Audio commentary on this verse

Note 1 at Ro 6:20: Paul had just made a statement in Ro 6:19 that we should serve the Lord with the same fervor that we served the devil with before we were born again. He continued that comparison through Ro 6:22 and made an amazing point. He was saying that in the same way that our good acts could not change our sinful nature before we were born again, likewise, our sinful acts cannot change our righteous nature now that we have become new creatures in Christ Jesus.

In this verse, the phrase, "servants of sin," is describing people before they are born again. The phrase, "free from righteousness," is not saying that lost people cannot do anything that is right, but rather all of their good acts aren't enough to change their nature. They must be born again (see note 2 at Joh 3:3).

Most Christians have accepted this truth unquestionably. They were saved by believing that. Yet this exact terminology is used again in Ro 6:22 in a way that very few Christians accept. The same logic that was used in this verse is reversed in Ro 6:22.

If "servants of sin" in this verse signified people before salvation, then "servants to God" in Ro 6:22 denotes just the opposite--people who have been saved through faith in Christ. If "free from righteousness" in this verse described lost people who were incapable of changing their sinful nature by their own good works, then "free from sin" in Ro 6:22 describes Christians as being unable to change their righteous nature through their sins.

This is a powerful truth. In the same way that our sinful nature could not be changed by our own actions, now our new, born-again spirits cannot be changed by our actions either. If we are going to accept one of these truths, we have to accept the other. We cannot honestly accept this verse and reject Ro 6:22 when the exact same terminology is used in the same context.

Actions cannot produce the new birth, and actions cannot destroy the new birth. We had to believe to receive salvation, and we have to willfully reject that faith in Christ to become reprobate (see note 6 at Ro 1:28 and note 9 at Ro 1:32).