“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:1-3 ESV)
Throughout His letter to the church at Rome, Saint Paul stressed the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. He did this to refute those in the church who claimed that real Christians had to follow the Mosaic Law. Lest he be accused of promoting licentiousness, here he emphatically stated that grace never gives anyone license to sin. Grace does not cancel out our God-given responsibility sto pursue righteousness and do good to all people, even to those who we do not like or disagree with us. Grace does not give us license to hate or despise anyone, or to engage in violence. The Word of God teaches us to live as members of God’s Kingdom, not of the world. Therefore we cannot behave like the world or endorse those principles it esteems.
Therefore these words written by Paul in the first century serve as a warning to the Christians living in America who have embraced political, philosophical, ethical, and social movements and ideologies which are either directly opposed to the Kingdom of God or endorse aspects of such systems of thought and practice. To endorse sin or ignore it under the guise of civil rights is to stand opposed to God, to be in sin.
In these past years of pandemic, social unrest, political division, and violence many Christians seem to have forgotten this. Many have behaved like the rest of the world thinking that it was okay to hurt and denigrate others if it was done in the cause of civil rights or in the cause of truth as they define it. But in God’s Kingdom we have no rights, only blessings and grace which are given to us and which we must share with others. This involves love not hate, mercy not violence, edification not destruction. How are we to do this? We are to live in the blessings of our Baptism. In Baptism we have died to sin. Sin has no power over us, only that which we give it. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can fight against all its attempts to rule and enslave us.
The idea of fighting against sin and temptation should not be foreign to us if we are indeed united with Jesus. In addition, we must reject social and cultural ideologies which redefine or excuse sin and which commend personal lifestyle choices regarding sex, pleasure, money, or material goods. Paul warns us that we cannot have it both ways. Those who give in to sin become enslaved by it. Those so enslaved lose their ability to choose freely. They go along their merry way, thinking they are willingly pursuing their personal lifestyle preferences, that God wants to be happy, He wants them to fulfill their dreams and desires. In fact, Satan is holding them captive.
Those who are in Christ are His servants. They no longer live for self but for Him. They live in the Light of His word and walk in His righteousness. Though mercy and forgiveness is always there for believers who sin, we should not deliberately place ourselves into situations or relationships where we will be tempted to sin. The Lord always provides a way to help us remain in righteousness and not give in to the desires of the flesh.