Romans 6:13-14 "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God: A person can be "officially" set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren't ingrained in their life yet. Here, Paul shows how to build the habits of freedom in the Christian life.
Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: This is the first key to walking in the freedom Jesus Christ has won for us is. We are told to not present the parts of our body to the service of sin.
But present yourselves to God: This is the second key to walking in the freedom Jesus has won for us is. It isn't enough to take the weapons away from the service of sin. They must then be enlisted in the service of righteousness - and, as in any warfare, the side with superior weapons usually wins.
We present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead. This first has the idea that all connection with the previous life - the old man - must be done away with. That life is dead and gone. Secondly, it has the idea of obligation, because we owe everything to the One who has given us new life!
For you are not under law but under grace: This is the path, the means, by which we can live in this freedom. It will never happen in a legalistic, performance oriented Christian life. It will happen as we live not under law but under grace.
Law clearly defined God's standard, and shows us where we fall short of it. But it cannot give the freedom from sin that grace provides. Remember that grace reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21). Grace, not law provides the freedom and the power to live over sin.
This shows again that a life lived truly under grace will be a righteous life. Grace is never a license to sin. "To treat being under grace as an excuse for sinning is a sign that one is not really under grace at all." (Bruce)
Not under law but under grace is another way to describe the radical change in the life of someone who is born again. For the Jewish person of Paul's day, living life under law was everything. The law was the way to God's approval and eternal life. Now, Paul shows that in light of the New Covenant, we are not under law but under grace. His work in our life has changed everything!
Paul has answered his question from Romans 6:1. Why don't we just continue in habitual sin so that grace may abound? Because when we are saved, when our sins are forgiven and God's grace is extended to us, we are radically changed. The old man is dead, and the new man lives.
In light of these remarkable changes, it is utterly incompatible for a new creation in Jesus to be comfortable in habitual sin. A state of sin can only be temporary for the Christian. As Spurgeon is credited with saying: "The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul."
John states the same idea in another way: Whoever abides in Him does not (habitually) sin. Whoever (habitually) sins has neither seen Him nor known Him … Whoever has been born of God does not (habitually) sin, for his seed remains in him; and he cannot (habitually) sin, because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:6 and 9)
"God has so changed your nature by his grace that when you sin you shall be like a fish on dry land, you shall be out of your element, and long to get into a right state again. You cannot sin, for you love God. The sinner may drink sin down as the ox drinketh down water, but to you it shall be as the brine of the sea. You may become so foolish as to try the pleasures of the world, but they shall be no pleasures to you." (Spurgeon)
Dear Holy God, Thank you for setting me free to live a life under your grace and not the law!
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