Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 3 Study # 1
August 28, 2016
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The "believer's" attitude toward "committing a sin" is to be shaped by the reality of what happens when a "sin" is committed.
Introduction: In our last study we focused upon the fact that Paul promised that "Sin" would never be given the position of "lord" over "believers" because of their removal from being "under Law" to being "under Grace". In that study we argued that, because of the Cross, the "Justice" of God has been forever suspended from application to those who "believe" in what happened at that Cross. Thus, "Justice" will never "happen" in the life of a "believer".
This evening we are going to begin our studies of the next paragraph of chapter six in order to see what Paul considered to be of paramount importance in terms of what affect "Grace" was to have upon those who "believe" in the Grace of the Cross.
- I. The First Consideration.
- A. Since the "Big Idea" of the entire chapter is the proper response of those who believe to the Grace of God, and since the major question in both 6:1 and 6:15 is pretty much the same question, we have to draw the conclusion that Paul (and God) was focused upon how a person's grasp of the issues of "grace" affect his/her attitude toward "committing sins".
- B. The difference between 6:1 and 6:15 is that in 6:1 the backdrop was our former immersion in an identity that is totally wrapped up in Adam and "The Sin" which he committed and in 6:15 the backdrop is upon our total immersion in the character of the creation as it has been, is, and will forever be.
- 1. In contrast to our former immersion in Adam, is our present immersion in Christ.
- 2. But there is no "contrast" between the nature of creation in Time and in Eternity: it is the same.
- a. There is no suspension in Eternity of the basic principle of Time that "hearing coupled to submission leads to obedience that leads to consequences".
- b. This lack of "change" is Paul's basis for his appeal that "believers" "hear unto submission" in respect to their attitude toward "committing a sin".
- C. The notion that one "should sin" is emphatically denied for an emphatic reason.
- II. The Second Consideration.
- A. As noted, the second consideration is the nature of how God's creation has always worked, and will always work.
- B. The declaration is that the underlying principle of creation forces a certain reality into play.
- 1. The underlying principle is "hearing unto yielding unto presenting unto bondage unto result(s)".
- a. Verse sixteen asks If "we know" some critical truth.
- b. It then ties multiple factors together: "hearing unto yielding" followed by "presenting" followed by "slavery" followed by "a major result" (the order is not organized by the actual processes, but according to focus: presenting is the major issue).
- 2. The "theology" of this underlying principle.
- a. The actual "hearing unto yielding" is all about "presenting oneself to another as a slave".
- 1) The problem of "slavery" in the context of "The Sin".
- a) According to Hebrews 2:15, there is a very real "bondage" that is rooted in the "fear of death".
- b) According to Ephesians 2:2, there is a very real "deadness" that is rooted in the trespasses and sins that are the product of "The Disbelief" promoted by an evil "spirit".
- c) Thus we can conclude that the "deadness" of alienation from God is the actual working methodological definition of "bondage".
- 2) The problem of "slavery" in the context of "Sin".
- a) When it comes to "Sin", the problem of bondage is the inability to block the outcomes of sinful behavior.
- b) Thus, slavery to outcomes is simply being unable to keep the disasters of the harvest at bay; the primary element being the absence of the Life of the God from which sinners are alienated [no one escapes pain, fear, and humiliation, but those who suffer them with God have a completely different experience than those who suffer them without Him].
- b. The consequent "slavery" is both real and absolutely effective.
- c. The outcomes are established by the consequent slavery.
- 1) Slavery to "sin" brings about "death".
- 2) Slavery to "hearing truth and yielding to it" brings about "righteousness".
