Freed to Be a Slave!
Posted by: randal <randal@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: The X-Files
Freed to Be a Slave!
by Mitchell Skelton
On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed and
presented the Emancipation Proclamation. This
great document would change the course of American
history and lead us headlong into civil war. The
signing of the Emancipation Proclamation meant the
legal status of thousands of slaves in this
country would be changing. Slavery wasn't
officially done away within this country until the
ratification of the thirteenth amendment to the
Constitution in December, 1865. What Lincoln had
done was let it be known that freedom was
available and attainable.
In Romans 6:15–23 the apostle Paul proclaims the
great emancipation of the Christian from slavery
to sin. Yet this emancipation is quite different
from the one Lincoln proclaimed. The Emancipation
of 1862 was universal and those set free by it
were forever free. The emancipation Paul speaks of
however is conditional and those set free from sin
are freed only to become slaves again.
Slaves to Sin
All men outside of Christ are slaves to sin.
"Therefore just as sin entered the world through
one man and death through sin and in this way
death came to all men, because all sinned" (Rom.
5:12).
The question you are forced to confront is, "To
whom do you pledge your allegiance?" God or Satan?
Not many people would openly admit to serving
Satan, but when you delay in committing your life
to Christ then you are pledging to stay in your
sin and thus be a slave to sin.
"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to
someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to
the one whom you obey, whether you are slaves to
sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which
leads to righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16).
Pledging to serve the devil does not require
taking up a pitch fork and dancing around a
sacrificed goat, all it takes is refusing to allow
Christ into your life.
In a curious twist on slavery, slaves to sin are
the only slaves who get paid for their effort. Sin
pays wages. "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom.
6:23).
Freed from Sin
In ancient times slaves could work their way out
of bondage or be granted freedom by their master.
This "manumission" of a slave was usually
signified with much grandeur. The ancient ceremony
of manumission was an elaborate ceremony in which
the slave's chains were actually cut off by a
blacksmith using an anvil and chisel. It was at
this point in the ceremony that the slave's legal
status was changed from slave to free. The Greek
expression for being "set free from sin" is a term
that refers to this manumission of a slave. The
point where one is set free from sin is just as
defined as this example.
Wholehearted Obedience
The point at which one is set free from sin is
when one displays wholehearted obedience to the
gospel. "But thanks be to God that, though you
used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly
obeyed the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted" (Rom. 6:17).
Salvation starts with the heart (Rom. 10:9–10) and
culminates with obedience to "that form of
teaching." It is then that one is freed from sin.
Yet, then we "become slaves to righteousness"
(Rom. 6:18). Instead of being slaves to sin
earning wages of death, the Christian is a slave
to righteousness where, though the blessings are
plentiful, they cannot be earned. The blessing is
a gift of God, "eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
How remarkable it is that being released from the
bondage of sin actually means that we are freed to
be a slave! This new master we serve pays no wage
as did our former master yet this is the very lure
that attracts one to make the change. We don't
want to receive what we deserve as a result of our
works. Our new master's gift is so much more than
we deserve, yet it shows his love for those who
wholeheartedly obey his will.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one
and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world
but to save the world through him" (John 3:16–17).
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