THE OLD BONDAGE AND THE NEW SERVICE
The Substance of an Address on Romans
5:19 – 6:17
W. J. Hocking, 1945
It is upon my heart this
evening to speak a little to you concerning our relation as believers to sin that
dwells within us, and also to God Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. In
both cases our obedience or disobedience is involved. As the sin or sinful
nature dwelling within us leads to the terrible result of disobedience to God,
so the new life which we have in Christ displays itself in loving obedience to
God and His written word. The divine truth regarding these relations to sin and
to God is set out clearly and fully in the Epistle to the Romans, especially in
the passage just read to you.
It is idle, and evil too, to
suppose that we who are born anew by God’s Holy Spirit and justified from all
things through our Lord Jesus Christ are not required to be in our manner of
life entirely different from those not born again and not justified by faith in
our Lord Jesus Christ. The fact is that the whole tenor of our lives should
distinguish us easily from those who are in the sinful state in which we
ourselves were until the mercy and goodness of God delivered us. It is
deplorable; however, that many believers are not diligent enough to establish,
nor even to seek to establish the details of their lives in accordance with the
plainly-stated precepts and principles of God’s word. The reading and study of
God’s word is commonly confined to certain parts of it which seem more
attractive and easier to understand. It is assumed that such a partial
reference to scripture for daily instruction and guidance will be sufficient
for the well-being of the soul, and no more is needed. But God has given us all
the scriptures in a single volume for our instruction in wisdom and
righteousness (2 Tim
The Truth about a Believer’s Sins
Referring now to Romans, we
have in it truth which is vital and fundamental to our normal life as Christian
believers. When a sinner is awakened from his slumber and neglect of God to a
sense of his personal responsibility for his sins, the first desire of his
heart and conscience is to obtain some relief from the guilt he has begun to
feel. He knows he is under the just condemnation of God, because of the long
catalogue of sins against which the wrath of God from heaven is revealed (Rom
The first part of this
Epistle, to chapter 5 verse 11, deals with the subject of the remission of
sins, and of justification by faith through Christ Jesus. It shows that the
believing sinner receives absolute pardon from his guilt through the blood of
Jesus. Moreover, through the grace of God the believer is not only freed from
his guilt, but is reckoned to be righteous because of his faith in God (Rom
4:5). He looks believingly to the Lord Jesus Christ Who was delivered for his
offences and raised again for his justification (Rom 4:25), and he receives the
grand truth of the gospel that though he once was responsibly under the full
weight of his sins, he is not delivered from that burden, and is accepted by a
just God as a justified person (Rom 3:26). And what is the effect upon the
believer of this great discovery? He joys in God Himself through the Lord Jesus
Christ by Whom he has now received the reconciliation (v. 11).
To rejoice in the God of his
salvation might seem to the believer to be the very climax of divine blessing.
If he is now so full of joy, what more can he contain or require? But the young
believer soon finds his joy in God interrupted. He experiences something within
him that does not respond to the abounding grace of God. He fails to appreciate
the possessions of faith. He looks back to the country from which he came out,
to the present age from which he was redeemed. He finds evil thoughts and
desires arising, increasing in intensity, and multiplying till he is sorely
distressed and bewildered by the unexpected anomaly. He clings to the belief
that Christ suffered and died for his sins, yet he still has a disposition to
commit sin, and he discovers that the wrong act is not distasteful to him while
doing it. Afterwards he is sorry; he regrets what he has done; he resolves that
it shall not occur again, but it does! Why is he so powerless to prevent the
recurrence? Is there no remedy for the proneness of a believer to sin against
God? This Epistle answers such questions.
