Being A Slave Means It’s Easy (Righteousness And Life)

Length: 12 Minutes

If you were to read Romans 5-7 (and a bit of chapter 8) you would find words like “reign, slave, dominion, captivity, and law (as in a governing authority).” There are a lot of words describing a slave/master relationship. That’s because, before we knew Jesus, we were slaves to sin and death. Those were the two things that came through Adam. Likewise, we now have a new slavery to righteousness and life – the opposite of what Adam enslaved us to. Romans 5 calls it “righteousness and grace.” 

[All words in brackets are my own].

Romans 5:21 (NKJV) …so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This verse says that sin reigned over us in death, like a ruler. Sin and death governed us. Romans says that we were slaves to sin, captive to death, and sin and death was a law to us (a governing authority to us).

Romans 6:17 (NKJV) …you were slaves of sin…

Romans 8:2 (NKJV) …Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

What does it mean to be a slave to sin and death? It means you can’t get out of it. It reigns over you, which means that it controls you, your actions, and your outcome. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s just the way that you were born. While you can try to hide it by “cleaning the outside of the cup,” so to speak, it’s still there and it’s not something you can control (Matthew 23:25). It controls you. That’s what being a slave to sin and death is.

Even if you don’t want to do the wrong thing, you end up doing it anyway, because sin is not a choice, it’s a bondage apart from Jesus. The same thing with death. People don’t die because they want to. People die and go through hurt and suffering because they have to. That’s the very definition of bondage and slavery. 

Paul described what being a slave of sin looks like here:

Romans 7:19-21 (NKJV) For the good that I will [or want] to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. …it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law [a governing], that evil is present with me…

That’s what being a slave of sin is. Paul describes it as a captivity (or a law) in his flesh, so strong that even when he didn’t want to do the wrong thing, he still did. In fact, he said that it wasn’t even him working, it was sin working in him. That’s why it was so easy to sin.

The most important point here is that the Bible now describes us as slaves of righteousness and life. 

Romans 6:18 (NKJV) And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Romans 8:2 (NKJV) For the law [the governing] of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law [the governing] of sin and death.

Let’s first address righteousness. What does it mean to be a slave of righteousness? Well, you would think it would mean something similar to being a slave of sin. After all, they’re both described as types of slavery. But as the church, we have distorted what it means to be a slave of righteousness.

The way that people describe being a slave of righteousness is, “We need to choose every day to do the right thing. That’s our service to righteousness. It’s not always easy, but it’s a choice we must make. Our “sinful nature” may want to do the wrong thing, but we need to wrangle it and bring it into subjection. We need to show it who’s boss.” 

Wow, being a slave of righteousness sounds like a tough job. Being a slave of righteousness sounds like it takes some hard work. But here’s one way you know that definition of being a slave of righteousness is completely incorrect: Just look at how God defined being a slave when we were a slave of sin.

When we were slaves of sin, was it hard to sin? All the contrary, it was our default. It was easiest to sin. Was it laborious? Was it something we had to determine to do every day? All the contrary, even when we didn’t want to sin, we found ourselves doing it anyway. It was the inescapable, inevitable outcome of our life. We didn’t have to try to sin. We had to try harder not to sin! And even so, we ended up sinning anyway. 

When you were a slave of sin and sin reigned over you, sin worked through you! That’s why it was so easy. Sin was the one in the driver’s seat and you were just along for the ride! The sinful passions and lusts in your flesh burned within you and then it acted upon it’s lust through you. As hard as you tried, you couldn’t stop it (Romans 7:14, 8:2). 

If that’s what slavery means regarding sin, why does it mean something totally different in the church, to be a slave of righteousness? Being a slave to sin meant sinning was easy, without effort. So, you’d expect that being a slave to righteousness means that righteousness comes easy, without effort. But the church makes being a slave of righteousness out to sound like work – like we’re battling our flesh all our life – like we are trying to wrangle our sinful desires into submission! That’s how we describe being a slave to righteousness, but that sounds more like how Paul describes slavery to sin! Wow, something’s wrong here.

If being a slave of sin meant that it was easy to sin and hard to do right, then being a slave of righteousness should mean that it’s easy to do right, but hard to sin!

If slavery to sin and death meant that it was our inescapable, inevitable outcome, then slavery to righteousness and life means that it is our inescapable, inevitable outcome! 

If being a slave to sin meant that we weren’t working anymore, but sin worked within us, then being a slave of righteousness means that we’re not working anymore, but righteousness works within us! 

