- The fruit is the Eternal life: (6:21-23): Thanks be to God that now we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit leads us into holiness and the result is the eternal life. We must yield to God and have victory over the flesh. Satan does not want us to live up to such an exalted position. Apostle says: we are set from sin. This does not mean that we will never ever sin. Though sin is inevitable until our flesh is resurrected in glory.
Sinless perfection in this body is an illusion. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 Jn.1:8). Yet we know that in the power of Jesus we each can resist the next temptation and that is what Jesus wants us to be concerned about. The Christian must fight against even occasional sin because we need to work for and work under our new Master. It isn’t appropriate for us to work for our old master.
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- “Because of the weakness of man, a Christian at infrequent intervals of time, does yield to the sin. But the point is, “God has so constituted him, that he need not do so.” (Wuest)
- It is not enough to know that Christ died for us, but we must also know that we died in Christ.
- It is not enough to know that we have a new nature within, but also know that our old nature was dealt on the Cross.
- The answer to the problem of sin is not simply determination, discipline, reformation, legislation, or any other human endeavour, but yielding to God and obeying His will.
This is the reason that we must deny sin and obey God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23). Obedience leads to holiness and eternal life instead of shame, condemnation and death. Let’s be alive in Christ and not dead in our sins.
A few questions to answer before we move to next chapter:
- Does the abundance of grace give me any motivation to fight sin? (6:1)
- Is there any difference in my life now than before I accepted Christ? (6:4).
- Do I have the assurance that I am freed from the clutches of sin? (6:14)
- How can I count myself dead to sin? (6:10-11)
- How God’s grace has transformed me? (6:14)
- What sins are enslaving Christians now-a-days?