Next Step - Becoming a Slave to Righteousness (Romans 6: 15-23)

Welcome, 'Podcats'.

In this episode, we explore one of the most misunderstood ideas in Christian theology: If we’re under grace and not law, does that give us a license to sin? Paul answers this question head-on in Romans 6:15–23, using the striking metaphor of slavery to reveal the spiritual reality behind our choices. Everyone is a servant to something—either sin, which leads to death, or righteousness, which leads to holiness and life.

Key Themes:

• The Principle of Obedience: Whoever you obey, you become a slave to (v.16). Sin leads to death; obedience leads to righteousness.
• A Word to Christians: Even believers can fall under sin’s control, which is why Paul urges them not to let it reign.
• Heartfelt Obedience: True conversion is marked by inward transformation and joyful submission to God’s teaching (vv.17–18).
• The Path Forward: Offer yourself as a servant to righteousness. What once was zeal for sin can now become passion for holiness (v.19).
• Two Destinies: Sin pays wages—death. God gives a gift—eternal life (v.23). It’s not about performance, but about who you belong to.

Big Idea:
Grace doesn’t give us a free pass to sin—it gives us the power to live differently. Not under law, but led by the Spirit, we are called to live from the heart as slaves of righteousness.

Memorable Quotes:

“Grace doesn’t remove the necessity of choice—it empowers it.”
 “The law can tell a stone to become an potato, but only life can produce fruit.”
 “You obey from the heart—that’s the essence of true conversion.”

Takeaway Questions:

• Who or what are you offering yourself to daily—sin or righteousness?
• How can you actively cultivate the new life God has given you?
• Are there areas of your life where you’re still living under the law rather than grace?

Scriptures:
Main Text: Romans 6:15–23
Also referenced: Romans 6:12, Galatians 3, John 10:10

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• 10:05 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 10:53 (Cont.) Next Step - Becoming a Slave to Righteousness (Romans 6: 15-23)

Transcript

Becoming a Slave to Righteous Behaviour?" (Romans 6:15–23)

Transcript:

How do we keep a wild child in check? We lay down rules.

1How does a government prevent chaos? With law and order. 

The answer seems obvious: we need laws to prevent people from doing wrong. And when you open the Bible, it might seem to back that up.

Right away, you encounter the Ten Commandments and plenty of other rules.

So, naturally, many assume the way to stop sin is through the 10 commandments and the law. If you believe that then Paul’s words in Romans come as big a surprise because he clearly says: “You are not under law but under grace.” 

For those of us raised to believe that the law of God is what keeps people in line, this can feel deeply unsettling.

Worse still, if we’re not under law but under grace—and grace means forgiveness—isn’t that just a license to go crazy and do whatever you want? If we know forgiveness is always available, what’s to stop us from doing whatever we want?

Why not sin, if we’re not under the law? If grace covers us, why not live however we please? Let’s find out together….

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 6: 15-23)

Today Paul answers the accusation that Christians have a licence to sin by laying down a clear principle in verse 16, then points to the Romans’ own experience (vv. 17–18), then he offers a practical exhortation (vv. 19–20), and finishes by showing the outcome of following that path (vv. 21–23).

Let’s start with the principle:

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (v. 16)

That’s the heart of the matter: whoever—or whatever—you obey, that’s what you become a slave to. Obey sin, and it becomes your master. Obey righteousness, and you walk in freedom and life. That’s the reality.

Surprisingly, there’s a lot of debate on this. Some teachers argue that Paul must be talking about non-Christians. They claim that since believers are new creations in Christ and have His life within them, they cannot live in sin or be enslaved to it. And they use this and other New Testament passages to make that case.

I strongly disagree with that perspective—and here's why: I we read the Bible with our eyes open, not through the lens of one particular school of denominational thought. It seems painfully clear from Scripture that godly people—real believers—sometimes fall into sin. That’s the reality.

Take Paul’s command in verse 12: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Why give that warning if it weren’t possible for believers to that thing happen? If Christians couldn’t fall into to sin, Paul’s encouragement in this chapter would be unnecessary, pointless even.

Who’s he writing to? Believers in Rome—people he already identified as Christians back in chapter 1.

