Free Will? :: Romans 6:19-23
The text for our meditation today comes to us from Saint Paul’s epistle to the Romans, where we read in verse 22 ... But now ...
But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves to God, y’all have your fruit into holiness and the end: eternal life.
But now ... You may think these are simple words. In fact, they are life-changing. The word “but” is a conjunction used to introduce language that negates or stands in contrast with what had been said previously. The word “now” is an adverb that has immediate implications for what’s happening. Together, these words ... But now ... show us that ...
THE OLD HAS PASSED AWAY BUT NOW GOD IS GIVING ALL WHO ARE BAPTIZED ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
This is not only our theme ... but now ... your reality.
You were slaves to filth and lawlessness, but now you can present yourselves as slaves to righteousness. You were a slave to sin, but now you can be a slave to holiness. The old has passed away, and the fruit of his sanctification ... that is, God’s free gift to all who believe ... is eternal life.
1.
Our epistle reading today from the end of Romans 6 is missing quite a bit of context. As you’ve heard me say many times ... context matters. So today I will go before to help us understand what Paul is declaring after “but now.” Context reveals that Paul has not yet concluded the subject of last Sunday’s reading. Last week our epistle reading stopped at verse 11. This week it starts at verse 19, and it’s only five verses long. Paul is in the middle of a conversation we need to hear.
You remember how that conversation was going, don’t you? It was all about the Gospel, through the lens of the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Baptism is not a symbol of our new life in Christ. Baptism is not about your dedication to Christ. Baptism actually does something for you, to you, in you. Baptism is a “but now” moment. It negates the old and makes way for the new.
Baptism is God’s work on you. In baptism, God unites you into the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. It leads you to “but now.” It makes you a child of God. You were once dead, but now you are being raised into a renewal of life. Through baptism you have faith in Christ. God opens your eyes and ears to see and hear the Gospel and declares but now you have the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Baptism saves you (1 Pt 3:21).
2.
So this is happening. But now what? That’s what Paul began asking in Romans 6.
Well, now we have a choice between what came before and after baptism. Before baptism we were literally dead, in the dark, separate from the light of the world, his Word incarnate. We couldn’t see the Word, let alone hear it and make a choice for God. Now that we are baptized ... now that we have faith in Christ ... now ... we can hear and see the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ and be saved, not by our own work, but now his.
Note the present reality of what I am saying ... now we should forevermore walk in the newness of life. As Paul declares, All who are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into his death. Therefore, we were buried in him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised out of death through the glory of the Father, in this way also we will walk in newness of life (6:3-4).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, you can’t hear this message too often. This is God’s Gospel for you today. You died to sin and were buried with Jesus in baptism. More than that, in the same way, God has raised you into eternal life with Jesus. To use Paul’s language in Colossians, the result of baptism is Christ now lives in you and you in him. The old is gone, the new has come: New water, new bread, new wine, new life. It is a present reality. Talk about a great gift of God! This brings us to today.
3.
Now we have a choice to make, don’t we? Shall we go on sinning because we are not under the Law but under grace? Certainly not! (v 15)
It is the perversity of the world that leads us to conclude it is OK for you to continue living in sin ... that is, ignoring the sin in your lives, paying lip service to it, acting like it isn’t harming you ... like you have the power on your own to overcome it. It is the perversity of the world that encourages you to follow your own pleasures and desires, to live together outside of marriage, to ignore God’s Will for your life, pretending you don’t need his means of grace.
Since the fall into sin, the will of mankind has been so blind and corrupt that ... before baptism ... we could choose only to do evil. By nature, we were spiritually dead ... enemies of God. We were free to choose only earthly adulterous lives. We had no power, ability, or free will to choose in spiritual matters. We could not find God in the work of our hands. We could not find God in our thoughts. We could not find God in the world. We could not find God in our efforts to be church. That is all moralism, rationalism, and mysticism, among many -isms.
This is what Paul means when he says, indeed, for as long as you were slaves of sin, you were free ... or I should say, outside ... righteousness (vv. 17-19). Apart from God, you live in the freedom of sin, that is outside of righteousness ... doing what you want, when you want, where you want. But what fruit did you get from that life (v 22)?
The one who serves that sin has no desire to serve God and pays little attention to his will for your life. Instead, they think of themselves first. They love themselves first. They love their money first. They love their body ... declaring, I am the captain of my soul. ... I am the master of my fate. ... It’s my body. It’s my choice.
Yes, it is a choice, alright ... a choice between life and death, sin and grace.
Choose life!
Before conversion ... that is, before baptism ... we were entirely incapable of responding to or cooperating with God’s grace.
4.
But now ... because Christ has united himself with us in baptism ... the new man in us is able to respond to and cooperate with God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I urge you to repent and believe the Gospel. Now you can!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is calling you to be one of his own. He has prepared abundance for you (Mk 8:8). Now we are able to hear and see all of his gifts ... absolution, baptism, and the supper working together to proclaim the fullness Gospel. Each of these means of grace work together to deliver an abundance of God’s grace ... the forgiveness of sins. They each show us the cross, Christ crucified, our salvation. They lead us to the Tree of Life.
On account of baptism, he has enabled you to choose between Christ and Satan ... spirit and flesh ... life and death. You may not perfectly fulfill the letter of the law, but now it cannot condemn you as a sinner. Christ has set you free. And, having been set free from sin and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit [leading into] holiness, and the end is eternal life.
As a child of God, you are now able to hear his word of absolution that you are not subject to his wrath. You have the Gospel ... the Good News that Christ has paid the debt of your sin ... yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s ... and has given you his righteousness. Christ lived life without sin. Christ was crucified for you, facing the full wrath of God for your sin. He shed his blood for you, and died for you. Christ overcame death for you, and has returned to the Father to prepare a place for you where you will receive an eternal inheritance. That about a gift!
And let us not forget ... because of but now ... he is coming again for you to lead you here into his sanctuary, where we discover the bread and wine of life in the Lord’s supper. This meal that he prepared for you is a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants salvation and comfort. Why do we keep spurning these gifts? He turns the bread of death into the Bread of Life in the Sacrament of the Altar, giving you His very body and blood for your forgiveness.
As Luther said in the large catechism ... We are not baptized because we are worthy and holy. Nor do we go to confession because we are pure and without sin. On the contrary, we go because we are poor, miserable people. We go exactly because we are unworthy. But now whoever would gladly receive grace and comfort should drive himself to the altar for the Lord’s supper for the same reason. Here he offers to us the entire treasure that he has brought for us from heaven (SC V 61-62, 66).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let his will be done. God has already set you free from sin and death, so choose the fruit of the Holy Spirit as often as you can, for the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. In his name we pray.