Obeying God results in righteousness, holiness and eternal life
Rom 6:16-22 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin into death (that is, current separation from the life of God, and on the road to permanent separation) or of obedience (to God) into righteousness? (Let’s notice these four key things:)
(1) Every one of us either obeys sin or we obey God – so we ere always going to obey something, no matter how much we may dislike the word “obedience”. If we object to this word, by default we are simply obeying sin.
(2) Since in this verse the only alternative to obeying God is plainly called “sin”, therefore sin, all sin, regardless of its degree, is dis-obedience to God.
(3) Any disobedience to God, being sin, separates us from God, and that is spiritual death. If it is not remedied, by our being re-reconciled to God, then the separation, or spiritual death, will become permanent or eternal.
(4) Any act of obedience to God is righteousness, and re-reconciles us to God and hence cleanses us from all current sin. But this obedience cannot be insincere or for an ulterior motive, such as to please someone else, it must be genuine from our hearts. But the longer we wait the less we will want to.
If we have allowed sin (any disobedience to God) to separate us from the life of God; one genuine act of obedience to God will restore us to Him and to righteousness. And if we are willing to, we will always know specifically what that act of obedience, over which we will have been resisting God, needs to be. If one act of obedience re-unites us to God, do we see that a lifetime of obedience, that God Himself will empower us to live (Philippians 2:13) means we will never separate from Him again? That is, we will never die spiritually again, with its awful risk of becoming permanent.
17 But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching (of God’s words, such as His words in this paper) you received. TEV
Could it be made any more clear, that freedom from the power of sin and slavery to sin, the curse of the entire human race, including Christians, lies exclusively in obeying God from the heart? Meaning to obey, such words from the Bible we know God has spoken to us, or the personal promptings to us of His Spirit. How easy it is.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (through nothing but continued obedience to everything God directs us to do).
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Set clearly before us here then is God’s pathway to eternal life. Having been made free from sin – God says not only is it possible but it is essential – by simply always obeying what God tells us to do, we are made and kept righteous. The fruit or result of this is a sanctified life, that is, made holy like Christ, the end of which is eternal life.