Still not convinced. Just read 1 Corinthians and it will become painfully obvious that Christians can fall into sin, live in it, and become enslaved to it. 

That’s Paul’s whole point: whoever you choose to obey—whether sin or righteousness—you become a slave to that master. That’s true for everyone, potentially including believers. But for Christians there is at least a route out of sin as they grow in the power of the gospel.

That’s what grace does. It lifts people from where they are and grows them, bit by bit, into spiritual maturity and the likeness of Christ.

We thank God for what He’s already done, and we trust Him for what He’s still doing.

Were the Roman Christians perfect? No. But inwardly, a transformation had begun. They had obeyed the gospel from the heart and were becoming new creatures in Christ. And yet, like all of us, they still wrestled with the weakness of the flesh, they, like us, are a work in progress.

I’m pressing this point for two reasons. First, because there are respected Bible teachers who deny that a Christians can fall under the control of a sin. Christians who are struggling with addiction show me otherwise.

Remember Romans 6 is not just a theological treatise. It’s a pastoral letter, full of encouragement, urging believers to not let sin reign—because, clearly , it still can.

So far Paul has established one simple but profound principle: whoever or whatever you start to obey—that person or thing, you will eventually become a slave to. 

If you start sinning, you'll become a slave to sin. If you start living righteously, you'll become a slave to righteousness. That's the point of todays opening verses.

And, importantly, I’m arguing that this principle applies not only to unbelievers, but to Christians as well.

Now at this point in the passage, Paul moves from principle to personal experience. Look at verse 17:

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.”

And verse 18:

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

These verses are packed with significance. Let’s unpack what Paul is saying.

First, he reminds us of the past: “You were slaves to sin.” That was the default condition of every believer before encountering the gospel. But then something radical happened: “You obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching.” The word translated “pattern” here literally means a mold or shape. It’s a picture of being formed or conformed to a specific teaching.

Paul is describing conversion. You heard the gospel—that Christ died for your sins and rose again, and that through His death, full atonement has been made. And then, crucially, you obeyed.

Not merely heard, not admired, but responded to it from the heart. The gospel is not just an announcement of good news, but it carries a series of commands:

Believe. Turn. Repent. 

True conversion is marked by that heartfelt obedience.

And notice Paul’s wording carefully, he says you were delivered over to the doctrine, not just that the doctrine was delivered to you. This is the work of the Holy Spirit: drawing you, placing you under the shaping power of the gospel, and conforming you to its truth.

The result? Verse 18: “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.”

This ties back to verse 16—whatever you obey, you become a servant to. 

You once obeyed sin and were enslaved by it. But now you’ve obeyed the gospel, and a new direction has begun in your life. You’ve become a servant of righteousness.

This isn’t just an external shift; it’s internal. Something has changed in your heart. You’ve been given a new nature—and with it, a new willingness, even a joy, to obey.

That’s the essence of true conversion: not forced compliance, but joyful obedience. Not just believing with the mind but responding with the will. You obey from the heart.

Paul then adds an important clarification in verse 19:

“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations…”

He acknowledges that the analogy of slavery has its limitations. After all, Christianity is ultimately about freedom, not slavery. But the metaphor still powerfully illustrates a key truth: just as you once gave yourself fully to sin, now give yourself fully to righteousness.

And here’s the grace-filled irony: The same zeal people once had for sin—their energy, their focus, their passion—can now be redirected toward godliness. 

Have you seen that in somepeople? Some who lived with reckless abandon before Christ now live with radical devotion to Him. It’s not that their personality changed, but the object of their passion did.

Paul calls us to live all-out for righteousness with the same fervor we once gave to sin.

And he lays out the consequences of these two paths.

“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.”

In other words, sin felt like freedom—but it was really leading to bondage. Paul shows us two trajectories:

Sin starts subtly, but it grows. It leads to more sin, then to shame, then to death—spiritually, emotionally, sometimes even physically. That’s the bitter harvest of a life lived apart from God.

But righteousness leads to sanctification—to increasing holiness. And the final destination of that path is eternal life.

Paul captures it all in one of the most well-known verses in the New Testament—Romans 6:23:

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

This is the starkest contrast of all.

