Romans 6:16-18 - You're Always Obeying Something (Conciliation Series, Part XVI)

 Part IV: God’s Conciliation, Confirmed

Are you not aware that to whom you are presenting yourselves as slaves for obedience, his slaves you are, whom you are obeying, whether of Sin for death, or of Obedience for righteousness?

Well! That sounds simple enough, right? Nothing super controversial here. So evident, in fact, that there’s a borderline sarcasm in “Are you not aware?” Literally, if you serve Obedience, your disposition will match. If you serve Sin, your disposition will match.

As I said in my last article, this is a tougher passage for many in Christ to study without hiccup, because us dispensationalists will go, “Oh, ‘obedience’ correlates with ‘law!’” And start trying to make excuses or explain the verse away. But if Paul were referring to the law with “Obedience,” then He would have contrasted Obedience with righteousness, as one cannot be righteous in flesh through law (Rom. 3:20.)

What Paul says here is simply true; if you’re saying “I’m under grace!” and simultaneously beating people to a bloody pulp, you aren’t really under grace, are you? You’re under… whatever makes one beat another to a bloody pulp. But make no mistake; the individual prefers its master. We are always obeying something; whether a boss, a teacher, a lord, or our Lord, you are always under the subjection of another. The individual prefers its master, as unbelief is preferring Sin over the truth.

Now, of course, you can’t really present it this way to an unbeliever, because to be prideful is human. You tell a stubborn man that they are stubborn, and they’ll double down simply because it pisses you off. They take pleasure in it, and that’s literally because Sin is present in them. I’ve found it better, with these stubborn people, to befriend them and reveal the truth to them through a friendship. It’s not so dissimilar from Paul’s method (Acts 17:20-22, Rom. 12:1-15:7.)

Sin’s reach is death. We’ve been over this. We’ve also been over Obedience’s reach, being righteousness. This parallel was brought about way back when, in Rom. 5:21. What I want to talk about, now, is the contrast in the effects of each master. Sin’s effect is death. You would expect, then, Obedience’s effect to be life. Yet this is not the case, as God has already revealed Himself the Savior of all mankind (Rom. 5:18-19, 1 Cor. 15:20-22, 1 Tim. 4:10.) All will be given life. Obedience’s effect, then, is righteousness, instead, because not all currently believe, so not all are currently given faith-obedience. We obtained grace, were commissioned for faith-obedience (Rom. 1:5.) Thus we are appointed for righteousness, as Paul explained (Rom. 3:21-26.)

This is a tough passage to discuss, because many of us in Christ already intuitively recognize that God is absolutely sovereign over all of His creation. Thus many of us dispensational, concordant folk end up inadvertently hating judgment, believing that, in experiencing God’s grace, that no one else should be judged, as God is purposely putting them at a disadvantage. Yet this is not the case. God is operating in contrast, understood through experience. He must educate all on His abhorrence of Sin, and His grace. He must educate us on His disdain for the opposite of Himself (being Sin,) as well as He Himself (operating in Grace.) This is crucial for everyone’s development. But the only way for Him to show an individual that He hates Sin, is to reprimand them, like a parent to a child. This will be proven at the Great White Throne.

Moreover, it must be proven that this is a temporary judgment. Gosh, everyone sits there thinking judgment is permanent. Why is that?? I get it, sure, it’ll be grand. He’s my Father! Of course I’m fascinated by His judging properties. But I’d hate Him if He dared just throw my friends into a second death for all eternity. God, I’d question His creative storytelling capabilities to the max. And yet, He clearly explains later in this very letter that He is creating vessels of honor and dishonor in order to display all facets of His character (Rom. 9:16-24, 11:33-36.)

Now thanks be to God that you were slaves of Sin, yet you obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given over.

If we are always enslaved to something, why not be a slave to righteousness as opposed to sin? This reminds me of a character in The Matrix named “Cypher.” In the story, Cypher first experiences freedom from the Matrix, and realizes that he hates the reality around him. He begins to make a deal with the robot overlords of the story (sin, in this analogy) in order to be implanted back in the matrix, to forget reality. In order to achieve this goal, he sells out his friends to the robots.

It’s a fun allegory, but it is missing one critical feature; in The Matrix, the characters rely solely on the truth, yet have no expectation that the war against the robots will actually consummate in victory – it’s conditional, to them. Thus, the fun analogy should not distract from the point – Paul presumes that, if you’re reading this, you’ve already been given over to a proper teaching, and that you are already understanding the greater goods and rewards (many of which includes an understanding of topics we’ve already discussed) that come with the truth itself. What I’m saying is that something like The Matrix, while accurate in terms of “slavery,” is not accurate in terms of the true greatness of the truth, as it truly is – the “truth” of reality, to man, requires an analogy of evil robots, to try and teach freedom. Yet they hate the idea that freedom is not freedom from all, but freedom from Sin.

