Romans 6:22, commentary and pictures

Being made free from sin means no longer continuing in sin but becoming servants to God in a new life of service under the rule of Christ. The end of that path of freedom, service and holiness is everlasting life as God's gift through Jesus Christ, in contrast to the shame and death that are the fruit and wages of serving sin. Producing holy fruit is the test and credential of true faith and doctrine, for accepted truth kills sin in the heart, purifies the soul, and is seen in love to God and man, benevolence, kindness, sympathy and exalting Christ and not self. That sanctification is necessary for eternal life and is obtained through union with Christ that no power of Satan can break, coming through faith continually exercised and working by love, with dying to self and the will brought into subjection to the will of God. Holy fruit is obedience from love for what is right and good rather than from convenience or imitation, bringing thoughts, words, actions, appetites and passions into subjection to God in doing to others as one would be done by, defending the afflicted and keeping unspotted from the world.

Freed from Sin, Serving God

Being made free from sin means becoming servants to God in a new life of service, no longer continuing in sin or serving sin and the world. Those freed bear fruit unto holiness and reach everlasting life as the end of that path, in contrast to the fruit and end of serving sin, which are shame and death, for eternal life is God's gift through Jesus Christ and not sin's wages. This holiness is perfected in those who love God with all the heart and their neighbor as themselves, obey God's law, submit to the Holy Spirit, and depend on God's power as God works with them.

This freedom is life under the rule of Christ as free souls in Christ Jesus, gained by dying to self and beholding the Lamb of God who takes away sin. His righteousness supplies what is lacking and works in a person to fulfill the original destiny of bearing God's image as a son of God, for man was not made to be redeemed but to bear that image, lost it through sin and the fall, and can by choice and obedience through grace and the ransom of Christ's life bear again the image first impressed. The freed receive moral courage to run the race for the immortal crown that fades not away, practicing virtue and holiness and using liberty not to oppress or speak bitterness but to live out God's purpose. Sanctification thus obtained is necessary for eternal life and comes through union with Christ, a union no power of Satan can break. That union comes through faith continually exercised and working by love, bringing forgiveness of sins, with Christ's words nourishing the soul and Christ received as personal Saviour supplying its needs.

Becoming free and serving God requires dying to self with the will brought into subjection to the will of God. The resulting fruit unto holiness is genuine sanctification that takes hold of the very life and molds words, actions, and character into fruit of the right quality, rather than consisting in outward work such as praying and exhorting in meeting. Christ's redemption frees the soul from slavery and bondage to sin, and at that very change racial prejudice and the color line between white and black should die and not be strengthened. Those made free no longer take God's place by prescribing fixed plans, but stand aside and let God work on white and black hearts in His own way. God's mercy reaches even the deepest depths of sin and loss, and faith lifts the repentant soul into adoption as God's children.

Fruit Unto Holiness in Life

Producing holy fruit is the test by which true doctrine and right faith are known, the divine credential proving a message is from God. Accepted doctrine kills sin in the heart and purifies the soul from defilement, while belief refines and uplifts heart and life, balances the conscience, purifies the heart, and produces love to God and man. That love appears in benevolence, kindness, tenderheartedness, sympathy, joy in right-doing, and exalting Christ and not self, and the present message of justification by faith meets that test.

Fruit unto holiness is created by the grace of Christ working in the heart as spiritual life animating and energizing mind and soul. It works out the principle of eternal life through conformity to the Word of God eaten, digested, and appropriated for daily reformation, so the world sees and comprehends genuine truth. Those made free become trees of righteousness planted by the Lord in His garden under the care of the divine Husbandman. Lives guided by the ennobling principles of truth bring forth fruit unto eternal life, show the difference between sin and righteousness and the infinite power of Christ's grace to transform human nature, and only these fruitful trees will be acknowledged by the Lord.

Holy fruit is obedience from love for what is right, good, and holy rather than from hesitation, convenience, personal taste, or imitation of others. It is perfected in those who love God with all the heart and their neighbor as themselves, obey God's law, submit to the Holy Spirit, and depend on God's power as God works with them, doing to others as they would have others do to them. Their minds receive light, grace, and truth from above and pass them on to others, they are approved by God and made perfect in love, their labors and prayers are not in vain, and they continually receive from the fountain-head and freely impart divine light and salvation. Freedom from sin brings this new life of service to God whose fruit is holiness and whose end is everlasting life, in contrast to sin's former fruit which ends in death, with eternal life as God's gift through Jesus Christ.