Romans 7:19 describes being a slave of sin as, “it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” So, it’s no wonder that Galatians 2:20 describes our slavery to righteousness very similar, “…it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” This shouldn’t surprise us. Whether to sin or to righteousness, they’re both described as slavery! 

Slavery means you’re stuck in it. It’s not hard to live in it. In fact, it’s impossible to get out of it! If we can say that about the things that Adam enslaved us to, how much more can we say that about the things that Jesus enslaved us to?! Is the work of Adam greater than the work of Jesus? Is the sin and death of Adam stronger than the righteousness and life of Jesus? 

How could we think that Adam’s slavery to sin made it easy to sin, but Jesus’ slavery to righteousness can’t make it easy to live right? How could we think that Adam’s slavery to death made us sure to die, but Jesus’ slavery to life can’t make us sure to live through Him? I assure you, the work of our Last Adam, Jesus, is greater than the work of the first Adam! The latter has overcome the former!

The sin and death we received from Adam and the life and righteousness we received through Jesus are both called slavery! The only difference the Bible points out between those slaveries is that, the bondage to good we have through Jesus is much more than that from Adam! I repeat, much more!

Romans 5:17 (NKJV) For if by the one man’s [Adam’s] offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

It says that, if Adam’s sin caused death to reign over us, then MUCH MORE we will reign in life through righteousness, in Jesus! So, both Adam and Jesus gave us slavery, but our bondage to life and righteousness is much more!

If Adam made it easy to sin, then Jesus, much more to righteousness! If Adam made it inevitable to die, then Jesus, much more to live! If Adam gave us sin and death so strong, it overtook us without our trying, much more can the righteousness and life of Jesus overtake your body and mind without your effort!

Deuteronomy 28:2 (NKJV) And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God [Referring to faith. See our Obedience of Faith material]

Through Jesus, we have a stronger bondage to everything that is good, pleasing, and perfect. This is a “life sentence” that I never want to get out of. And thanks to the blood of Jesus, we never will.

How To Partake Of It

All of this may sound great to your average believer, but many may be wondering, “If this is true for believers, then why haven’t I seen that in my life?” Because this bondage to life and righteousness is inside of you and you need to let it out! As we renew our minds to the slavery of life and righteousness we have inside, our bodies will experience this slavery as well. You’ll begin to experience the results we’ve been describing! 

This is what Paul means when he says to “present your members [of your body]” as slaves of righteousness as well.

Romans 6:19 (NKJV) …For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness… so now present [or exhibit] your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 

The righteousness and life is inside of you, but you can exhibit these things in the members of your body! It doesn’t automatically come out. That’s why there may be a discrepancy between what you see in your life and what we’re describing in this article. You are truly a slave to life and righteousness, but it’s inside of you. The way you tap into what you have is by renewing your mind.

Peter speaks about life and righteousness also, but he says “life and godliness.” He calls these two things “the divine nature” and he also tells us how to partake of it!

2 Peter 1:3-4 (NKJV) as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness… by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these [the promises] you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

You already have everything that pertains to life and godliness. In fact, Romans 5-8 says your captive to it! So, how do you partake of it and start exhibiting that in your life? By God’s precious promises. By God’s word.

It’s by knowing the word of God and the promises contained in the gospel that you partake of your new nature! I’m not necessarily talking about what you’ve heard at church before. I’m talking about the truth. A misrepresented Jesus is not going to cause you to partake! The true word of Jesus will.

God has given us His word and His promises so that we can partake by it! Without the word of God, we would be slaves to righteousness and life, yet living substandard, in striving and difficulty, not realizing how easy it is. Without knowledge, the captivity you have inside will lie dormant. It takes acknowledging who you are in Jesus to let it out (Philemon 1:6). The only reason why more Christians are not living in the ease of life and righteousness is simply because they don’t know about it, but if you want to experience it, the promises of God will take you there!

You have a complete bondage to life and righteousness living inside of you. These things are ready to come upon you and overtake you, but you just need to start thinking like it. Stop thinking like a slave of sin and death. Start thinking like a slave to righteousness and life. When you acknowledge it, it will become effectual in your life, though it has been real since the day you were born again.

If you will renew your thoughts, you’ll find that righteousness and life manifests in ways that you weren’t striving for and couldn’t do yourself. You’ll find that healing flows easily. You’ll find that righteousness happens effortlessly, because it’s no longer you that do it, but righteousness within you! That’s what it’s like to be in bondage to the law of righteousness and life, as it reigns through you!

These things are not hard to manifest. If you start acknowledging these things, it would be harder to try and stop it!

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