Your Only Two Masters
Introduction: The Great Lie of Autonomy
The central idol of the modern age, the great lie that undergirds virtually every rebellion against God, is the myth of personal autonomy. It is the whispered promise of the serpent in the Garden, repackaged for a sophisticated and secular world: "You will be like God." You can be your own man. You can be the captain of your soul, the master of your fate. You answer to no one. This is the foundational creed of our times, from the halls of the Supreme Court down to the kindergarten classroom.
But it is a damnable lie. There is no such thing as an autonomous man. There is no neutral ground in the cosmos. There is no Switzerland in the spiritual war. You are, at this very moment, a slave. The only question before you is this: who is your master? You are either a slave to sin, or you are a slave to righteousness. You are either owned by the devil, or you are owned by God. There is no third option. To believe in a third option is to be firmly, and blindly, in the first camp.
The Apostle Paul, in this section of Romans, takes a sledgehammer to this idol of autonomy. He has just finished explaining the glorious truth that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We are not under law, but under grace. But Paul, being a good pastor, anticipates the devious twisting of the human heart. He knows that our sinful nature will hear the word "grace" and think "free pass." And so he confronts this deadly error head-on, not with a polite suggestion, but with a stark, unyielding, and glorious declaration of our true condition. We have been liberated from a cruel tyrant in order to be joyfully enslaved to a righteous King.
The Text
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then having from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification, and the end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 6:15-23 LSB)
The Logic of Lordship (v. 15-16)
Paul begins by posing the question that cheap grace always asks.
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" (Romans 6:15-16 LSB)
The logic of the antinomian is simple: if the law is not the instrument of my justification, and if grace abounds where sin abounds, then why not sin all the more? Paul's response is an explosive "May it never be!" This is not just a disagreement; it is an expression of horror. The thought is abhorrent because it fundamentally misunderstands the nature of salvation. Salvation is not a cosmic "get out of jail free" card that leaves you sitting in the cell. Salvation is a transfer of ownership.
Paul's argument is plain common sense. "Do you not know?" he asks. This is basic. This is Christianity 101. You are a slave to whomever you obey. Your regular, habitual actions reveal your true allegiance. If you present the members of your body, your time, your money, your mind, to the service of sin, then sin is your master. It does not matter what you profess with your lips. Your obedience is the uniform you wear that shows which army you fight for. And there are only two armies on the field. One is commanded by General Sin, and his campaign ends in death. The other is commanded by King Jesus, and His service leads to righteousness.
You cannot serve two masters. You cannot claim to be a slave of Christ while taking your daily marching orders from sin. The direction of your life, the settled pattern of your obedience, reveals your true lord.
The Divine Hostage Exchange (v. 17-18)
So how does this transfer of allegiance happen? It is not something we accomplish. It is something God does, for which He receives all the thanks.
"But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:17-18 LSB)
Notice the structure here. Thanksgiving precedes the action. God is the prime mover. We were all born in bondage, slaves of sin. This was our natural state. But God intervened. The turning point was when these Roman Christians "obeyed from the heart." This was not a grudging, external compliance. It was a deep, internal transformation.
And what did they obey? "That pattern of teaching." The gospel is not a loose collection of inspirational thoughts. It is a form, a mold, a pattern of doctrine. The Greek word is typos. When God saves a man, He melts him down and pours him into this gospel mold, and the man is reshaped into the image of Christ. This apostolic doctrine has a definite shape, and it is this shape that we are to take on.
But see the glorious sovereignty in this. They obeyed the pattern "to which you were given over." The verb is passive. God is the one who did the handing over. He is the one who took you out of the slave market of sin and delivered you into the custody of this life-giving doctrine. You did not wander out on your own. You were rescued. You were transferred. And the result of this divine transaction is that you were "freed from sin" only to "become slaves of righteousness." True freedom is not the absence of a master; it is the joyful service of the right Master.
Before and After (v. 19-21)
Paul knows this language of slavery might be jarring, so he explains why he is using it. He is making a spiritual reality plain by using a common, everyday analogy.
"I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then having from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death." (Romans 6:19-21 LSB)
He is drawing a sharp contrast. He says, "Remember how it used to be? You took your hands, your eyes, your feet, your mind, your imagination, and you presented them for service to impurity and lawlessness." And what was the result? It was a downward spiral. Lawlessness led to more lawlessness. Sin is never static; it is always expansionistic. It is a cancer.
So now, Paul says, do the same thing, but in the opposite direction. Take those same members, those same faculties, and consciously, deliberately, present them for service to your new master: righteousness. And the result will be sanctification, holiness. This is a command. We are active participants in our sanctification, not because we have autonomous power, but because our new Master commands us to take up our tools and get to work in His strength.
Then he asks a piercing question. "When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." This is a biting piece of irony. Righteousness had no claim on you. You were "free" from it. But what a miserable freedom! It is the freedom of a corpse to not have to get up and go to work. And what was the fruit of that life? What was the benefit? He answers for them: nothing but things you are now ashamed of. The end of that road, the final paycheck for that labor, is death. He wants them to remember the shame and futility of their old life, so they will not be tempted to wander back to it.
The Great Reversal: Wages and Gifts (v. 22-23)
The chapter concludes with one of the most glorious and concise summaries of the gospel in all of Scripture.
"But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification, and the end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:22-23 LSB)
The "but now" of the gospel is the great hinge of history. Everything has changed. You have been freed from sin and enslaved to God. There is no third state. And this new enslavement has a wonderful benefit. The fruit it produces is sanctification, a growing holiness. And the end of this road is not death, but eternal life.
Verse 23 draws the final, sharp contrast. "For the wages of sin is death." The Greek for wages is opsonia, which referred to the pay a soldier received. It is what you have earned. It is what is owed to you. If you work for sin, your just payment is death. God is not being unfair when He condemns a sinner; He is simply paying the wage that has been duly earned.
But on the other side, we do not find the wages of righteousness. Righteousness does not earn eternal life. No, eternal life is a "gracious gift." The word is charisma, from the same root as charis, or grace. It is unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor. You cannot work for a gift. You can only receive it. And this gift is not an abstract thing; it is located "in Christ Jesus our Lord." He is the one who earned the wages of our sin, which was death, on the cross. And He is the one who gives us the gift of His own eternal life, by grace.
So do not be deceived. You are a slave. The only choice you have is to which master you will belong. One master works you to the bone and pays you with death. The other Master died to purchase you, and gives you eternal life as a free gift. To serve sin is the ultimate drudgery. To be enslaved to God is the ultimate freedom.