Present Tense

Romans 6:15-23

¹⁵What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

¹⁷But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

¹⁸and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

¹⁹I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

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

²¹But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

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

A distant relative of my husband’s once taught him an interesting lesson. This man was a tragic alcoholic. Everyone in the family knew that he struggled with this addiction every single day of his life and the alcohol won every time. At a family wedding, Cliff (who was a teenager at the time) was seated with this man during the reception. At one point, this guy looks and Cliff holds up his glass, and telling Cliff to “never touch this stuff.” Cliff, as only a teen can do, took that moment to point out that perhaps he should listen to his own advice. At this point the man says “Well, I’m just and old reprobate. There's no hope for me but there’s still hope for you.” He saw himself as an alcoholic and so he lived out that vision every day.

As I read these words in Romans I always think about that man. He followed the vision that he had of himself. And here’s the kicker. He wasn’t wrong about himself. He was an alcoholic. But he didn’t have to see himself that way. Perhaps his life could have been changed had he seen himself another way. Paul begins in these verses to address how we see ourselves. Are we going to live as saints, obedient to righteousness? Or do we see ourselves as sinners, obedient to the ways of the flesh?

What is fascinating to me is the tense of the wordage in this passage. “You have been set free” is used twice in these verses. It’s already happened. Your freedom is here. It isn’t something that is coming. It isn’t something that you will earn later. It isn’t for when Jesus returns and takes us with Him into eternity. No – it’s right now! You already have it! So the question we have to ask ourselves is am I living like “an old reprobate” who is a slave to sin or am I living like someone who is freed from that sin? We’re all a slave to something; either sin or righteousness.

Now if you’re like me, it’s going to be both (which Paul addresses in the next chapter). Some days I see myself as saint and some days as sinner. But my perception is not the dictator of reality. God is the dictator of reality and He says that I’m a saint because of the blood of Jesus. His thoughts supersede mine every time.

Dear Lord God, thank You for Jesus work on the cross. Please help me to daily crucify my sinful self and take up instead the new creation that You have given me for Jesus sake. Holy Spirit, be a constant reminder of Your power to work righteousness in me. Because of Jesus I pray this. Amen.