The Word is Holiness – Part 3

The Word is Holiness – Part 3

Romans 6:22 (NKJV) But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.  

What a beautiful, beautiful insight into God’s eternal plan. Paul once again stated that slavery to sin and to righteousness are mutually exclusive (cf. vv. 13, 16). But he went on to indicate the superiority of being enslaved to righteousness and God. The benefit (this Gr. word is usually trans. “fruit”) of enslavement to sin was that it produced things that a believer is now ashamed of. But even worse, “the end of those things is death” (lit. trans.).

Responding to the gospel by faith and accepting Jesus Christ completely reverses things for an individual. He is now... set free from sin (cf. v. 18) and has been enslaved to God with the result that he has the benefit of holiness (cf. v. 19), the subject of chapters 6-8 of Romans.

The sinful life gives no benefit (6:21), but salvation gives the benefit of a holy, clean life (v. 22). Whereas the “end” (telos) or result of sin is death (v. 21), the “end” of salvation is eternal life. Paul then summarized these contrasts. The wages (the Gr. word opsōnia originally meant a soldier’s pay) of sin is death (eternal death here, in contrast with “eternal life” in v. 23b). This death is eternal separation from God in hell, in which unbelievers suffer conscious torment forever Luke 16:24-25 (NKJV) 24 Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.. This is the wages they have earned and deserve because of their sin (cf. Rom. 5:12; 7:13). By contrast, the gift (charisma, “grace-gift”) of God is eternal life (cf. John 3:16, 36). Eternal life is a gift that cannot be earned cf. Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5 (NKJV) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

God in His grace saves those who believe, not because of any righteousness in them (cf. Rom. 3:21-24; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:9), but because of His mercy. The three words, “kindness,” “love,” and “mercy” (Titus 3:4-5) all represent aspects of God’s grace. The dual means of grace through which He accomplished this salvation are (1) the rebirth spoken of as a washing from the filth of sin, and (2) the renewal by the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). No mention is made here of the role of faith in the process because Paul’s entire focus was on what God has done, not on human response.