Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
To be set free from sin is to be released from slavery to selfish impulses and to Satan's control that began with the fall and deepens through indulgence into habit until moral power is gone. Whoever obeys from the heart is no longer a servant of sin unto death but becomes a servant of righteousness unto freedom, for a person belongs to whatever is obeyed. This freedom does not permit continuing in sin but is mastery over sin for a life of holiness under Christ's rule, where service to sin ends in shame and death and service to God ends in holiness and eternal life. It is made possible by Christ's death and redemption by His blood, and it comes only by power outside the person, since human wisdom and strength cannot reform the fallen nature but the Spirit of God alone can make and keep men pure. When the helpless sinner confesses, believes in Jesus and looks to Him in love, the power that raised Jesus breaks Satan's hold, cleanses the heart from selfishness, brings every thought into captivity to Christ, and makes the will firm to do right as a new, transformed life. Those thus freed belong wholly to Christ in body, soul and time, living not for self but in unselfish love and strict honesty, where racial prejudice dies and white and black stand together, showing gratitude in worship, witness to sinners, and unselfish work to relieve suffering.
Freedom from Sin's Bondage
Bondage to sin began with Adam's fall in Eden, and redemption through Christ's sacrifice purchases humanity back and places people on vantage ground where they may find liberty from that bondage in a second probation. That bondage is servitude to Satan and slavery to selfish impulses and passions under the control of the wicked one, entered through self-indulgence and self-serving. Yielding to the first indulgence of the wine cup, card playing, gambling and immorality gives the tempter control, and by practice the disposition grows into intensity of habit with a bewitching power difficult to overcome. It presses souls deeper and deeper into the slavery of sin until moral power is gone, especially where inherited appetite for wine and stimulating drink is present and where doubtful associations corrupt morals.
Those who were servants of sin are made free from sin by obeying from the heart the doctrine delivered, in contrast to continuing as servants of sin unto death. For a person becomes the servant of whatever is obeyed, either sin unto slavery and death or righteousness unto freedom. As servants of Christ bought with His own precious blood, the freed are accountable to God for all privileges and for all means passing through their hands, must give an account of stewardship, and must not seek pleasure and selfish gratification at the expense of conscience and God's approval.
Freedom from sin is mastery over sin and deliverance from the bondage of evil, with physical, mental and spiritual restoration and reformation through the grace and revelation of Christ, giving health and life and peace to hearts crying out under crime, corruption, violence, lawlessness and suffering. It is not freedom to continue in sin, and the one born of God must not keep sin alive by practice but must become a free soul in Christ Jesus. It is freedom to practice virtue and holiness, using liberty not to oppress or to speak bitterness but as servants of God under the rule of Christ. That freedom therefore requires leaving the course of sin to cease to do evil and learn to do well, accepting Christ as Redeemer by living faith and being garrisoned against first contact with corrupting influences.
No longer ruled by sin, those freed yield themselves and their actions to God, serving righteousness in a life that leads to holiness. Their former service to uncleanness and sin bore fruit in shame and ended in death, while service to God bears fruit in holiness and ends in eternal life given through Jesus Christ. There are only two sides, with obedience to God's law making people free from sin to serve righteousness and winning eternal life, while disobedience places a person on Satan's side. It is a present warning as in Noah's day to urge the disloyal to repent and render obedience because the Lord is at the door, since men made in God's image have sadly disfigured that image, nearly obliterated God's love from the soul, and chosen darkness rather than light.
How God Makes Free
Freedom is made possible through Christ's sacrifice, His death on the cross of Calvary, and redemption by His precious life-blood. That blood purchases back the human will enslaved under Satan's control through sin, because God gave all heaven in Christ. Redeemed sinners are placed on vantage ground before God and given a second probation where they may find liberty from the bondage that began with Adam's fall in Eden. The act reveals an infinite depth of love from God and wonderful love from the Father, which human beings fall far short of appreciating. The whole person thus redeemed belongs to Christ, with every part of being and every moment of the future bought by Him.
Freedom comes only by a power outside and above the person, for the Spirit of God alone can make and keep men pure. Unaided human reason, eloquence, philosophy, wisdom and power cannot reform character or repair fallen humanity, and human selfishness remains in depravity. This is seen in the confirmed drunkard, whose years of indulgence have strengthened appetite for liquor, killed willpower, and deadened moral obligation to God and family, so that he cannot change his course by any human power. While he keeps his system under the influence of liquor the whole man is transformed and bears the attributes of Satan, no awakening can take place, and he is doomed unless divine power frees him.