The Truth about a Believer’s Sin
From the middle (v. 11) of
the fifth chapter of Romans, where we read of the believer rejoicing, joying,
boasting, exulting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle takes up
the subject of the sin within the believer. We may commit sins. If we do so it
is because something exists within us from which these sins proceed. From our
natural birth we possess an irrepressible disposition to sin. This evil
tendency is inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. It was “by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (v. 12). With the single word
“sin,” God points His finger to the seat of trouble in the believer. Sin is in
the heart. From that root, all varieties of evil fruit spring. The fountain is
poisoned at its source. This is true, not of one person only, but of all men
alike. All share in the possession of sin and in its consequence and penalty,
death. And although a believer’s sinful acts are forgiven and he himself
justified, there remains within him the inherited disposition to sin.
But there is no need for despair.
Grace has appeared and brought a remedy against the dominion of sin as well as
for the guilt of sins. God has provided not only for my sins but also for the
evil heart of unbelief abiding within me. And the deliverer in both cases is
the same Blessed One, Christ Jesus. As by Adam sin came into the world and
spread its dominating power over men everywhere, so by Jesus Christ grace came
into the world and God’s act of favor is freely extended to men everywhere,
irrespective of race, color, or country. This grace has found righteous means
not only to pardon the believer, but to enable him to rise above the
domineering power of his indwelling sin and instead to do the will of God with
fidelity and delight.
It is sometimes said that
deliverance from sin is a matter of personal effort, and that evil habits can
and should be overcome by one’s firm resolution and perseverance. But this
advice overlooks the fact that although the wicked deed may be checked by
will-power alone, the sinful desire fills the heart beforehand. And divine
holiness uncovers the secret source of inward evil. In God’s sight, the thought
of foolishness is sin. Our Lord condemns alike the lustful look and the
adulterous act (Matt
Two great correlated truths
relate to Christian living – (1) sin dwells in the believer, and (2) grace has
overcome the power of sin and provided a way of escape from its tyranny. Many
honest and true-hearted believers who desire to live according to God are most anxious
to discover some means of avoiding the repeated failures which they deplore.
They say: “I have to go again and again to seek pardon for sins of which I am
ashamed. How can I life more consistently?” Yes, by the supply of God’s grace,
you will be enabled to fashion your life according to the instructions of His
word. Simply, the way of faithfulness is the obedience of faith. The same faith
that clings to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, must cling to Him for power
to obey God even as He obeyed. The secret of a victorious life is the renunciation
of self and the determination to do everything by the faith of the Son
of God. Looking in faith to Him, sin is suppressed, and holiness attained.
The reign of grace in the new life of the believer is “through Jesus Christ our
Lord.”
The Law of Sinai Caused Man’s Offences to Abound
In verses 19 and 20 the
effects of sin and grace are summarized, and also that of the law. “Sin
abounded,” not only numerically by its multitudinous acts, but overwhelmingly
by overcoming all human efforts to subdue it. Sin’s power to overcome man
exceeds man’s power to resist sin. Man is unable to extinguish the
solicitations of the evil nature within him; but, thanks be to God, “where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”
God gave the law to man not
as a means of deliverance from sin, but as a test of his moral standard. The
law was not given until Moses, twenty-five centuries after Adam. The Israelites
were held responsible to observe it in their national life. The result was a
complete failure under this test. Disobedience to God was ingrained in the soul
of the people. Under the law,
But
The law was a provisional
institution. Yet many Christians turn back to the law of Moses, assuming that
its observance is necessary for a pure and holy life. But when they say that
the law ought to be kept as a rule of life, they overlook the revealed truth
that the sin that dwells within them, the mind of the flesh, “is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom 8:7). There is enmity in the mind,
not submissive obedience. What God commands, the flesh disobeys.