First, wages. That’s what you earn. You serve sin? You’ll be paid. And the pay-slip is death.

But the alternative is not a wage, it’s a gift. Eternal life is not earned. It’s not a reward for good behaviour. It’s grace—unearned, undeserved, freely given.

And it’s given in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not through your performance, but through Him—His death, His resurrection, His righteousness.

This brings the whole chapter together. Remember how it started in verse 1?

“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

Paul’s answer was clear: Absolutely not! Grace isn’t a license to sin—it’s the power to live differently. It doesn’t just forgive—it transforms. It sets us free from sin and binds us to a new Master—Christ.

So, here’s the question Romans 6 leaves hanging in the air: Who are you going to serve?

Because you will serve someone. You will give yourself—your will, your body, your energy—to something.

·         Will it be sin, which leads to death? 

·         Or will it be righteousness, which leads to life?

If you are in Christ, you’ve been set free from sin. You’ve been given a new heart. Now the call is to live like it—to lean into that freedom, to pursue righteousness with the same energy you once gave to sin.

That’s the shape of the Christian life—not just to believe the gospel, but to live it out. Fully. Joyfully. From the heart.

As Jesus said in John 10:10:

“I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”

That’s what righteousness produces—abundant life. Just as sin poisons and kills, righteousness nourishes and gives life. It strengthens marriages, deepens ministries, restores peace, and brings lasting joy.

Give yourself to righteousness, the result is holiness—and ultimately eternal life.

So even though you’re not under the law now, but under grace, you still shouldn’t sin. Why? Because whatever you do, you become a slave too. You’ve been set free from that to become a servant of righteousness.

It sounds complicated, but it’s actually very simple:

Obey sin → become a slave to sin → that ends in shame and death.

Obey righteousness → become a slave to righteousness → that ends in holiness and life.

In closing let me circle back to verse 15 for a moment where the question was: "Shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace?"

The answer? No. Law itself doesn’t stop sin. That’s the deeper point here.

The law is good—we use law with children, and we should. But the law doesn’t produce righteousness.

Paul makes this argument clearly in Galatians when he say they law can’t give life, and if it can’t give life, it can’t give righteousness. It’s like this—imagine a legislature passing a law that says, “All stones in the country must become apples.” That law can’t change the nature of a stone. It doesn’t matter how well-crafted the law is. A stone can't ever become a fruit.

Somesay, “Well, let's legislate that apple trees must produce apples.” Sure, that’s better—but even there, the law isn’t what makes the apple tree bear fruit. Life does that. Life, given and nurtured, bears fruit naturally. And that’s the picture of New Testament Christianity Paul is aiming for.

The tragedy is when we try to use law to produce life and righteousness. It doesn’t work. What God does is give life by grace and then we are free to cultivate that life, to nurture it, and let that life produces righteousness, and a holy life. 

But it has to come from the heart. There is one big difference between human beings and apple trees: we have a will. Apple trees don’t choose to bear fruit; they just do. You and I, on the other hand, must choose.

God gives you life. That’s done. If you cultivate that life, it will grow and produce righteousness. But the missing ingredient is your free will. 

That’s Paul’s point in verse 19: “Just as you presented your members as slaves of impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.” You must choose.

So that means, yes, as a Christian, you can choose to sin. Or you can choose to live righteously. You’re not under law anymore—but that doesn’t remove the necessity of choice. Grace doesn’t remove responsibility. The choice you make will determine the fruit your life produces.

So, why shouldn’t I sin, even if I’m not under law? Because I don’t want to become a slave to it. That’s how addiction starts—by doing something over and over again until you can’t stop. So you avoid it from the beginning. You choose.

C.S. Lewis captured this powerfully when he wrote:

“Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before…. You are slowly turning this central thing into either a heavenly creature or a hellish creature... either into one that is in harmony with God and with other creatures and with itself, or into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, with its fellow creatures, and with itself.”

In short:

You have a choice.

Give yourself to sin, and you become its slave. The result is shame and death.

Give yourself to righteousness, and you become its servant. The result is holiness and real, abundant life.

It all comes back to the path you choose. Please choose the right path.