When a person realizes helplessness, comes confessing sins and believing in Jesus, turns from Satan's alluring delusive attractions, and looks to Jesus long enough to see and understand His love, the same vital power that raised Jesus from the dead gives life to those dead in trespasses and sins. That power breaks Satan's control, brings the person into touch with God and into touch with the power that works righteousness, and new life enters and vitalizes the whole nature. Placed under God's control, the will becomes firm and strong to do right, the heart is cleansed from selfishness and filled with Christlike love, the mind yields to the authority of the law of love with every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and powers once used as members of unrighteousness and servants of sin are consecrated to the service of the God of love. Then new habits are formed and powerful propensities for evil are held in check, because Christ as conquering Leader guides on to certain victory. Conversion thus breaks bondage to sin and brings the person into right relation with God as a regenerated, transformed servant of righteousness, bound to renounce evil and live under heaven's authority.
This deliverance removes the condemnation of the law, under which wrath and tribulation fall upon every evildoer, and those converted experience peace and assurance forever. Made free through Jesus Christ, they are brought into the liberty of obedient children with all faculties under the control of the Spirit, delighting in the law of God after the inward man. Vital principles of virtue, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness and Christlike love are established in the heart. Obedience to God is itself liberty from the thralldom of sin and deliverance from servitude to Satan and from slavery to selfish impulses and passions under the control of the wicked one.
Life as Righteous Servants
Redemption makes the whole person belong to Christ, for every part of being and every moment of the future is bought by His precious life-blood. Those thus bought are servants of Christ and accountable stewards who must give account for all privileges and for all means passing through their hands. They must not seek their own pleasure and selfish gratification at the expense of conscience and God's approval, but being molded by transforming grace and created anew, they are lifted above self-serving with the eye single to God's glory. Imbued with the Redeemer's Spirit, as servants of righteousness they are ready to deny self, take up the cross and make any sacrifice in the Master's service, and can no longer be indifferent to perishing souls but must communicate received truth to reach hearts.
Serving righteousness requires surrendering heart, soul and body so as no longer to serve sin, choosing between selfishness and sin on the one hand and Christ with His purity and righteousness on the other. Conversion breaks bondage to sin and brings into right relation with God, binding the converted to renounce evil and live under heaven's authority by ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. This commitment is sustained by earnest prayer and close dependence on Christ, while neglecting devotion and refusing service leaves one vulnerable to Satan's schemes. It also requires being garrisoned against first contact with corrupting influences, since yielding to first indulgence in wine, cards, gambling and immorality gives the tempter control and by practice grows into intense, bewitching habit that presses deeper into slavery until moral power is gone, especially where inherited appetite and doubtful associations corrupt morals.
Those whose bondage is broken and who receive righteousness are not cold or spiritless, but are filled with unselfish love for sinners, put away worldly ambition and self-seeking, become more like Christ through the deep things of God, share His joy in His triumphs, and grow toward spiritual maturity. Freedom from sin is not freedom to continue in sin or to keep sin alive by practice, but freedom to practice virtue and holiness, using liberty not to oppress or speak bitterness but as servants of God under Christ's rule. For workers in God's institutions this means no selfishness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, partiality, looseness, impurity or vice, but strict honesty, fidelity and a pure heart garrisoned by grace, since those professing godliness while living careless, immoral and dishonest lives are still servants of sin who under cover of their calling spread impurity, vice and soul-destroying guilt and ruin victims for time and eternity.
Christ frees the soul from sin's bondage, and racial prejudice belongs to that bondage and ought to die at the moment the soul is redeemed. Those made free, whether white hearts or black hearts, must not keep up the color line nor strengthen prejudices that should be dead. Perplexing questions and prejudices between white and black must not be prescribed or settled by human plans that take God's place, but must be left for God to adjust as He works on hearts in His own way, with His people standing aside in awe.
Deliverance from the slavery of sin and the bondage of error opens the darkened understanding to the glorious light of present truth and ends serving self and living for this world and this life alone amid worldly cares and interests. It brings physical, mental and spiritual restoration and reformation, giving health and life and peace to hearts crying out under crime, corruption, violence, lawlessness and suffering. Such freedom calls for gratitude shown in worshiping God, making sacrifice to attend His yearly gatherings, rendering the small offerings required from basket and store, and making effort for spiritual strength and eternal interest, for without effort souls become like the unrefreshed desert without dew or rain. Hearts thus changed give grateful praise and songs of melody that lead others to Christ, telling sinners and those outside the fold what Christ has done for them and what they may become through Him. This turning from sin to righteousness takes place through unselfish medical missionary work in many lands, where Christ co-operates with sanitariums and treatment rooms to refresh the weary, restore the sick to health, and relieve the sin-burdened in body, mind and spirit, so that their thanksgiving wins others to allegiance to and fellowship with Christ.
