Romans 6:18

Romans 6:18 states, Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Paul again points out that we are either the servant of sin or the servant of righteousness.  We do not like to think in terms of being a servant.  We want to be the master or at least the equal, but the truth is, we either serve Satan through sin or God through righteousness made available by Christ.  If we are to look to the true original sin, it was when Satan and a third of the angels decided they would be like God and rule, and they have been attempting to rule at least over people ever since the creation.  They are already defeated, and so will we be if we follow the way of sin. Still, the devil can never make us do anything, in spite of what we may say. Through Christ, we are made free from sin, and with it spiritual death, and because of that, we are to live in righteousness. Verse nineteen adds, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.   Paul said he spoke to us after the manner of men.  We have yielded to sin, to iniquity as a way of life, but through Christ we are to yield all that we are to the righteousness of God. The choice is always ours.  We yield, either to Satan and sin or to God and righteousness.  Verse twenty continues, For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. When we serve sin, refusing to acknowledge God and His gift of grace through Christ, we cannot be made righteous.  It is not a matter of how good or bad we are in relationship to other people.  We cannot be made righteous except through Christ, and when we are, we are to live in righteousness.  Verse twenty-one states, What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.  We should be ashamed of the sinful things we did before we became followers of Christ, and more so those that we have done since.  We did not sacrifice anything for Christ, but He sacrificed everything for us.  When we start to speak of what we gave up to follow Christ, we can only claim to have given up spiritual death.  Verse twenty-two adds, But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. Paul tells us that once we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord we begin to bear fruits of holiness.  The result of this faith in Christ is everlasting life with God.  We are not called simply to go through life awaiting that everlasting life in heaven, but to bear fruits of righteousness while we are here.  God created mankind with a purpose, and He redeems us the same way.  We are to carry out God's will for our lives.  Verse twenty-three continues, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  This is our message to the world.  We can either choose the death we earn through sin or everlasting life that God's grace gives us with Him through Christ. There are no more options.