Romans · New Testament · Romans 6:15–23
Slaves to Righteousness
The Story
Paul raises the same abuse of grace a second time but from a slightly different angle — not "shall we sin so grace increases?" but now "since we are under grace and not law, can we sin freely?" His answer is equally firm: "Of course not!" He then introduces the imagery of slavery to make his point vivid and unavoidable: everyone is a slave to something, and whatever a person chooses to obey becomes their master. The choice is between slavery to sin — which leads to death — or obedience to God — which leads to righteous living. Paul then pauses to give thanks, acknowledging that the Roman believers once were slaves to sin but had wholeheartedly obeyed the teaching they received and were now set free from sin's slavery to become slaves of righteous living. He acknowledges the bluntness of using the slavery illustration but says he uses it because of the weakness of human nature, to make the reality plain: just as they once surrendered themselves as slaves to impurity and lawlessness — leading deeper into sin — they are now to surrender themselves as slaves to righteous living, which leads to holiness. Paul then draws the contrast between the two lives in terms of what they produced: in the days of slavery to sin, the people were free from righteousness — and what did they gain? Things they are now ashamed of, things whose end is death. But now, set free from sin and made slaves of God, the benefit is holiness, and the outcome is eternal life. The passage ends with one of the most direct summaries in all of Paul's letters: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
The Message
Paul's use of slavery language is deliberate — there is no neutral ground, no state of independence from all masters. Every person serves either sin or God, and the master a person serves determines where they end. Sin pays out its wages faithfully: death. But God does not pay wages — He gives a gift, and that gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ. The passage makes clear that freedom from sin is not freedom to do whatever one pleases; it is freedom to serve a new and better Master whose service leads to holiness and life.