To be set free from sin is to be released from slavery to selfish impulses and to Satan's control that began with the fall and deepens through indulgence into habit until moral power is gone. Whoever obeys from the heart is no longer a servant of sin unto death but becomes a servant of righteousness unto freedom, for a person belongs to whatever is obeyed. This freedom does not permit continuing in sin but is mastery over sin for a life of holiness under Christ's rule, where service to sin ends in shame and death and service to God ends in holiness and eternal life. It is made possible by Christ's death and redemption by His blood, and it comes only by power outside the person, since human wisdom and strength cannot reform the fallen nature but the Spirit of God alone can make and keep men pure. When the helpless sinner confesses, believes in Jesus and looks to Him in love, the power that raised Jesus breaks Satan's hold, cleanses the heart from selfishness, brings every thought into captivity to Christ, and makes the will firm to do right as a new, transformed life. Those thus freed belong wholly to Christ in body, soul and time, living not for self but in unselfish love and strict honesty, where racial prejudice dies and white and black stand together, showing gratitude in worship, witness to sinners, and unselfish work to relieve suffering.
Freedom from Sin's Bondage
Bondage to sin began with Adam's fall in Eden, and redemption through Christ's sacrifice purchases humanity back and places people on vantage ground where they may find liberty from that bondage in a second probation. That bondage is servitude to Satan and slavery to selfish impulses and passions under the control of the wicked one, entered through self-indulgence and self-serving. Yielding to the first indulgence of the wine cup, card playing, gambling and immorality gives the tempter control, and by practice the disposition grows into intensity of habit with a bewitching power difficult to overcome. It presses souls deeper and deeper into the slavery of sin until moral power is gone, especially where inherited appetite for wine and stimulating drink is present and where doubtful associations corrupt morals.
Those who were servants of sin are made free from sin by obeying from the heart the doctrine delivered, in contrast to continuing as servants of sin unto death. For a person becomes the servant of whatever is obeyed, either sin unto slavery and death or righteousness unto freedom. As servants of Christ bought with His own precious blood, the freed are accountable to God for all privileges and for all means passing through their hands, must give an account of stewardship, and must not seek pleasure and selfish gratification at the expense of conscience and God's approval.
Freedom from sin is mastery over sin and deliverance from the bondage of evil, with physical, mental and spiritual restoration and reformation through the grace and revelation of Christ, giving health and life and peace to hearts crying out under crime, corruption, violence, lawlessness and suffering. It is not freedom to continue in sin, and the one born of God must not keep sin alive by practice but must become a free soul in Christ Jesus. It is freedom to practice virtue and holiness, using liberty not to oppress or to speak bitterness but as servants of God under the rule of Christ. That freedom therefore requires leaving the course of sin to cease to do evil and learn to do well, accepting Christ as Redeemer by living faith and being garrisoned against first contact with corrupting influences.
No longer ruled by sin, those freed yield themselves and their actions to God, serving righteousness in a life that leads to holiness. Their former service to uncleanness and sin bore fruit in shame and ended in death, while service to God bears fruit in holiness and ends in eternal life given through Jesus Christ. There are only two sides, with obedience to God's law making people free from sin to serve righteousness and winning eternal life, while disobedience places a person on Satan's side. It is a present warning as in Noah's day to urge the disloyal to repent and render obedience because the Lord is at the door, since men made in God's image have sadly disfigured that image, nearly obliterated God's love from the soul, and chosen darkness rather than light.
How God Makes Free
Freedom is made possible through Christ's sacrifice, His death on the cross of Calvary, and redemption by His precious life-blood. That blood purchases back the human will enslaved under Satan's control through sin, because God gave all heaven in Christ. Redeemed sinners are placed on vantage ground before God and given a second probation where they may find liberty from the bondage that began with Adam's fall in Eden. The act reveals an infinite depth of love from God and wonderful love from the Father, which human beings fall far short of appreciating. The whole person thus redeemed belongs to Christ, with every part of being and every moment of the future bought by Him.
Freedom comes only by a power outside and above the person, for the Spirit of God alone can make and keep men pure. Unaided human reason, eloquence, philosophy, wisdom and power cannot reform character or repair fallen humanity, and human selfishness remains in depravity. This is seen in the confirmed drunkard, whose years of indulgence have strengthened appetite for liquor, killed willpower, and deadened moral obligation to God and family, so that he cannot change his course by any human power. While he keeps his system under the influence of liquor the whole man is transformed and bears the attributes of Satan, no awakening can take place, and he is doomed unless divine power frees him.