On account of this inborn
dislike of the will of God, many who have been most zealous for the law have
become the greatest sinners. For example, who in the days of our Lord were more
zealous for the law than the Pharisees (Matthew 23)? They carefully observed
all its ceremonial requirements. They tithed even their garden herbs. They
fasted twice in the week. To the law of Moses they added the tradition of the
elders. All these law-works, they did in the sight of their fellows to ensure
their admiration and applause. But when the Lord Jesus looked up on them, He
saw that the phylacteries upon their foreheads and the wide hems upon their
garments were evidence of the pride of their hearts, not of their obedience to
the will of God. The outside of the cud and platter was clean, but within He
saw corruption and wickedness. The Lord told the scribes and Pharisees plainly
they were but hypocrites, like whited sepulchres, good to look at outwardly,
but inwardly full of uncleanness. Proud of their own fancied attainments, they despised
and hated the piety of our Lord. None among the Jews was more zealous for the
crucifixion of Christ than the Pharisees. They long plotted to put Him to
death, even uniting with their rivals, the Sadducees, to gain this end. They
made use of the law in which they boasted to secure a death-sentence from
Pilate. “We have a law,” they said, “and by our law He ought to die, because He
made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). No, the law cannot save from the
power and penalty of sin, but by the law is the knowledge of sin, and by it sin
becomes exceeding sinful (Rom
The law says to the one under
it, “Thou shalt”; and to the disobedient, “Curses be upon you.” “Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them” (Gal
Will God’s Abounding Grace Excuse my Continuance in
Sin?
The evil nature is likely to
abuse the truth of God in the scripture we have been considering. “Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound,” and regard it even as an excuse for a
believer’s sin. The apostle deals with such an attempt: “What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound” (ver. 1) Shall we take
advantage of the abundance of grace, and by our self indulgence make a fresh
occasion for its display? The more we sin, the more grace will bestow. God is
infinitely gracious, and the worse our behavior is, the greater will be the
supply of God’s grace to cover our sin. Those who talk or think in this strain,
whether intentionally or not, are liable to turn, as we read, “The grace of our
God into lasciviousness” (Jude 4). And history shows that many gross evils have
arisen in Christendom from such abuses of God’s abounding grace.
But the snare is ever spread
for our feet, into which without constant vigilance we may stumble at any time.
Take, for example, our attendance at the Lord’s table for the commemoration of
the Lord’s death. There we are in the presence of the Lord Jesus, Who said,
“Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst
of them.” Is there not a tendency within us, in spite of the solemnity of the
occasion, for our attention and our thoughts to wander into irrelevant matters?
Instead of being absorbed wit the contemplation of Christ Himself and with the
recollection of His death upon the cross, we become engaged with something
trivial and improper. Thus, even in the sanctuary of the Lord’s presence, sin
raises its horrid head within us, seeking to carry us away in spite of
ourselves.
Here lies the danger of
abusing the abounding grace of God and regarding such failures as of no
consequence. A dulled conscience may begin to make excuse, and say that such
lapses in attention are inevitable, and do not matter; Christ died for our
sins! But such a failure does matter. It is a disregard of the presence of our
Lord. It is sin in the holy place. “The thought of foolishness is sin.” It
needs God’s forgiveness, our confession, and Christ’s cleansing. And God has
made that provision for His children, who still possess an evil nature. “If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Confession shows that such lapses are
neither under-estimated nor ignored by us. The inward motions of sin are
rebuked and deplored. And there is no desire within us to “continue in sin that
grace may abound.”
The Believer’s Death to Sin
Clearly, the evil of allowing
sin to be active within us without let or hindrance is manifest in scripture.
Death itself is declared to be the barrier to the activity of sin. The apostle
writes, “How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (ver 2).
To do so is a contradiction in terms. Carefully note what is said, for the test
is often misunderstood because it is misquoted or misread. Paul does not say
that sin itself is dead, not imply that the evil nature has disappeared
altogether. It is we ourselves who have died to sin; how then can we go on
living in sin? It is a dangerous deceit to suppose that sin itself is extracted
from believers. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
The truth that should be in
us is that we have died unto sin. Through Christ Jesus we have taken the place
of death, where sin can no longer exercise its dominion over us. This revealed
truth we are called to believe. It only becomes a practical reality to those
who do believe it. Lack of faith hinders deliverance from the authority and
power of indwelling sin, but faith in Christ Jesus gives us the joy of victory.
