Reading 1
Romans 6:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, [a]resulting in further lawlessness,
- Paul admits that it is difficult and a weakness of the flesh to understand the Christian concept of slavery. Slavery, of course, has negative implications. But the Christian concept has no negative, destructive, consequences. The Christian concept of slavery to Christ is all positive.
- Just as some depict a relationship with God as a friend as a buddy, this can be wrong. We can have certain benefits of friendship with God. But there are some differences in the friendship with God and the "buddy" aspect with a human. We must be careful to know the difference.
- weakness of your flesh. John MacArthur gives a good short definition of our "flesh", "The flesh is the human faculty influenced by Sin," When we hear the term, "he is acting in the flesh", that means he is acting under the influence of Sin.
A T Robertson says that Weakness of your flesh means "Because of defective spiritual insight largely due to moral defects also. https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_618-20
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Romans 6:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, [a]resulting in further lawlessness,
impurity. There is a lot of deceptive thinking among Christians viewing what is sexual sin. To clear it all up in a short explanation, let's look at this one word "impurity." The Greek meaning is this:
(167) (akatharsia from a = without + kathaíro = cleanse) is a broad term referring to moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed. It describes a state of moral impurity, especially sexual sin. The term akatharsiarefers to filth or refuse. Paul's point here is that sin defiles us, producing corruption and degradation of the sinner.
MacArthur says akatharsia "refers to pornographic thoughts that lead to pornographic activities...
https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_618-20
In short, if what you do sexually dirties your approach in any way into the presence of God, it is impure! You cannot rationalize and redefine what your conscience says to you.
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Reading 2
Romans 6:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, [a]resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, [b]resulting in sanctification.
lawlessness. means "no law." It is the attitude of avoiding following the rule, from doing what is right from God's perspective. This attitude proceeds from a heart caring not for the honor of God but for the gratification of its flesh [the desire to please our lusts].
- It sees no value in the law or the rule. Rather it elevates the Rule of Self, deposing the Rule of Christ.
- A great achievement of Satan in these last days is to persuade a vast multitude of Christians that the Bible contains errors and that each has his own interpretation. Therefore, the sense is that each person is his own "god" able to pick and choose the meaning and what is acceptable. There is a lack of study of the Bible with objectivity, a clean heart, a repentance of arrogant pride fortifying this belief.
- If the Bible is an interpretation left to the individual, then what is really true? Who is right? Who can be believed?
- My friends, each of us must come down from our lofty perch of judge over the Bible and accept its validity of divine and complete revelation by God without error. Then we must accept it by faith, not by reason and understanding.
- Then we must proceed to learn the Bible as God's Word with an objective and clean heart, relying solely upon the Holy Spirit to teach us. There are excellent teachers available to help us. Be careful, your teachers are from an historical mainline school of understanding the Greek and Hebrew, who know how to weigh all Scripture, interpreting and concluding that text meaning is in harmony with other Scripture.
- Follower of Christ, make the Bible your law from God. But be careful to understand the meaning of law and grace. We follow grace not law. But grace, being the divine presence pointing us to the law we should follow, is the best way to live.
- The true Christian cannot live lawless. He follows not the cold law, but the warm presence of Christ within Him. That kind of walk motivates Him to please His Master, to follow His words. Grace inspires obedience to the laws of the Spirit.
- Why do maturing Christians have such high standards? It's because we find that the more we obey and please Christ--His laws--we discover 2 things:
- the corruption of self and sin. We see the dirtiness and defeatism it produces.
- Second, we see and sense the inner presence of Christ growing in us. And we find that an addictive desire, to experience and submit more to Him
- the Bible predicts the last days as being the lawless generation. Of course, every generation has been lawless. But the end of history is predominantly lawless.
This verse lies within the passage of explaining the work of lawlessness right prior to the rapture of the Church.
The lawless one is Anti-Christ.
2 Timothy 3:
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a]haters of good,4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
so now present your members as slaves to righteousness.
- not just once, but repeatedly as a lifestyle, especially when confronted with each Sin, each voice from Self, each enticement of persons, any lies of Evil.
- in each experience, present your entire body and soul to Christ. Present it in a fashion of helplessness. Admit to Christ you cannot refuse evil and choose good. Explain your helplessness, inability, and willingness to do things your way. Then embrace Christ and drink of Him to do in you what you need to deal with the temptation at hand.
“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself." The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: "I know not this man." Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him.”
- Live, knowing you are a slave to Christ. Though you want and feel, those things belong to the Old Person you used to be--pre-salvation. You were paid with the price of Christ's blood. You do not own yourself. Now trust Christ with your submission, then discover the inward reward for obedience.
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Reading 3
Romans 6:20 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
...so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, [b]resulting in sanctification.
Sanctification (holiness) (38) (hagiasmos from hagiazo = sanctify from hagios = holy, set apart, consecrated) refers to the process of making holy and includes the ideas of consecration, purification, dedication and holiness. The dominant idea is separation from the secular and sinful and setting apart for a sacred purpose, for God’s special use, all made possible by the atoning work of Christ. Hagiasmos does not denote the state of holiness but rather the process of being made holy, of becoming more and more in character and conduct that which God desires us to be. https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_618-20
Hagios is a process. Receiving Christ, getting saved, is not an immediate change. It is the beginning of a process of transformation that includes a lifetime lifestyle of walking with Christ, learning of Him and trusting to do as He commands. This is discipleship to maturity and fruit-bearing.
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