When a person realizes helplessness, comes confessing sins and believing in Jesus, turns from Satan's alluring delusive attractions, and looks to Jesus long enough to see and understand His love, the same vital power that raised Jesus from the dead gives life to those dead in trespasses and sins. That power breaks Satan's control, brings the person into touch with God and into touch with the power that works righteousness, and new life enters and vitalizes the whole nature. Placed under God's control, the will becomes firm and strong to do right, the heart is cleansed from selfishness and filled with Christlike love, the mind yields to the authority of the law of love with every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and powers once used as members of unrighteousness and servants of sin are consecrated to the service of the God of love. Then new habits are formed and powerful propensities for evil are held in check, because Christ as conquering Leader guides on to certain victory. Conversion thus breaks bondage to sin and brings the person into right relation with God as a regenerated, transformed servant of righteousness, bound to renounce evil and live under heaven's authority.
This deliverance removes the condemnation of the law, under which wrath and tribulation fall upon every evildoer, and those converted experience peace and assurance forever. Made free through Jesus Christ, they are brought into the liberty of obedient children with all faculties under the control of the Spirit, delighting in the law of God after the inward man. Vital principles of virtue, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness and Christlike love are established in the heart. Obedience to God is itself liberty from the thralldom of sin and deliverance from servitude to Satan and from slavery to selfish impulses and passions under the control of the wicked one.
Life as Righteous Servants
Redemption makes the whole person belong to Christ, for every part of being and every moment of the future is bought by His precious life-blood. Those thus bought are servants of Christ and accountable stewards who must give account for all privileges and for all means passing through their hands. They must not seek their own pleasure and selfish gratification at the expense of conscience and God's approval, but being molded by transforming grace and created anew, they are lifted above self-serving with the eye single to God's glory. Imbued with the Redeemer's Spirit, as servants of righteousness they are ready to deny self, take up the cross and make any sacrifice in the Master's service, and can no longer be indifferent to perishing souls but must communicate received truth to reach hearts.
Serving righteousness requires surrendering heart, soul and body so as no longer to serve sin, choosing between selfishness and sin on the one hand and Christ with His purity and righteousness on the other. Conversion breaks bondage to sin and brings into right relation with God, binding the converted to renounce evil and live under heaven's authority by ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. This commitment is sustained by earnest prayer and close dependence on Christ, while neglecting devotion and refusing service leaves one vulnerable to Satan's schemes. It also requires being garrisoned against first contact with corrupting influences, since yielding to first indulgence in wine, cards, gambling and immorality gives the tempter control and by practice grows into intense, bewitching habit that presses deeper into slavery until moral power is gone, especially where inherited appetite and doubtful associations corrupt morals.
Those whose bondage is broken and who receive righteousness are not cold or spiritless, but are filled with unselfish love for sinners, put away worldly ambition and self-seeking, become more like Christ through the deep things of God, share His joy in His triumphs, and grow toward spiritual maturity. Freedom from sin is not freedom to continue in sin or to keep sin alive by practice, but freedom to practice virtue and holiness, using liberty not to oppress or speak bitterness but as servants of God under Christ's rule. For workers in God's institutions this means no selfishness, dishonesty, hypocrisy, partiality, looseness, impurity or vice, but strict honesty, fidelity and a pure heart garrisoned by grace, since those professing godliness while living careless, immoral and dishonest lives are still servants of sin who under cover of their calling spread impurity, vice and soul-destroying guilt and ruin victims for time and eternity.
Christ frees the soul from sin's bondage, and racial prejudice belongs to that bondage and ought to die at the moment the soul is redeemed. Those made free, whether white hearts or black hearts, must not keep up the color line nor strengthen prejudices that should be dead. Perplexing questions and prejudices between white and black must not be prescribed or settled by human plans that take God's place, but must be left for God to adjust as He works on hearts in His own way, with His people standing aside in awe.
Deliverance from the slavery of sin and the bondage of error opens the darkened understanding to the glorious light of present truth and ends serving self and living for this world and this life alone amid worldly cares and interests. It brings physical, mental and spiritual restoration and reformation, giving health and life and peace to hearts crying out under crime, corruption, violence, lawlessness and suffering. Such freedom calls for gratitude shown in worshiping God, making sacrifice to attend His yearly gatherings, rendering the small offerings required from basket and store, and making effort for spiritual strength and eternal interest, for without effort souls become like the unrefreshed desert without dew or rain. Hearts thus changed give grateful praise and songs of melody that lead others to Christ, telling sinners and those outside the fold what Christ has done for them and what they may become through Him. This turning from sin to righteousness takes place through unselfish medical missionary work in many lands, where Christ co-operates with sanitariums and treatment rooms to refresh the weary, restore the sick to health, and relieve the sin-burdened in body, mind and spirit, so that their thanksgiving wins others to allegiance to and fellowship with Christ.