Romans chapter 6

vs 13

Paul now begins with his language of the two powers which man can serve - sin or God. When you offer something you have to someone, and they use it for a criminal purpose, it becomes part of the crime. So if you lend a mate your car, and he goes and robs a bank, it becomes the get-away vehicle involved in a bank robbery and a bank ends up robbed.

Paul says that it's like that for sin. When we sin, we're actually offering our bodies over to sin to be an instrument involved in causing wickedness. Not that sin is a person or an entity as such. Paul treats it as one here, but I think it's more conceptual and he personifies it a bit for the sake of the argument. Which is interesting - because it means he personifies sin, but doesn't just call it Satan straight out. Satan, then, is more than just a name to put on sin's personification.

So when we sin, we're actually obeying sin and furthering the cause of wickedness. Paul wants Christians to abstain from that, and instead offer their bodies to God as an instrument in his works of righteousness. Working for the sake of a faceless concept, or working for the absolute good of a loving God... there doesn't seem to be much choice, does there?

vs 14

These 'because' statements, I always have to be careful of, because Paul has this habit of saying statement A is, because of statement B, but while that seems to fit a deductive form of reasoning, it's not always what Paul is going for.

So when Paul says that sin won't be our master, because we are under grace, not law, he is not saying (in typical logical fashion)
A) Sin is your master under Law
B) You are not under Law (you are under grace)
C) Sin is not your master.

If you think he is saying that, then please explain to me why Christian still sin, and why Paul then has to field the argument about Christians continuing to sin because they are under grace. Also explain why Paul puts sin's lack of mastery in the future tense.

I think what Paul is saying is that the new covenant of grace covers sin, whereas the old covenant of law increases sin, or highlights sin.

vs 15

This question could well be asking "If sin is only sin under the law, and we are not under the law (that is, if law makes sin sin) then since we are under grace, doesn't sin stop being sinful?"

Paul has already addressed this argument once by showing that even though the law did not exist between Adam and Moses, people still died. And I will point out that the continual death of people shows the reign of sin - that's what Paul says about that time between Adam and Moses, and well you may say it about the time between Jesus leaving and Jesus returning.

vs 16

This seems to be an expansion of Paul's statement of vs 13 - now instead of us being an instrument, we are a slave, and that slavery leads somewhere. To death, if you're a slave to sin, or to righteousness if you are a slave to obedience.

Notice over the next few verses that Paul doesn't mention anywhere the Christian's emancipation from slavery. We merely switch sides.

vs 17

Everyone serves as sin's slave, but through God's grace we can change our claim of allegiance and alter our patterns of practice to become the bondslaves of God and goodness.

vs 18

Set free from one set of slavery, to become a slave to another kind of slavery. Now this doesn't sound super glamorous, but let me put it this way - do you want to be the guy at the bottom of the ship who has a spade and has to shovel shit around all day? Or do you want to be the slave that teaches the children? Even slaves can be promoted. Do you want to be the slave that is used as a whipping boy when the owners are angry? Or do you want to be the slave that ends up inheriting the estate of the wise, kindly man?

vs 19

Paul doesn't know the Romans very well, but he seems to be able to make the assumption that they are limited by their humanity in understanding this concept any better than this, and that they used to offer themselves in wickedness. The second one is a gimmie - Chapters 1-3 proves that. The first one, I guess, is perhaps a statement of fact too - that as humans we need to compare the things of God to the things of man in order to understand them, but we inevitably fall short in doing so. It's like making a castle out of butter - you can describe a lot about a real castle by making one out of butter, but it's never going to be the same as actually seeing a castle.

vs 20

Again, do we take this as a logical statement? Can I build a theology on this verse that says "when you are sinning, God cannot use you for righteous purposes"? No, I can't, because God can change evil into good. Paul is speaking more practically - when we are sold out to sin, we don't feel the need to act righteously.

This is a really important separation that Paul has already made in passing, but needs to be understood. There are a lot of 'good' people out there who are sold out to sin. The wiccan creed, which says something hippy like "An it harm none, do as thou wilt" may be all fluffy and nice, but it's not righteous. It's possible to be a good person doing good things that help people, but to still not be righteous. Because righteousness is about being right, not being good. I'm not sure if it is as simple as all right is good, but not all good is right.

vs 21

Interesting thought - no matter how much good the things of death seem to produce (pleasure, wealth, power, the list goes on I'm sure), they still produce death.

vs 22

Interestingly, slavery to God has its own benefits, and they lead to life. I'll let you fill them in. Paul names an obvious one, though, which is holiness. I think holiness is in part the cause of the lack of popularity for righteousness. It has to be different, because it is holy. It's funny, then, that the church seeks to defy diversity, thinking that unity requires uniformity, but holiness requires difference. I'm just thinking out loud now.

vs 23

Slavery to sin reaps a wage of death. Slavery to God reaps a wage too, no doubt. All sorts of righteous and holy stuff. But it isn't eternal life. Eternal life is a gift from God, in Jesus Christ.