Slave Options - Romans 6 & 7

Romans 6 and 7 are targeting somewhat separately the original two groups of people addressed in the first two chapters. Romans 6 is primarily addressed to the chapter 1 group and Romans 7 is addressed primarily to the chapter 2 group. That is not to say that they don't apply to everyone, but the characteristics and differences between the two groups are focused on in Paul's counsels as he goes back and forth between them explaining what they need to understand to live a holy life in Christ. At times he makes it clear that they are both really in the same boat but they are coming from different angles.

During his words to group 1 in Romans 6:13-23 he alludes to an underlying principle of our brains, that of bonding. The human brain is wired to bond, to have strong attachments to other minds and to take on some of the characteristics and personality of those minds. It begins at conception and becomes very intense from about 6 months to 7 years of age. This period of time is the major part of determining who we become and how we relate to others for the rest of our life.

There are two kinds of bonds – fear bonds and love bonds. As you might suspect, these two types of bonds originate from the two opposing kingdoms in the world, the kingdom of darkness headed by the archdeceiver and the kingdom of light spearheaded by Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. Since we are all born into a world saturated with sin and are raised by sinners, we are all infected with the problem of fear-bonding and the deceptions and problems that accompany this. Some who have had the privilege of growing up in a more loving home protected from much of the intensity of the world's influence have the advantage of having their hearts trained from an early age to experience and value more love-bonds than others who have not had that advantage. But all of us to some degree or another must be saved, be salvaged and restored to the original intent and design of our Creator.

In these verses Paul is basically explaining to us the need we have and the opportunity that God has provided for us to choose which kingdom we will participate in for eternity. This is done by “presenting” ourselves to become slaves of one kingdom or the other. At first this seems like a very unhappy choice and our minds naturally insist that there must be a third alternative. We do not want to believe that slavery is our only option and the only choice we have is to choose our master. But that is in fact the condition we are in and it is inescapable. Adam and Eve got us into this problem and there is no way we can live independent without a master. Our only freedom is the choice we will make as to who will be in charge of our life and become our mentor.

One of the core ingredients of sin and the kingdom of darkness is fear. It is pervasive and comes in many colors and forms, but it is foundational to Satan's operations. It is woven deeply into all of the institutions and motivations of earthly systems of government and society and becomes more and more obvious and intense as societies or countries sink deeper into sin and abuse. Fear is the common denominator that is relied on to squeeze all its slaves into the molds that are shaped for us by the world.

In Romans 6 and 7 Paul is describing the two main categories of molds that are used in the world. Both are based on fear and selfishness, but they have very different external trappings. In Romans 1 and 6 Paul describes the mold and the fruit of choosing a life apart from God in slavery to self-indulgence and lawlessness. He makes an interesting statement in verse 20. “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

This is simply a statement of fact that when we have sin as our master we are not bonded in the kingdom of light. The kingdom of God uses love-bonds as its motivation and common denominator, not fear. Perfect love casts out all fear, so when we live under the motivation of fear we have not been perfected by love, we are still living in slavery to the principles of darkness and death. Paul ends this section in chapter 6 by plainly stating that the fruit derived from living life in slavery to sin, selfishness and fear is death.

This is in stark contrast to the kingdom of God where we receive gifts instead of wages. The kingdom of light operates in love-bonds, not fear-bonds, and the fruit is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is a very important truth that is too often overlooked here. We often assume that heaven is a place where we can escape the problems and pain of this earth and can enjoy life uninhibited and always be happy. While that may be partially true, we miss the fact that we will always be slaves if we want to live for eternity. Notice that the eternal life gifted to us by God is in Jesus and it is clearly spelled out that He is Lord. Lord is another name for master – as in slave-master. If we are not willing to accept this arrangement then it will be impossible to receive the free gift of eternal life because the two things are inseparable according to Paul.

The wonderful good news about this truth is that Jesus uses love-bonds to bind to Himself all who choose to become His slaves. The reason we have such misgivings about choosing slavery under a master is because of the use of fear-bonds and the accompanying abuse that we normally associate with the idea of slavery as exemplified in such earthly relationships. We are so unfamiliar with the heavenly type of slavery that we become very confused and understandably have strong reservations about signing up to become a slave.

But the reality of life is that we are already slaves and through the Redemption brought about by Jesus' death we have been provided the option of choosing slavery to love in place of slavery to fear. This is the essence of the gospel and as yet has not been understood or explained very well. I believe that it is part of the glory that will fill the whole earth described in the symbol of the angel in Revelation 18.

Romans 7 shifts from describing the slavery of open sinners who have abandoned life with God to focusing on the other category of sinners, pseudo-saints trying to use fear-bonds to simulate and coerce a counterfeit of the kingdom of God. The results of this attempt to create self-righteousness to impress others and God are described later in the chapter. And I will leave that for another day.

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