It is revealed here that you always obey from the heart of whatever teaching you are given over to. This is an excellent verse to contrast with the demonic doctrine of free will, as the doctrine of free will claims that you allow teachings into your heart, and then become a slave to something else. Yet God, the word of God, says that enslavement comes first, and that you are given over to the kind of teaching you are subject to.

Paul clarifies this in retrospect, that you were given over, because we, as saints, have graciously received both kinds of enslavement. We were slaves of Sin, and we are now experiencing an enslavement to Righteousness. This is a thankfulness to the saints in Rome, yes, but it is a thankfulness that can be applied to all of the saints, who are now freed from Sin’s wretched grasp.

In contrast to Sin’s confusing, oft-frustrating reign, that keeps you in the dark, Grace’s righteous reign is emancipating in that it enlightens us, and wills Obedience of us. We are subjected to a glorious Grace, in that the blinders are removed, and a freedom that accounts for our flesh, but does not answer to it, is established. The flesh, then, is revealed as a temporary vessel by which our new spirit (2 Cor. 5:17) learns to obey righteousness, through faith (Rom. 1:5.)

What a contrast from the law! The law gave restriction after restriction, but no teacher. There was no method by which man could learn to be righteous, and by the time man even learns the law, 2,000 years have passed! In direct contrast, grace guides you, making itself known as your new master, and you learn for and through righteousness (5:21,) instead of held up to its standard.

This – this, and only this – method of teaching can be truly called “graceful.” There is no other method by which you could learn love. This educates us on an entirely different way of living. Scripture is revealing itself not as philosophy, passing or fleeting, but living and operative, sharp, intelligent, and lasting. The type of teaching here, being Paul’s evangel, and only Paul’s (Gal. 1:1, 6,) is the only one that will teach and educate us properly on God, Who tells us why we are here, by explaining to us who He is. And all this by enslaving us – ironically, by appealing to our ego, blessing us beyond our current comprehensions!

By the way – I’m catching a major sense of… I guess, ‘sarcasm,’ in many of Paul’s words here. Maybe satire? Not exactly. I don’t know, exactly. See if you catch what I mean:

-       “Are you ignorant?” – 6:3

-       “Knowing this…” – 6:6

-       “We believe…” – 6:8

-       “Having perceived…” – 6:9

-       “Are you not aware?” – 6:16

Retrospect! Almost like Paul’s speaking “in retrospect,” here, as though we should already know these things. He speaks as though this stuff is typical for a believer to be apprehending, like it’s the basics or something. The argument presented, then, should be the foundation of our understanding, as, of course, is this is the beginning of the teachings God presents to us, through Paul.

Now, being freed from Sin, you are enslaved to Righteousness.

This is the conclusion of the first half of Paul’s argument. He subtly shows us that we are subject to something, always, and then praises the saints – not for choosing Righteousness, but for being obedient to it in being chosen.

This is to highlight: you have a will. This is the critical, necessary distinction between the “free will” doctrine and the truth. You are not some free, floating agent that God is always bowing to. You are a critical part of the story, and without you, God’s story completely collapses. “Free will” makes you expendable by feigning your empowerment. Reality highlights your value by subjecting you. The “free will” doctrine, ironically, is a part of “Sin for death,” as it presumes that, if “free will” is not a thing, then you need not be a thing. It’s a complete subversion of the truth, when in reality, your will remains – it is just not free. In being subjected to Obedience for righteousness, you’re shown the truth, that all are subject to either one or the other – there’s no in-between, and thus none are absolutely free. You may be free from Sin, but it does not come without being enslaved to Righteousness.

Paul will elaborate on this in the next few verses, but before that, there’s a few other things I want to consider: first, Paul moves the goalposts a bit, here, contrasting Sin with Righteousness, as opposed to Sin with Obedience in verse 16. The middle man is cut out here, because Paul has already thanked God that we are given over to Obedience. Paul moves into the fact that, in being given over to faith-obedience, for Righteousness, then you are conclusively enslaved to Righteousness. And, as we know, from Romans 5:21, this Righteousness is the channel by which Grace reigns.

This leads me to: second, everything, from the beginning of chapter 5 until now, could not be understood, or taught, apart from Christ’s sacrifice. Christ baptized us into His death. We were entombed together with Him. We are now walking in newness of life. This newness, this freedom from Sin, this enslavement to Righteousness, is the direct result of Christ, and His accomplishment, and it is only due to Him that we are allowed to obey at all. Grace, again, has been the foundation by which all of this has been discussed (6:15.) It follows that believers, by definition, believing, are no longer presenting themselves as slaves to Sin, but as slaves to Righteousness, due to the Grace by which we are even able to understand Romans 6 (5:1.)

Third, and finally, I am here to tell y’all that the law, while righteous in and of itself, does not justify the flesh (3:20,) because the law, to flesh, is an unattainable standard. It is grace that wields the righteousness properly, which is why it is implemented on the grace side of the argument here, and not on the law side.

Didja get all that, Mr. Adventist? Yeah, I didn’t get it either.

- GerudoKing