Romans 6:11-14, "Instruments of Righteousness"

Paul had just finished explaining why Christians would never have the desire to "sin more that grace might increase". Instead, he showed the believer's identification with Christ in His mastery over death and sin. Paul will now expand upon the last verse in the last section which states, "the life that He lives, He lives to God." He begins by writing, "Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." MacArthur points out the importance of the phrase "even so": "Those two words are crucial to Paul's explanation, referring back to the truths he has just given in the first ten verses of the chapter. The idea is, 'you must know and fully believe what I have just said, or else what I am about to say will make no sense." In fact the whole book of Romans is an 'even so'. Ever verse builds on what was said in the previous verse, each chapter builds on what was said in the previous chapter, so that Paul can be seen systematically having us shake our heads in agreement all the way through. Instead of jumping right into a DO or DON'T, Paul will build a foundation of agreement, and then work away at the structure by putting up one building block at a time. This 'even so' refers to the fact that we must understand that as Christians we were dead in sins and are now alive in Christ. MacArthur summarizes, "Paul has just declared that, as believers, we are united with Jesus Christ in His death and have through Him had the penalty paid for our sin. We have risen with our Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrection and therefore are able to walk in newness of life." We learn that as Christians are mind-set must be to remember that we are now a new creation and "alive to God in Christ Jesus." We must live by and have our minds completely saturated by this truth. So often we let emotion and our circumstances dictate our standing before God. We feel like one day we are saved and the next we are not. We cannot live by a works righteousness which Paul has fought so hard to break down. We must understand that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, we are a new creation and saved from our sins, and that can never be reversed. So let's remember God's work for us and know that, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). We must live our lives in the very way that shows we are dead to sin and no longer a slave to it. This does not mean we will never sin again, however, it shows us that those who are saved will have a desire to do what is right, and will not be characterized by a sinful lifestyle. We can be confident to know that God's Word is true when it says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand" (John 10:27-29).

Because of the Christians understanding of their new condition we are told, "do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts." MacArthur writes, "In this present life, sin will always be a powerful force for the Christian to reckon with. But it is no longer master, no longer lord, and it can and must be resisted". Before Christ we were a slave to sin, and sin reigned in our lives. We could do no good in God's sight, only sin. Therefore, sin has no power or control over us unless we submit and "obey its lusts". MacArthur further explains, "Because a believer is a new creature in Christ, his immortal soul is forever beyond sin's reach. The only remaining beachhead where sin can attack a Christian is in his mortal body. One day that body will be glorified and forever be out of sin's reach, but in the meanwhile it is still mortal, that is, subject to corruption and death." The good news for believer's is that we are no longer slaves to sin. The bad news is we are not immediately given our glorified bodies. Instead we must temporarily live in our mortal flesh and daily do battle with the lusts it craves. We should all understand when Paul says in Rom. 8:22-23, "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body". Because of this fact, we must battle daily and long for the day when our bodies will be glorified.

Paul continues to exhort us to "not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." While we are unregenerate the members of our body are used for all types of unrighteousness. Paul is exhorting us to not continue in this way after we are "made alive in Christ". We are not to "go on", or continue in the same ways we did before conversion. There should be a marked difference in your life before and after Christ. Also notice how Paul mentions our body and not our spirit or should. MacArthur writes, "He does not warn about sin reigning in our souls or our spirits, but only about its reigning in our bodies, because that is the only place in a Christian where sin can operate." Instead, we are told that we must work on "presenting [our]selves to God as those alive from the dead, and [our] members as instruments of righteousness to God." When we are submitted to God, we can be used for his glory. When we are living in righteousness, He will use our bodies for His purposes. We must think of ourselves as "instruments" being played by God. We may be doing the actual service or speaking, but it is ultimately God controlling our submitted will. MacArthur writes, "When in obedience to his heavenly Father he yields himself as one who is alive from the dead ways of sin and death, those same members become holy instruments of righteousness to God".

Lastly, Paul writes, "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace". For this very reason Paul in I Cor. 9:27 writes, "I buffet my body and make it my slave". Paul understands the power of sin and the desire of the flesh, but we are to make no accommodation for it. But he also understands that because of our new spirit it "shall not be master over you". The reason it cannot be master over us now is because, "you are not under law, but under grace". MacArthur writes, "God's law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good' (Rom. 7:12). But the law cannot break either sin's penalty or its power. It can only rebuke, restrain, and condemn. The Christian is no longer under the condemnation of God's law but is now under the redeeming power of His grace. It is in the power of that grace that the Lord calls him to live." May we constantly be reminded by this section that we are slaves of sin no longer, and we are now slaves to righteousness and we must present our bodies to God as a sacrifice, rather than bring dishonor to Him through it.