Freed From Sin, Servants of Righteousness (Romans 6:17–20)

Rom. 6:17. But God be thanked, that you were servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

And how evil it is to be a servant of sin and how good to obey righteousness, you now know from your experience. Hold fast to the better! He now passes from the general principle to your particular case – what happened to those to whom he writes. So it is with all: they are either servants of sin to death, or servants of righteousness to life. Not both at once – but one or the other: either righteousness overcomes sin, or sin overcomes righteousness, depending on the inclination of your heart and the direction of your will. So it was with you: you were servants of sin, but when you heard the Gospel, you loved its teaching and surrendered yourselves wholly to all that it demands. This is the greatest good for you, with which no other can compare, and this good God has given you. He brought the Gospel to you and brought it about that, upon hearing it, you surrendered yourselves wholly to it. You cannot but recognize in this a great work of God’s mercy, and I myself recognize it. Let us cry out then: thanks be to God!

But the Apostle’s aim is not to arouse thanksgiving, but rather by arousing thanksgiving to dispose you to treasure that good whose receipt arouses gratitude. The good is so great that one cannot refrain from giving thanks to its Giver. But if it is so great, then it must be guarded with the greatest watchfulness. Holy Chrysostom says: “As one who has snatched a captive from the hands of a cruel torturer advises him not to return to that torturer, reminding him of his terrible cruelty, so Paul depicts with great force the sufferings endured (from sin), beginning with thanksgiving to God. It took not human strength, he says, to free us from all evils, but thanks to God, who both willed and was able to deliver us! And beautifully the Apostle said: ‘you have obeyed from the heart’. Not by compulsion, not by force, but willingly, by your own inclination you turned away from sin. In this lies both praise and also reproach. If you came willingly, without any compulsion, what excuse and justification will you have when you return to the former things? But that you may know that all this depended not only on your inclination but also on God’s grace, the Apostle, having said: ‘you have obeyed from the heart’, added: ‘that form of doctrine which was delivered you’. Obedience from the heart shows the free will; while the word ‘delivered’ suggests the help of God. What then is this form of doctrine? To live orderly and well-arranged.”

Rom. 6:18. Being then made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.

You were servants of sin, but you hearkened to the Gospel and surrendered yourselves wholly to the righteousness it proclaimed and demanded. What came of this? That once you had accomplished all that was necessary for entry into the life required by the new teaching to which you had surrendered, by this very action you cast off the former yoke of slavery to sin and enslaved yourselves to righteousness. To live in righteousness is therefore your essential work and your good; this must constitute the spirit of your life from the moment of entry into the New Covenant of grace. Here is the truth concerning Christ Jesus: “that you put off concerning the former manner of life the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts… and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22, 24). It teaches us to “deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:12–13). In consequence of this there lies upon us an urgent duty – to think upon and strive after “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise” (Phil. 4:8).

This is what the Apostle means by the words: “being made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness!” “He points here to two gifts of God: deliverance from sin and slavery to righteousness, which is better than any freedom. God acted like a man who takes to himself an orphan carried away by barbarians to their land, not only to free him from captivity but to become to him a caring father and to raise him to manhood. So, I say, God acted with us – not only freeing us from former evils but bringing us into an angelic life and preparing for us the way to perfect virtue, placing us under the protection of righteousness, slaying the ancient evil, mortifying the old man, and guiding us to immortal life” (holy Chrysostom).

Rom. 6:19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity to iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness to holiness.

The words: “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh” may be referred to what precedes or what follows. In the first case the thought would be: I say: “you became servants of righteousness”, on account of the infirmity of your flesh. Strictly speaking, there should be no mention of any slavery at all; for in surrendering yourselves to the new teaching with the resolve to live according to its guidance, you have entered the realm of freedom – the freedom of God’s children. But since the infirmity of your flesh is such that you cannot fulfill all that the new law demands without experiencing opposition of the flesh, without struggling against evil in yourselves, and without compelling yourselves to good, the new life, because of this infirmity of your flesh, appears to be something resembling slavery, as if one walking this path carries a yoke. So understood blessed Photius according to Oecumenius. “I speak after the manner of men”, he says, “you became servants”; for strictly speaking, to live righteously is not slavery but true freedom and happiness. So why do you call this slavery when it is not slavery? Because of the infirmity of your flesh, he says, I speak so. That is, inasmuch as the mind of the flesh at first habitually opposes the commandments of righteousness, finding them burdensome and wearisome, having in view such infirmity of your flesh, I called righteous living slavery, after the manner of men. For we ordinarily, when we find something wearisome or do something under compulsion, apply to it the name of slavery and servitude. In this sense the Apostle Paul spoke: “I speak after the manner of men: you became servants of righteousness.”