On the testimony of the scripture, we accept the truth that we are reconciled
to God by the death of His Son; on that same testimony we are called to accept
the truth that “so many of us as were baptized unto Jesys Christ, were baptized
unto his death” (ver. 3). Both truths rest upon the same immutable foundation –
the death of Christ.
We believe, therefore, not
that sin is dead, but that we died out of its clutches. Between ourselves and
sin, there is the barrier of the river
The believer’s death to sin
is an integral part of the Christian profession, and it is here associated with
the initiatory rite of baptism. “Know ye not that so many of us as were
baptized into (unto) Jesus Christ were baptized into (unto) His death?
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into (unto) death” (vers. 3,4). The
apostle reminds them of what their baptism signified. It outlined their
profession. They declared in figure that they had been baptized unto the death
of Christ. They, as it were, announced to the whole world that they were
associated with the Christ Who died, and Who by His death disappeared entirely
from the world, for the world last saw Christ upon the cross. Christ in
heaven has no link with the world. As an institution or system, He has no
relations with it, nor will have, until He comes to judge the habitable world
in righteousness (Acts
In passing, we may notice
that the apostle while stating that we have died with Christ, avoids saying
that we have risen with Him, as he teaches in other Epistles. Here we are shown
that we have part with His death, but not with His resurrection, for baptism
symbolizes only our death with Christ, not our present imputed resurrection
with Him. But we do read here of our future share in the first resurrection
because of Christ. “for if we have been planted together in the likeness of His
death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (ver. 5). This is
“the redemption of the body,” which will take place at the coming of the Lord
for His saints (Phil
Our Old Man Crucified with Christ
In the next verse a new term
appears—“our old man”: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him
that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled) that henceforth we should
not serve sin” (ver. 6). The apostle here speaks, not of sin being dealt with,
but of “our old man.” This term is sometimes alluded to as “our old nature”,
that is, the root of evil within us. This is not correct. The old man is
not a personification of sin itself, but is the old self, the old person, the
seat of our former personality and responsibility before our new birth. Thus,
in Galatians 2:20, the apostle says, “I am crucified with Christ”; he means the
old I, Saul the persecutor of Christ, the enemy of those who confessed Christ’s
name, the only who described himself as a blasphemer and injurious, the chief
of sinners. That old man, Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless
I live; yet not I” – not that old I – “but Christ liveth in me.” The new I, the
new man, is he who inwardly delights in Christ, and outwardly conforms to the
life of Christ in his everyday words and deeds.
The life of Christ in us
consists of a Christ-like behavior, which wile it is a profound performance, is
a simple matter, but simple only in the sense that it is not intricate or
complicated in attainment. For a likeness to Christ is found in a babe in
Christ as well as in the young men and fathers of the family of God. The
adoring admiration of Christ leads to an unconscious imitation of His words and
ways. To delight in Christ is to become like Him spiritually. Walking with
Christ, communing with Him, listening to Him, brings a moral conformity to His
image and likeness. By this means the new nature is allowed to follow its
instincts in a growing attraction by the aid of the Holy Spirit to the adorable
Person of the Lord Jesus Himself. And thus we walk “in newness of life,” and
not according to our former manner of life.
In the apostle’s words, “Our
old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed.” “Destroyed”
expresses the true sense less correctly than “annulled” or “rendered
powerless,” so that it does not assert itself. Because of our crucifixion with
Christ, the body with its disposition to serve sin is kept in its rightful
place of inaction. Thereby the new life becomes uppermost in practice, and
takes charge of our ways, and our likeness of character to the Lord Jesus
Christ is developed accordingly.
