Your New Reward

Living the Christian Life, Lesson 6

Living the Christian Life is a Bible study series that explores Paul’s teaching aboutChristian growth and sanctification in Romans 6:1–8:17.

Introductory Thoughts

After a lengthy discussion of theneed for and basis of justification by grace through faith in Christ (i.e.,salvation or conversion), Paul now explains how this same truth shouldtransform our mindset and lifestyle as Christians (i.e., sanctification orChristian growth). The believer’s close identification with Christ’s death,burial, and resurrection places him or her in a new position. He is no longer aslave to sin but serves Jesus Christ instead.

Passage: Romans 6:20-23

In English (NKJV)

v.20     For when you wereslaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

v.21     What fruit did youhave then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of thosethings is death.

v.22     But now having beenset free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit toholiness, and the end, everlasting life.

v.23    For the wages of sinis death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Key Words and Insights

Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old &New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006)together with an interlinear Bible, like The NKJV Greek English InterlinearNew Testament (Thomas Nelson, 1994) is an excellent way to get accurate definitionsfor your Bible study based upon Greek and Hebrew meanings.

Slave, sin, free, righteousness, death, and holinessare words already used in Rom 6, so we have already defined them in previouslessons. As you study this passage, you should review the meanings of thesewords even though they are not listed on this study guide.

• Fruit (καρπός):“fruit, offspring, benefit, profit, reward.” This is a word about results and outcomes, about what happens as the end result of something else that happened first.
• Ashamed (ἐπαισχύνομαι): “ashamed, embarrassed.” This word portrays what happens when a person is disgraced, when they lose their reputation or status because of something bad that they said or did.
• End (τέλος): “end, consummation, closing act, fulfillment, result, ultimate destiny.” This word refers to the final point or stage of a process, event, or action.
• Eternal life (αἰώνιος ζωή): this phrase refers to a multilayered concept that John references frequently in his gospel. Paul also mentions this concept throughout his epistles (Rom 2:7; 6:22; Gal 6:8; 1 Tm 1:16; Ti 1:2; 3:7). This concept includes a time element that refers to the life we will live forever in God’s future, eternal kingdom. Yet it often says something more, merging the qualities of that future life under God into our present experience today (i.e., “righteousness,” the “fruits of the Spirit,” Christlike behavior, and submission to the rule and reign of God). As such, eternal life refers to the kind of life we will enjoy in eternity thanks to a close relationship with God, but the quality of that life applies to our Christian lives today as well.
• Wage (ὀψώνιον): “provision, stipend, pay.” This word refers to earnings, the income you receive as the result of work you performed. It specifically refers to wages earned as a soldier (Luke 3:14). In this way, it harmonizes nicely with Paul’s reference to offering our body parts as weapons (“instruments”) to sin (Rom 6:13).
• Gift (χάρισμα): “free favor, free gift, benefit, endowment.” When you serve sin (whether voluntarily or involuntarily), you receive an equivalent pay in return; you receive what you deserve. When you serve God, you receive nothing as a result. You receive eternal life as a free gift of God’s grace, unearned and undeserved.

Questions for Meditation and Reflection

What does it mean to be “free in regard to righteousness.”

“Free” continues Paul’s slavery analogy from the previous verses.It describes our pre-conversion existence, when we were not expected to doright and obey God’s moral requirements. This does not mean that is was okayfor you to sin. It simply means that though you should never sin, no one – noteven God – expected you to do otherwise since you in slavery to sin and coulddo nothing good by nature.

What were the “things of which you are now ashamed?”

These are the “unclean” (morally inappropriate, sexually impure)and “lawless” (illegal as in dishonesty, thievery, jealousy, disrespect, violence,etc.) things that we did when we were enslaved to sin. Doing those thingsembarrassed and disgraced our reputations. Though we attempt(ed) to hide thesethings, we are generally unsuccessful at doing so. These things cause people todistrust us and do not inspire honor and respect.

How is the end result of things “death?”

For nonbelievers, death ultimately refers to physical death andeternal separation from God in hades now and the Lake of Fire ineternity. For believers, it ultimately refers to an untimely physical death.But this death also refers to the many other undesirable consequences of sin,such as physical or mental illness, relationship breakdowns, disgracedreputations, losses of various kinds, and a strained relationship with God. It isthe opposite of a vibrant relationship with God for sure.

Explain what it means to be “free from sin.”

Once again, it refers to the slavery analogy. Though a believer maychoose to sin, he or she is no longer obligated to sin because sin is no longerhis or her master. In fact, the believer is obligated to serve God instead.

Explain what it means to be a “slave to God.”

According to Rom 6:19, this is not an ideal analogy. Slavery is anawkward example and is not an ideal arrangement for sure. Even so, Paul uses itdue to the “weakness of our flesh,” meaning that it is striking illustrationthat helps us understand a concept that we would easily dismiss.

Paul wants us to understand the strong degree to which we areobligated to serve God, just as a slave was obligated to serve his or hermaster. Thankfully, we are talking about God, who is our Creator and who isperfectly good. Being his “slave” is far better than being a free man of ourown. This cannot be said for any other being, though.

How is holiness the “fruit” of living the Christian life God’s way?

This word “holiness” refers to complete dedication to something,which in this case is a dedication to God and what he expects or desires. Thisword also indicates an ongoing process rather than a destination. So to betechnical, Paul presents holiness as seasonal fruit and an ongoing process – aseries of thoughts, words, and actions that demonstrate dedication to God’sagenda and will day by day. Then he presents eternal life as the final result oroutcome – the end of this kind of living. (See Gal 5:19-23 for a more detaileddescription.)

We often quote Rom 6:23 to explain the gospel to a nonbeliever. YetPaul presents this verse in a discussion about sanctification (spiritual growthand Christian living), not evangelism (witnessing). What does this verse teachus about the Christian life?

To be sure, this verse teaches a universal, general principle thatapplies appropriately to gospel presentations. Even so, Paul applies itdirectly to sanctification – the daily life of a Christian. When youvoluntarily hand over your body parts (yourself) to sin as weapons for Satan’sagenda, you will always be paid in death. Yet if you refuse this cowardly,treasonous behavior and hand over yourself to God as weapons for his heavenlyagenda, then you receive far better treatment. He doesn’t actually pay youanything, though, because you can never earn anything from God. Instead, hegives you a growing experience of eternal life for free (by grace alone).

How does Rom 6:23 answer the question Paul asked in this chapter(Rom 6:1, 15)?

Does our new position under God’s grace permit us to keep onsinning? According to this verse, the answer is ‘no.’ Why? Because sinfulchoices still result in deadly consequences.

Questions for Personal Application

1. In what ways did your formal lifestyle and choices before salvation result in death?
2. In what ways are you becoming more like Christ and prioritizing God’s will as you live the Christian life God’s way?
3. How does experiencing eternal life “right now” influence the way you view your life?
4. What truth or question stands out to you from Romans 6?