What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
The question presses for what benefit or fruit came from the former life of serving and slavery to sin, and the answer is that it produced nothing good, fruitful, or profitable, for its apparent gains yield only shame and death. The things once practiced in that sinful life are now recognized as shameful, bringing shame and loss to those who did them. Their end and final outcome is death, which is sin's wage and retribution for sin. By contrast, being freed from sin and serving God bears fruit in holiness and righteousness that leads to everlasting life, for eternal life is God's gift through Jesus Christ.
The history of Jacob's sons illustrates this contrast, showing that unbelief leads to failure, while God's mercy reaches the deepest depths and faith lifts the repentant soul into the family of God. Those who are now ashamed of practiced sin must not keep living in those things, for being made free in Christ means dying to self and ceasing to perpetuate sin by practice. It is not freedom to continue in sin but freedom to practice virtue and holiness as servants of God under the rule of Christ. This freedom comes by beholding the Lamb of God who takes away sin and receiving His righteousness to fill the life, so that by choice and obedience through grace a person fulfills God's original design to bear His image as a son of God.
When Christ frees the soul from sin's bondage, the prejudices against others that belong to the old life should have died with that bondage. Freedom in Christ means God works upon both white and black hearts in His own way and adjusts the perplexing questions of the color line, so to keep or strengthen prejudice between white and black after redemption denies what redemption does. Disobedience to God's commands places a person on Satan's side, while obedience to His law wins eternal life. Because people have chosen darkness rather than light and have disfigured the image of God in which they were created, those disloyal to God must be warned as in the days of Noah and urged to repent and render obedience, for the Lord is at the door.
The question presses for what benefit or fruit came from the former life of serving and slavery to sin, and the answer is that it produced nothing good, fruitful, or profitable, for its apparent gains yield only shame and death. The things once practiced in that sinful life are now recognized as shameful, bringing shame and loss to those who did them. Their end and final outcome is death, which is sin's wage and retribution for sin. By contrast, being freed from sin and serving God bears fruit in holiness and righteousness that leads to everlasting life, for eternal life is God's gift through Jesus Christ.
The history of Jacob's sons illustrates this contrast, showing that unbelief leads to failure, while God's mercy reaches the deepest depths and faith lifts the repentant soul into the family of God. Those who are now ashamed of practiced sin must not keep living in those things, for being made free in Christ means dying to self and ceasing to perpetuate sin by practice. It is not freedom to continue in sin but freedom to practice virtue and holiness as servants of God under the rule of Christ. This freedom comes by beholding the Lamb of God who takes away sin and receiving His righteousness to fill the life, so that by choice and obedience through grace a person fulfills God's original design to bear His image as a son of God.
When Christ frees the soul from sin's bondage, the prejudices against others that belong to the old life should have died with that bondage. Freedom in Christ means God works upon both white and black hearts in His own way and adjusts the perplexing questions of the color line, so to keep or strengthen prejudice between white and black after redemption denies what redemption does. Disobedience to God's commands places a person on Satan's side, while obedience to His law wins eternal life. Because people have chosen darkness rather than light and have disfigured the image of God in which they were created, those disloyal to God must be warned as in the days of Noah and urged to repent and render obedience, for the Lord is at the door.