15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
In verse 15, Paul asks the same question as in verse 1, but now he asks based on what he has just written in verses 2-14.
If we feel sin can be committed without risk because of grace, we turn grace into lasciviousness.
present (yield) — as in verse 13, to put a thing at the disposal of another
obey — should be obedience, not a verb. The first usage of obedience is an effect, not personified. The second usage is personified as the alternative master. Any decision to sin or acquiescence to sin makes sin our master. Matthew 6:24 — No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
death (here) = not eternal death but death of the Christian’s experience.
Romans 8:6 — For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Galatians 6:8 — For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
We should observe the two lines of truth which run throughout the chapter with regard to the believer’s deliverance from sin:
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6:7 — … he that is dead is freed from sin.
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6:18 — Being then made free from sin …
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6:22 — being made free from sin …
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6:14 — For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace.
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6:17 — But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you.
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6:20 — … ye were the servants of sin …
From these passages it is evident that in God’s sight, positionally, the believer has been delivered from the bondage of sin.
However, this same chapter also establishes the fact that experientially the believer may submit himself to the slavery of sin:
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6:12 — Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body …
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6:13 — Neither yield ye your members … unto sin …
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6:16 — … to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey …
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6:19 — I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh …
To the “carnal” Corinthian believers Paul listed “fornicators … adulterers … thieves … drunkards” and the like, as those who would be shut out from “the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), and he could have said, “and such are some of you,” for some of these failing Christians had indulged in the grossest immorality. But he did not say this. He said rather, And such were some of you, and added: … but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.
Thus the Scriptures, and especially the Pauline epistles, make a sharp distinction between the believer’s standing and his state, between his position and his condition. — Stam, pg. 151-152
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