Freedom is very much a popular topic of conversation, but Romans 6:15-23 has some interesting things to say about liberty. Paul talks here about if we are under grace, we are not under law: in other words, we can do what we want! Is the gospel adovcating anarchy?!
The freedom Paul talks about in this chapter of Romans is the freedom to choose. God has made us with free will, but there is no such things as rights without responsibilities. “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Rom 6:16) As Jesus so controversially taught, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)
The freedom Jesus offers us is freedom to choose His way, rather than the way of sin. “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” (Rom 6:22) We have the choice now of living as a slave for God, loving Him and serving Him as a willing servant (rather like the Old Testament slave whose ear was pierced as a sign that he wanted to remain with his master even when he could have left him).
Augustine famously once said, “Love God and do what you want!” Although this might seem like licence to some and a recipe for disaster to others, if we truly love God, we will want to keep His commands and please Him. (John 15:10, 14, 17) We have a new allegiance, a new master, for there is no such thing as simply pleasing ourselves. We either serve God or we serve His enemy; there is no middle ground. We are either slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16)
God is in the business of transforming people into the image of Christ (Rom 8:29). Look at Jacob – ‘the deceiver’ (Gen 25:23-26), transformed into Israel – ‘he struggles with God’ (Gen 32:22-28), later referred to as ‘the upright one’, ‘Jeshurun’, in Is 44:1-2. This kind of inner transformation is brought about by God as we consistently choose the paths of righteousness over the ways of the world, as we follow Him daily, learning to offer ourselves to God (Rom 6:13). There is so much more to our lives than the mere collection of information; we are in the process of being transformed into the image of Christ, regaining that lost image of God which Adam first knew.