marriage on Nostr: PAUL SAID: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? ...

PAUL SAID:
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, ***OR TO OBEDIENCE, WHICH LEADS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS***?" (Romans 6:15-16)

Paul says that OBEDIENCE...LEADS TO...RIGHTEOUSNESS.

This word "righteousness" is dikaiosynen. It is the same word used several times in Romans 4 when Paul talks about how Abraham was justified by his faith, that it was credited to him as righteousness (dikaiosynen). The word means righteousness or justification.

It might seem a bit unclear at first what Paul means here in Romans 6:16 when he says that obedience leads to righteousness. Is he saying that obedience results in righteousness in the sense that it results in justification? Is he saying that what we do in obedience somehow leads to our being justified???

Well this word righteousness/justification seems to be quite flexible and can take on different meanings depending on the context. It can be used to talk about righteous living - the righteousness God wants to see in our lives. Or it can be used to talk about being justified - in right standing with God.

But which one does Paul have in mind in Romans 6:16?

Well, many Protestants will not entertain the possibility that Paul is saying that our obedience leads to righteousness in the sense that it leads to our justification. Because, in contrast to the explicit teaching of James, they hold that justification is by faith alone apart from any obedience. And so this may be why the New Living Translation awkwardly translates this part of Romans 6:16 in this way: "You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."

But is Paul really saying that obedience leads to righteous living? Does that make sense? Obedience IS righteous living... So it would be rather redundant for Paul to tell us that obedience (righteous living) leads to righteous living (obedience). Obedience leads to obedience???

I guess you could force this interpretation and say it means that obedience leads to MORE righteous living, or something like that. But it feels contrived.

Additionally, consider what Paul contrasts this with earlier in the verse. He says "...sin, WHICH LEADS TO DEATH, or obedience, which leads to righteousness."

Paul's point earlier in the verse is that sin leads to DEATH, not that sin leads to sinful living, or even WORSE sinful living. And by "death" Paul is obviously not talking about mere physical death. He's not saying that if we continue to sin, it will lead to our physical death, at which point we will be ushered into the presence of Jesus and welcomed into Paradise. No, if we continue sinning, leading to death, you can be sure the result will not be eternal life and blessing.

Therefore, when Paul says that obedience leads to righteousness, he must mean that obedience leads to righteousness in the sense that it leads to LIFE, that is, salvation, a right standing with God, a right relationship to God, JUSTIFICATION.

Paul is saying that obedience is how we remain in a right relationship to God, and how we are finally justified in the end. We may be justified initially without having done much of anything (we just came to faith, so of course we haven't done much in obedience yet). But we do not REMAIN in a state of justification without doing anything. No, we need to obey in order to stay in a saving connection to Jesus.

Or as James put it, "a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."

I appreciate NT Wright's clarifying translation of Romans 6:16: "Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you really are slaves of the one you obey, whether that happens to be sin, which leads to death, OR OBEDIENCE, WHICH LEADS TO *FINAL VINDICATION*?"

Perhaps Wright is taking some license there in how he translates that. But he's trying to bring out something the original Greek readers would have understood from the context. And it certainly fits the teaching of the Lord who said that only those who do the will of his Father will enter the kingdom at the judgment (final vindication), and that "by your words you will be JUSTIFIED, and by your words you will be condemned."

Yes, friends. Paul seems to be telling us that we will be justified by our obedience. Not that we will earn something from God. Don't misunderstand please. God will never be obligated to anyone, and he will never owe us a thing. But he HAS laid down some conditions which we need to meet in order to remain in this unearnable relationship with him, and in order to finally receive the eternal gift he wants us all to have. None of us are entitled to it. But he will only give it to those who walk in faithfulness to the end.

So then, let's lay aside the things that distract us and slow us down, and let's go all out for the Lord Jesus Christ in love and in thanksgiving and in the fear of God.

Seen on FB.