Paul Unpacked

Romans 6:20-23

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 6:20-23

So in Romans 6, Paul is talking about how we (Christians, believers) have died to sin in our baptism in Christ and have been raised again along with Christ, therefore sin will not be our master any longer. He goes on to explain that whatever or whoever we act in obedience to and obey has become our master and we its slaves. Paul continues by saying since we have been released from sin’s mastery over us, why would we continue to allow it to be our master. He drives this point home with verses 20-23.

Before 20-23, Paul mentions that we are now slaves to righteousness. This helps explain his first statement in verse 20 which says “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness,” or when you were under sin’s mastery, you were free from the mastery of righteousness. But he then adds to that, “But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed?” or what did that get you? The fruit of those things, Paul says, is death.

I believe for many people this is a very abstract saying that is hard to grasp. How does sin result in death. Some might say “I’ve sinned before, but I’m not dead.” That’s not what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying that a life lived for sin and lived in sin naturally results in death. To understand this, we must contrast this statement with a later statement in verse 22 where he says “you have…become slaves to God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life”, or the fruits of obedience to God (not sin) is righteousness and eternal life.

Let’s take a more practical approach to this lesson. Where does a life of sin, chasing after money, women, things of this world, ultimately get you? Taking this life all the way to its conclusion, what will result? Well, when you die, what happens to the money that you’ve chased after? What happens to the women that you’ve pursued? What happens to the car, the house, the family, the things of this world you have lived for when you die? They leave you, right? When you leave this world (die), the things of this world are no longer yours, right? All the things that you’ve worked for are no longer in your possession. Only one thing remains when you die: death itself. Everything is gone, but you’re still dead. If you’ve lived life for things of this world, when you die, all of them are left behind and you are left with only death itself.

You might ask, “How is that any different from a life lived for God?” Christians still leave this world, they still die, this much is true. However, what is it that Christians spend their lives pursuing and trying to possess? Christians do have things of this world. They do have money, they do have a car (at least most American believers), they have a house or shelter of some kind, they might have a spouse and a family. Most of those things are necessary to live in this world, but that’s not what they pursue and strive for. What a Christian strives for and pursues is not of this world. They pursue Christ, a relationship with the living God in and through Christ Jesus. A Christian’s entire life should be spent pursuing Christ. So, when a Christian dies in this world, yes, the things of this world pass away, but those things are not what that person has been living for. He’s been living for Christ. Christ is outside this world, so when we die and leave this world behind, we still have Christ and from Christ comes righteousness and eternal life.

Therefore we see the logic behind Paul’s statement that the fruit of a life lived for sin (the world) is death, but a life lived for God (Christ) produces the fruits of sanctification and eternal life.