If we refer these words to what follows, they will indicate the measure of slavery to righteousness, equal to the measure of slavery to sin. As you served sin, so serve righteousness. I say this because of the infirmity of your flesh. Can sin and righteousness be placed on the same level? And is it just then to demand only that you serve righteousness as much as you formerly served sin? But because of the weakness of your flesh, I limit the demand of the new life to only such a measure. It ought to demand far more, but at least do this. So understood holy Chrysostom, the same Photius, and all others. Holy Chrysostom says: “Above the Apostle demanded stricter conduct, commanded them to become dead to the world, to die to vice and to remain unmoved against the striving of sins. But such demands seemed great and heavy, even exceeding human nature. Therefore, wishing to show that he demands nothing excessive, that he demands less than ought to be demanded from one enjoying the gift of grace, and that his commandment is very suited to human strength and is light, he says: ‘I speak after the manner of men.’ This means the same as if he said: I speak by human reasoning, conforming to ordinary human practices. For by the word ‘after the manner of men’ he expresses the suitability of the demand with our strength. So in another place he says: ‘there has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man’ (1 Cor. 10:13), that is, suitable to your strength and small. However great the difference between the rulers (sin and righteousness), the Apostle demands that you serve righteousness in equal measure as you served sin. Although it would be fitting to serve righteousness far more, and all the more because its dominion is broader and better than the dominion of sin, yet I do not demand greater slavery, says the Apostle, because of your weakness. And he did not say: because of the weakness of your will or zeal, but, that the word might not grieve too much, he says: ‘because of the infirmity of your flesh.’ Who would be so wretched and poor as not to agree to serve Christ with the same diligence with which he served sin and the devil?”

“As you have yielded your members servants” – To yield one’s members as servants to someone means to give them to him as instruments of his action. In man all is ruled by his own personal will and activity. From this person flow designs and commands, which are executed by the various powers of soul and body, again by the command of that same person. Consciousness and self-activity constitute the person and are the source of our life and actions. But these qualities form only the form of life and action, while their spirit depends on the direction and disposition which the person of a man consciously and actively takes. There are two such directions: life according to God in righteousness and true holiness, and life in uncleanness and lawlessness. These directions are formed from love of God and his righteousness in the first case, and from love of sin with its uncleanness and lawlessness in the second. For when love of something is formed in the person, then it passes through consciousness and self-activity to the side of what is loved, surrenders itself to it, and arranges all things in itself and outside itself according to it; and this is the direction of life and action. Thus what is loved becomes the source and wellspring of conscious self-activity. A man does everything himself and consciously, but for the sake of what he has loved and what has come to rule over all of him because of his love. This thing served is his master; but as he himself is master of all his members, so through him it becomes master of them too, and the loved thing. At the moment of love he gave himself to what he loves, and with himself all his members, so that from that time forth both he himself and all his members become executors and instruments of what is loved: if sin is loved – instruments of sin, if righteousness is loved – instruments of righteousness. The Apostle said before that those taught by him through this Epistle were servants of sin, but then, upon hearing the Gospel, they wholly surrendered to its teaching with a firm resolve to follow it alone in all things. This is the same as: you formerly loved sin, but now you love righteousness and have turned away from sin. So then, he says, fulfill what love demands: give yourselves and all your members to righteousness, as formerly both have been given up to sin. By the constitution of the soul this cannot be otherwise. The Apostle expounds the law of the soul’s nature.

“Servants to uncleanness and to iniquity to iniquity”. The words “uncleanness and iniquity” need not be distinguished, for moral uncleanness is already iniquity, and conversely, every iniquity is moral uncleanness. But they may be distinguished, referring to uncleanness all kinds of sensuality, especially of the flesh, and to iniquity all other kinds of sins before God and men, and perhaps especially injustice, harm, envy, and all kinds of wickedness toward one’s neighbor. But what does “to iniquity” mean? – To increase of iniquity (Oecumenius, blessed Theophylact). Adding sin to sin, you increased iniquity. Every member of yours, serving sin, bore sin, as a branch of a tree bears fruit; and you were a many-branched tree, rich with fruits of sin. But it is possible, in contrast with the following indication: “to holiness”, to understand by “to iniquity” the lawlessness of all human nature. When sin is added to sin, iniquity penetrates more and more deeply: first into the member by which it is committed, and then, penetrating member by member, it penetrates all of human nature, and he becomes completely pervaded by iniquity. If we call lawlessness, as deviation from the law lying in our nature, a deviation from nature itself, then the permeation of nature by lawlessness will be a complete deviation of us from our nature, a disfiguring, perversion, and darkening of it. If we trace lawlessness to its source, Satan, then the unleashing of lawlessness in our nature is its satanization. The meaning of the word “to holiness” is determined by itself through contrast with what was said before about “to iniquity.” “To holiness” will mean: to increase of holiness. Adding one holy deed to another, they increase holiness. Each member, obeying righteousness, brings, as fruit, a holy deed; and man in this case becomes a many-branched tree bringing forth abundant fruits of holiness. The consequence of this should be the sanctification of all our nature. Each member, doing holy works, is pervaded by the sanctifying power of those works, and by constancy in doing holy deeds is filled throughout with holiness. When in this way other members one after another are filled with holiness, the whole person is filled with it; and all his nature becomes holy, pure, and bright. Within, love of righteousness; without, deeds of righteousness completely banish sin, and man becomes wholly holy. If we call righteousness the working and standing according to the law of our nature, then sanctification by righteousness of our nature will be the restoration of it to its natural rank, to that state in which it ought to be according to its original purpose. If we trace righteousness to its source – God – then sanctification by righteousness will be deification.