For ministers, having fruit unto holiness means being made free from selfishness and no longer children of darkness and servants of the world, having been chosen out of the world by Christ. Benevolence dwells naturally within, with a spirit opposite to worldlings, and a pattern of piety in heavenly conversation and a self-denying, self-sacrificing, blameless life like Christ. That holy life makes them living examples with convincing, saving power to lead unbelievers into truth and obedience to Christ, laboring only to please God with an eye single to His glory, with eternal considerations overbalancing every earthly attraction so they cannot labor for gain or from selfish love of it. Serving God bears fruit in a changed character and generous life, turned from naturally covetous, close, selfish, overreaching, money-loving penuriousness to loving to do good, seeking opportunities to use means to bless those who need blessing, visiting the widow and fatherless in affliction, and keeping unspotted from the world. This fruit glorifies God and honors truth, proves religion genuine, makes believers living representatives of Christ whose light leads others to glorify the Father and convicts sinners that truth has power, while bantering in deal and standing for the last penny disgraces profession and does not grow upon the Christian tree, and those who love the world more than truth and sacrifice spiritual things for temporal gain bear fruit that is not holiness and turn none to truth.

Bearing fruit unto holiness means bringing thoughts, words, actions, appetites, and passions into subjection to the will of God in following Christ's steps and doing Christ's works. It is perfection of Christian character and fitness for heaven reached through a life of conflict, sacrifice, and cheerful self-denial for others, shown in defending the poor, fatherless, motherless, and afflicted, doing justice to the widow, relieving the needy, dealing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before God. Holy fruit is a carefully ordered life lived as on holy ground, swift to hear and slow to speak, trusting God so life makes no miscarriage, revealing the meekness and lowliness of Christ and glorifying God in body and spirit as those bought with a price who are not their own. Purity of life is the fruit of belonging to God, and even those striving for that purity remain only erring mortals who cannot be conscience for others.

Conversation dwelling on Christ and His character bears fruit in holiness and everlasting life, while talk centered on recounting others' faults is cruel and spiritually harmful. Transformed life bears fruit through grace and obedience in repentance, overcoming sin, and keeping unspotted from the world, with the crown of life promised to the faithful to the end. Fruit unto holiness is the evidence of abiding in Christ as the branch in the vine and the right to discipleship and the Christian name, for the Spirit works in true followers producing pure and elevated lives and right actions that testify to genuine godliness, while those bearing no such fruit have no experience in the things of God. Without this evidence Christ is not abiding in the heart by faith, and the quality is known by whether the fruit does good to souls, resembles the living Vine, glorifies the Father, and reveals self-denial, self-sacrifice, meekness, patience, long forbearance, love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, and work as Christ worked to save souls, with striving for grace and perfection done lawfully according to God's will and ways.

The seed of truth about Jesus dropped in the heart and the seed of words pointing people to Christ can grow into a holy life of supreme love to God and love to neighbor, even through ministry to the sick and their families. When one relieved from pain and brought back as from death to life is inclined to worship the human helper, the Christian physician with Christ's love in the heart refuses self-exaltation and honor to self, leads the patient to behold Jesus as healer of body and soul, and turns gratitude and praise to God as source of all power, mercy, and goodness. By using talents to God's glory in that opportune moment he multiplies them and puts them out to the exchangers, sending back praise and thanksgiving to heaven. The history of Jacob's sons illustrates the same truth, showing that sin brings retribution while repentance bears fruit of righteousness unto life.

End Everlasting Life Promised

The end of the path of freedom from sin and service to God is everlasting life, reached through a life that bears fruit in holiness. That former life of serving sin bears its own fruit and comes to its own end, which are shame and death. Everlasting life is not wages earned from sin but God's gift through Jesus Christ, set in direct contrast to death as sin's wages. The holiness that leads to that end is perfected in those who love God with all the heart and their neighbor as themselves, who obey God's law and submit to the Holy Spirit, depending on God's power while God works with them.

Everlasting life is the reward of faithful service, of doing the work God gives faithfully, and of obedience to God's commands and law. It requires that practice be in harmony with profession, for one who professes to be a Christian yet lives the life of a sinner will suffer with the transgressors of God's law. Disobedience puts a person on Satan's side, while turning from darkness to holiness restores the image of God in man, sadly disfigured with the traces of His love nearly obliterated. With the Lord at the door as in the days of Noah, those disloyal to God must repent and render obedience to His law.