Understanding Sin Under Grace
When Paul tells the Roman believers, “You're not under the law but under grace” (Rom 6:14), he then rhetorically asks, “what then, shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace?” (Rom 6:15). The answer should be obvious, but Paul hammers it down when he says, “God forbid!”
So, how do we understand this? As grace believers, do we have liberty, or is sin still sin under grace?
Yes! Sin is still sin. Grace does not redefine what sin is. In other words, lying, for example, is still wrong. However, what God’s grace does do, is free you from the penalty of death that sin demands. If you're not under the law, then the penalty of sin is not going to be imputed to you, Rom 5:13.
However, even though sins penalty is not imputed to you, and even though you won’t go to hell for it, there is a consequence.
In Rom 6:16, Paul says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”.
The issue of sin for a believer today is not an issue of wrong, but of relationship. You can't serve God while obeying sin! You cannot grow spiritually if you obey sin. Christ will not be formed in you. The Word will not take root in your mind. Your relationship with God will suffer. Faith will diminish. Paul informs us that sin results in death, not the eternal death, but a death to the functioning of the Word and God's Spirit within us. Sin still kills the work of the Spirit within us. On the other hand, if we obey righteousness, then the Word thrives in us, and through that Spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh.
Since we, as believers, are not under the law, but grace, the law cannot condemn us to an eternal death. However, if we choose not to be renewed and influenced by the written Word but rather to continue in sin, then we forfeit our effectual service to God, and our ‘reward’ in the ages to come! That's the issue today. It is not about losing salvation or hell. It is not about laws and rules. If you want to serve God, then know that you can't live in obedience to sin.
