes the transformed life of Christianity. One of the most profound changes has to do with  crucifying the “old man,” literally becoming a “new creature” and his relationship with sin.

The entire chapter of Romans 6 (this explanation continues into Romans 7) explains what happens when a person converts to Christianity and becomes dead to sin.

Because so many in the churches are not saved, the Bible is foolishness to them and so they listen to many fables about how sin relates to a Christian’s life.

Before a person converts to Christianity, he is a servant to sin. His natural state is sin. To the unsaved person, sin is such a natural part of their everyday life, many times they don’t even know when they are sinning.

SIN IS NO BIG DEAL.

That’s one reason the lost are such a hot mess.

Whenever a person becomes a Christian (REALLY becomes a convert–a new creature–not the fake, false types which the churches regularly turn out), that person is no longer a servant to sin.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
–Romans 6:6-7

NOW that person, who no longer serves sin, is VERY AWARE of sin. He detests sin. He fully realizes what he was saved from.

SIN BECOMES A VERY BIG DEAL.

NOW, that saved person is a servant of righteousness.

“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”
–Romans 6:18

Does this mean that the Christian will never sin?

Absolutely not! Though a person becomes a new creature, his spirit (and now the Holy Spirit) is encased within a body made from dirt.

A suit of sin, in a manner of speaking.

HOWEVER, where the old man RAN to sin and found pleasure in sin, the believer finds nothing in sin but a sense of failure and a need to confess it.

When the believer sins, he is no longer a servant of sin: he is taken away captive by the sin which is still present in our body of flesh.

“If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
–Romans 7:16-20

Instead of running to sin (as he did when he once served sin), the Christian is taken captive by sin.

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.“
–Romans 7:23

Having succumbed to sin, the believers must now go before God and confess his sin in order to be forgiven.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
–1John 1:9

This is by no means the only transformation a person undergoes upon conversion to Christianity.

But it is one of the most profound.

And so this struggle (between the new man, the new creature, which contains the Spirit of God VS the sin contained in his body of dirt) continues for as long as the believer is encased in this body of flesh upon this rock of woe.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.”
–Galatians 5:17

MORE: Separating from the World: END TIMES SURVIVAL

Has the reader become a new creature through Jesus Christ?

Is the reader a servant of sin or of righteousness?

Time is Running Out: Today is the Day of Salvation

THE GOSPEL

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. ”
–1 Corinthians 15:1-8

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
-—1 Corinthians 1:18-19

The Gospel is Hidden to Those who are Lost

[Portions of this piece appeared originally in End Times Prophecy Headlines: June 2, 2016.]

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by Jeremiah Jameson
–with Mondo Frazier

image: Stuart Miles, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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