Then, the believer’s complete
detachment from the rule of indwelling sin is again emphasized: “For he that is
dead is freed from sin.” Our imputed death with Christ has procured for us a
complete emancipation from bondage to sin. The metaphor, death, is conclusive,
and should silence every doubt concerning our deliverance. All a person’s
obligations cease to be binding on him at his death. A purchased slave dies,
and his owner can exact no further service from him. Death frees the slave from
bondage. So the apostle writes, “He that is dead is freed from sin.” The
believer by the death of Christ is made free from bondage to sin, seeing he
died with Him.
Death with Christ Delivers from the Dominion of Sin
Next we read, “Now if we be
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion
over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, he
liveth unto God” (vers. 8-10). Here the apostle shows that the death of Christ
is His victory over the power of sin; “in that He has died, He died unto sin
once for all.” Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In Him
there was no sin, nor could He commit sin. But the Lord in His ministry came in
contact with sin and sinners; for He came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance. The woman taken in adultery was brought to Him for
judgment. He was here as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
He came to serve in a world where sin reigned unto death, and where He was the
Obedient One, even as far as death, the death of the cross. At His death, His
work for propitiation was completed. “He has died unto sin once for all.” Being
raised from the dead He dies no more, death has dominion over Him no more. He
became dead, but He is living to the ages of ages. Now He lives unto God. His
sacrificial work for sin is behind His back; He has not to repeat it, nor
augment it. And when He appears the second time to those who look for Him, it
will be “without (apart from) sin unto salvation” (Heb
At present, our Lord Jesus
having died unto sin is living “unto God” in the Father’s house, preparing for
us a place there, where all is purity and holiness and righteousness, apart
from the slightest taint of sin. Absolute separation from sin, from its
dominion and defilement, is the character of the life in Christ, and this is to
be the character of the lives of those who died with Him. Like Him, we are to
have nothing whatever to do with sin. And so far as we live by faith in the
truth that we have died with Christ, so far shall we live “in newness of life.”
Reckoning Ourselves Dead unto Sin by Alive unto God
Our responsibility is bound
up with what Christ has already accomplished. “For in that He died, He died
unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through (in)
Christ Jesus” (vers. 10,11). Our responsibility is to “reckon” ourselves to be
dead unto sin. All evil suggestions, cravings, impulses, arising from within
are to be met with the recollection that we have died with Christ. This act
of faith is the secret of strength to overcome. The courage of faith that
counts ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God conquers. Only in this
manner can believers fulfill the injunction of the apostle, “Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof”
(ver. 12).
It may be noted that the word
“reckon,” is the same as is used in chapter 4, in connection with our
justification by faith. It occurs eleven times in that chapter, being
translated “counted” and “imputed,” as well as “reckoned.” There, it is God Who
“imputeth righteousness” (ver. 6) to the believer. Such an act seems impossible
to the natural mind. Many a believer looking at himself sees that he is not
righteous, and cannot understand how he is made righteous. Yet there is the
plain scripture that “his faith is counted (reckoned) for righteousness” (4:5).
Abraham is an illustration of this truth. He believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness. He believed that was impossible in the ordinary course
of human nature, because of God’s word. When Abraham and Sarah were both
physically impotent, God said that they should have a son. Abraham believed the
promise of God, which was the right thing for him to do. And because he
believed, God reckoned the patriarch to be righteous. Moreover, not he only but
all believers have been given a righteous standing by God’s counting, God’s
imputing, God’s reckoning.
But in relation to our sinful
nature, we are exhorted to do the reckoning. We are to “reckon” ourselves “dead
indeed unto sin.” This “death” is not a matter of fact, ascertainable by our
senses, but a matter off faith in what is stated by the Spirit of God in the
scripture before us, which regards us as having died with Christ.
Does Deliverance from the Law Provide an Excuse for
Sinning?
