In verses 11 through 13 of the sixth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church at Rome he reveals who determines man’s relationship with the Lord.  In these four verses we are told to “recon yourself,” “let not” and “yield yourself” relative to that relationship.  Only one in charge of a situation has the authority to recon, let and yield anything, which in this case involves one’s “members” (mind, body and spirit) being used as “instruments of righteousness by God” (vs 13).  The Almighty wants to use His Very Elect as instruments of righteousness in a world of unrighteousness, as lights in a world filled with darkness.  To do this we must voluntarily recon, let and yield ourselves totally to Him not only for guidance in being used by Him, but also for the power to be what He wants us to be and do what He wants us to do.  WE MUST BE THE “GLOVE” RELATIVE TO HIS “HAND.”  The world sees the glove and knows that it (the “glove”) does only what the hand (God–His Spirit) inside it does.  In this way, when the world sees the glove, the world has seen the hand.  The hand (God) will not remain in a glove (person) that does not conform to it and move accordingly.

Verse 14 has been used multitudinous times by Law-rejecters to “prove” that the New Testament Church is “not under the Law.”  However, sin is defined by God in First John 3:4 as the breaking of His Law, saying: “To transgress (break) the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law.”  This is the same Law that Paul described as “holy, just and good” in 7:12.  The law Paul is referring to is “the Law of sin and death” referred to in 8:2.  Here he is refencing the fact that, prior to Christ’s death, if one sinned, one died spiritually and often physically at the hands of other men.  For example, if a woman was found guilty of adultery she was, by Law, stoned to death.

Read John 8:1-11.  Here we find Jesus offering a condemned prostitute forgiveness of her sins.  Knowing the hearts of others, Jesus knew that she had repented, just as He knew that the thief on the cross had repented of his sins.  His dealing with them introduced the world to the forgiveness of all past sins (justification) that would become available following His death.  Read The Thief on the Cross.  Key word–Thief.  Notice that Jesus, having forgiven her sins, WARNED HER TO “SIN NO MORE.”  Notice He did not tell her to remember to repent after each sin, but rather to STOP SINNING.  This is the same thing He told the man at the pool at Bethesda whom He had healed and forgiven.  See John chapter five.  Sin had caused his problem; forgiveness of his sin healed him.  If he sinned again, God would put on him an even deadlier disease.  This being the pattern, if the prostitute sinned again she would probably have been stoned to death.

The lesson being taught by Paul is summarized thusly: Christ’s death brings to the sinner the blanket forgiveness of all of his/her past sins at the time of true repentance.  Then, following true conversion, he/she must do as Jesus told the prostitute and the man at Bethesda: “SIN NO MORE.”  He did not tell them they could now sin with impunity as long as they repented.  The Lord does not respect persons; what He said to them He says to all: STOP SINNING! which is the unchanging sign of true conversion at which time the old man is put to death and the new man is created in the spiritual image of God.  The convert stops sinning, does a 180 degree turn, enters God’s strait gate, then walks in the opposite way–the narrow way of holiness (Mat. 7:13,14).  Read the third chapter of John’s first epistle he wrote to the church.  Note verses 5,8,9,10,24.  If you do not hear this preached in your church, if you hear sermons that say: “Sin and grin, my friend, for in the end, you’ll still win.  Pie in the sky, sin till you die, for in the sweet bye and bye, you’ll still get to fly.  Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.

In Romans 6:15 Paul asks if we can sin because we are not under the Law of sin and death, but under grace.  His answer: GOD FORBIDS US TO SIN BECAUSE WE ARE UNDER GRACE.  In verses 16 through 23 Paul warns that to whom we YIELD ourselves to obey, his servants we are, whether to God unto righteousness and life, or to Satan unto sin and death.  Note that in God’s view it is either righteousness OR sin, not righteousness AND sin.  He notes (vs 17) that those in the church WERE Satan’s servants, but then they obeyed God’s Word that the apostles had taught them.  Having had their past sins forgiven and having received the Holy Spirit which enabled them to resist Satan’s temptations, they were freed (immune) from sin and, through obedience, “had become servants of righteousness,” meaning servants of God (vs 18,19).  Verses 20 and 21 destroys the theology of so-called “sinners saved by grace.”  In the eyes of God they are servants of Satan.  They are human vomit which He will spew out of His mouth at judgment (Rev. 3:14-22).

In verse 22 Paul told the obedient saints in Rome church that they were free (spiritually inoculated) from Satan’s attacks, were servants of God (through obedience to Him) and were producing fruits of righteousness, the END RESULT of which would be eternal life.

In verse 23 we are told that the (earned) wages of sin is still death.  But now we can receive forgiveness of all PAST sins and receive the Holy Spirit that empowers us to resist Satan’s future temptations and to live in holiness, the END RESULT of which is eternal life IF we remain “in Christ Jesus” by obeying the Law until the end (Mat. 10:22).  L.J.