We don’t continue in sin so that God’s grace may abound. How can we who died to sin still live in it? We have been baptized into Christ’s death, we were buried with Him by baptism into death, and raised from the dead to walk in newness of life. If we have been united with Jesus in a death like his, we will be united with him in a resurrection like his. Our old self was crucified with him we are no longer slaves to sin. If we have died with Christ we will live with him. Jesus was raised and will never die again. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Don’t let sin reign in your body making you obey its passions. Present yourselves to God and your members as instruments for righteousness. Sin won’t rule you since you are not under law but grace. Are we to sin because we are not under the law but grace? No! We are slaves of the one whom we obey – sin or righteousness. Thanks be to God, that we who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the gospel! Praise God that we have become slaves to righteousness. Even as we used to live for sin now present your body as a slave to righteousness leading to sanctification (growth in holiness). When slaves of sin we were free regarding righteousness. What was the fruit of sin and not obeying righteousness? Death. Now that we are free from sin the fruit we get leads to sanctification (growth in holiness) and its end – Eternal Life! The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Praise God that where I had no righteousness and where my life was only bearing the fruit of death, that He fully accomplished and applied the salvation of Jesus Christ to my life. Praise God that now I can obey righteousness instead of sin. Praise God that sin has no hold upon my heart and my life. Praise God that I have nothing to fear from the slavery of my flesh to sin and to this world. Praise God that through Christ I can live for God and grow up in salvation. Praise God for sanctification – the work of God’s free grace, by which He is renewing me in in my whole person after His image, and am increasingly enabled more and more to die to my sin, and live to righteousness. My righteousness is Jesus Christ and He is mine by God’s grace alone. Praise God.