By grace believers are
delivered from bondage to the law. Does this release give them liberty to sin
as and when they please? This is the second great question considered in the
chapter. The question in verse 1 is, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound?” Now the apostle after saying “Ye are not under the law, but under
grace,” immediately asks, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under
the law, but under grace?” If we have been freed from the obligations of the
law, we are also free from the penalties which the law inflicts upon the
disobedient. Our perverse nature then inquires whether this deliverance from
the prohibitions and commandments and punishments of the law entitles us to do
as we like and to sin as we please. But the truth is that if we are freed from
the yoke of bondage to the law and to sin, it is that we hay put on the yoke of
Christ, and to obey even as He obeyed. If we are no longer bond-slaves to
sin, we are bond-slaves to God, Whose service is perfect liberty.
Some may imagine that this
question is one not likely to arise in the practical history of believers; they
think those no longer under the law are unlikely to sin. But God knows the
subtlety of the heart. And we have the case of Ananias and Sapphira who seemed
to have sinned because they were not under law as formerly, but under grace. It
was soon after Pentecost and the preaching of the grace of God through the
crucified and exalted Christ. Grace wrought in the hearts of believers so that
they sold their goods and distributed the proceeds to the poor. Such generosity
was not an ordinance of the law but an act of grace, done in the spirit of
Christ Who “though He was rich, yet” as the apostle wrote, “for your sakes
became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor 8:9). Ananias
and Sapphira agreed together to imitate the generosity of their brethren and
sell their possessions for the benefit of the poor.
Now here the husband and wife
were tempted by Satan to sin because they were not under law but under grace.
It was not a provision of the law that they should sell all that they had and
give to the poor all they received. It was grace that set them the shining
example of a complete surrender, but left them free to imitate it or not. Here
the guilty pair saw an opportunity for deceit. They agreed to keep for
themselves part of the price, and to bring the remainder to the apostles as if
it were the whole. By this pretence they took advantage of the liberty of grace
to “lie to the Holy Ghost.” Not being under the law, but under grace, they
sinned unto death, and the judgment of God fell upon them both.
This solemn incident of sin
under grace stands recorded on the first page of Christian history as a warning
to all who are “under grace” lest they fall into sin in like manner. We must
take heed lest we trespass upon the grace of God, and forget that grace reigns
through righteousness. We have communion with the Holy One, and He knows our
secret thoughts and intentions. And we ought to remember that “the heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). There the
Lord looks, for He searches the heart, and tries the reins. He desires to see
truth in the inward parts. Let us
beware, therefore, lest we make our deliverance from the rigorous exactions of
the law an excuse for secret sin.
Sin’s Sure Wages and God’s Gracious Giving
The great truths revealed in this
chapter are concisely summarized in its final verse: “For the wages of sin is
death; but the free gift of God life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord” (W.K.)
The service of sin yields only barrenness and deadness as its wages in life;
the judgment after death being outside the scope of this passage is not
mentioned here. But God’s act of favour yields an exuberant fullness of life in
Christ Jesus. Many who through faith have eternal life fail to live that new
life. Life eternal is not a mere static existence. It dwells in a sphere
of which Christ Himself in the centre and the circumference and from which sin
is banished. Eternal life begins when the heart is attracted and attached to
Christ Jesus. Henceforth, the Lord Jesus animates our thoughts and words and
actions, and is the source and motive of all we think and desire to do.
This life eternal is not
acquired by effort or purchase; it is God’s free gift, which He bestows where
there is faith in His Son. It is not to be explained or defined. It is possessed
by the believer, and that life is in God’s Son. It is enjoyed most by the
believer when its peculiar functions are in full exercise. Indeed, life eternal
is the condition of continuous spiritual activity, for it is “in Christ Jesus
our Lord.” There is an abiding sense of the living presence of the Lord Jesus,
Who is always with us. The consciousness of this presence remains in spite of
the thousand-fold activities of secular life. Of this choice privilege the
world cannot rob us; for eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord is God’s free
gift to those whom He has justified by faith and delivered from bondage to sin
by the death of Christ.