“Slaves of whom?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Monday, June 27, 2022
Romans 6:12-23 (Forward, p. 60) CEV p. 1177
It would have been easy for someone among Paul’s correspondents, when he spoke of people being slaves to something, to protest loudly, “But I’m not a slave to anyone!” And in a literal, physical sense, he or she would be correct. This would be true: there would be no physical chains binding the person, no sense of being ‘owned’ by someone else.
But this is not what Paul is speaking of. He is speaking of our being slaves in a moral or relational or spiritual sense, and here he asserts that we are all slaves to something or someone. What matters is who or what we serve, or who or what we give ourselves over to. More specifically, he states that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to God. He says that it is one or the other.
Paul, however, does not leave it just there. He states that whatever it is, whether sin or God, it will ultimately rule our lives, and rule the way that we treat or use our bodies. Indeed, as we know from the treatment of addictions, it may come to the point where our bodies are slaves to something and come to a point where they lack the volition, the will, to act independently. The outcome of all this, Paul states, is death, so we should we not serve these desires. It is basically a ‘dead-end street.’
So, instead, we should allow God to rule our bodies so we can please Him. This is how we can be pleasing and acceptable to Him. After all, this is a fitting response to the kindness and mercy that He has shown us. And, of course, behaving in this way leads to life now and eternal life thereafter, in contrast to the death that only comes from sin.
However, in all this discussion, there comes ‘the rub’, namely how do we become free of the power of sin and given over only to God’s rule and control? Paul maintains that we have been set free from the power and control of sin. Indeed, he asserts continually that we now have control over our lives and actions. We are to give ourselves, and indeed, every part of our physical bodies, over to God. All of our beings should be a slave that serves only God. All of this then presumes a certain level of volition, and freedom of decision and action, that sometimes to be missing in our lives.
My guess is that we need to be more intentional and disciplined in how we think and act, and more deliberate in shying away from what is not good for us and more deliberate in prayer, and in turning to God for help. Paul certainly believes that this is possible, so why not. And, of course, it is much better, and healthier, to be slaves of God than be slaves to sin. After all, it is one or the other. Amen.
Forward notes: “I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations” (verse 19a)..
“The book of Job is an extended discourse on the ultimate incomprehensibility of God. Job laments a series of tragedies that have left him bereft of children, property, and health, all seemingly without any act of unrighteousness on his part. In the end, God speaks from a whirlwind, revealing a divine hand that reaches to the cosmos and the depths of the ocean, while also showing tender care for wild animals in their mountain crags. Chastened, Job responds, ‘I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.’
“Much of the time we can only speak of God by using examples and analogies that teach us what God is like, but we can’t get to the bottom of who God is, exactly. By coming to us in the form of Jesus, God is clear about desiring a relationship with us, taking on our natural limitations, so he can speak with us in human terms.
MOVING FORWARD: “Often, when angels appear in the Bible, they say, ‘Be not afraid.’ How do these words fit with the message of today’s meditation?”