What a wonderful fruit – and yet how simply is it attained! Love righteousness and hate lawlessness, and then, sparing yourself not, compel every member of soul and body to fulfill only the commands of righteousness. What a simple demand! It is true that if we gather all that the Word of God imposes on each member of our nature, we get a large number of God’s commandments obligatory for us; but it is also true that at each moment only one work can lie upon us, and often upon one member alone. Consequently, the simple demand expressed by the Apostle is such in every moment of our life. Attend only to yourself and keep the love of righteousness you have received as your guiding compass – and you will never be confused by the complexity of works or overwhelmed by their number and weight, especially if you do not turn the eyes of your mind from the wonderful fruit you will at last taste from constancy in such a manner of action. This fruit, already hinted at in the present words, the Apostle hereafter depicts more fully, to draw those desiring to walk the path to its attainment and to kindle in them zeal for steadfast progress along it.

Rom. 6:20–21. For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

To inspire the fulfillment of the counsel he has proposed, the Apostle sets forth the fruits of both kinds of life – life in slavery to sin and life in righteousness. You, he says, when you served sin, lived by sin alone, and righteousness never entered your intentions and plans; you gave it a divorce and recognized no obligations concerning it; “you fulfilled only the commands of sin, you did not accept the laws of righteousness” (blessed Theodoret). “When you lived, surrendered to vice, impiety, and all evil, you were then in such obedience to sin that you did nothing good at all. Such is the meaning of the words: ‘you were free from righteousness’ – that is, you did not subject yourselves to righteousness but completely shunned it. You did not divide your services so as to sometimes serve righteousness and sometimes sin; but each one of you gave himself wholly to vice” (holy Chrysostom).

As an investigator of nature, wishing to know the action of some element on our body, frees it from all mixture with other elements, so that the action it produces may be attributed solely to it – and thereby he accurately determines its benefit and harm – so also holy Paul, removing his listeners from all outside influences and placing them exclusively under the action of sin, asks: look back and see what fruit you had when you served sin? You yourselves see what it was. Such that it is shameful even to remember it: you yourselves now are ashamed of what you did and what you were then. “Whereof you are now ashamed”. Sin is disgrace for a man. As it would be unspeakably shameful for a king’s daughter if she gave herself to shameful deeds; so for a soul created in the image of God and by nature obliged to be like its Creator, it is unspeakably shameful to give itself to sin and to disfigure itself in it. But the sinner, while he sins, does not fully perceive the shame of sin, often even boasts of it; when he comes out of sin and looks back, he cannot but flush with shame. Therefore the Apostle does not say: you were ashamed then, but: you are now ashamed. “Such was slavery to sin, that the very remembrance of it makes you now ashamed. And if the remembrance causes shame, how much more shameful is the deed itself. Consequently, you have now received a twofold benefit: you have been freed from shame and have learned in what condition you were, just as then you suffered a twofold harm: you committed shameful deeds and did not know that they were shameful – which is even worse than the first. Yet, despite the harm, you remained in slavery” (holy Chrysostom).

“For the end of those things is death”. It is not enough that sin covers with shame the face of man, the noblest and most perfect creature of God, reducing him to a state that makes him worse than the lowest creature; more than this, it subjects him to death: the end of life in sin is death – spiritual death (Oecumenius), after which eternal death surely follows after bodily death (blessed Theodoret). We may suppose that the Apostle means here not only bodily death but all-encompassing death – both bodily and spiritual and eternal. As soon as sin enters and begins to tyrannize in man, death also begins to work in him. Sin decomposes and destroys our nature: it decomposes the body, producing in it a struggle of vital elements, disturbing the natural course of bodily functions and throwing their harmony into disorder through excessive excitement of one element and suppression of another – the result of which is disease and always premature death; it decomposes the soul too, arming one of its powers against another, dividing them and thereby depriving the soul of the vitality proper to it, which depends on the harmonious action of all its powers. If the soul is not healed, it passes into eternity with this decomposing and destroying power of sin, as a result of which its eternal inheritance will be endless anguish and dying with all the horrors of death tearing at the heart. All this the Apostle brought to mind, saying that the end of sinful life is death.

What a powerful motivation this is – to yield no more to slavery to sin for those who have themselves experienced the disastrous state into which sin casts, and have just been freed from it! But the Apostle does not stop at this; rather, he adds a description of the blessed state into which slavery to righteousness places the believing Christian.