It’s a privilege to love.

Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! In this verse we have the question found in vs. 1 asked in a slightly different form. There he asked, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Here, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” The answer to both questions is, “May it never be!” The next verses explain why the answer is such a strong, “No!” Today we have this encouraging take away. Paul knew his Jewish readers mindset. They had not only lived under the Law, they prided themselves in having the Law. It’s what distinguished them from the wicked Gentiles who didn’t have the Law. Their reasoning was that the Gentiles or Greeks were such sinners because they didn’t have the restraint that the Law offered. In their minds, people who don’t have the Law have nothing to keep them from sinning, nothing to restrain them. We are going to see in chapter 7 that the Law doesn’t actually restrain sin, on the contrary, it aggravates it. This helps us to see that even though we have the command from Jesus Himself that we are to love one another as He loves us, we are not to think of it as a Law. We are instead to think of it as a means of grace. Because we are under grace, we learn that God’s grace provides what the Law requires. Through our union with Jesus and with His Spirit dwelling within, we have both the will and the power to love as Jesus and the Law requires. Some think that we receive God’s grace because we choose to believe and put our faith in Jesus Christ as an act of free will. They think that if you take away free will, you take away man’s responsibility. Under the Law, the Law is only concerned with the act of the will to obey and do. Under grace, not only is the act of the will important, but the heart behind it is of greater concern. The evidence that one is under God’s grace is that the heart is transformed by the Spirit of God which gives them all that they need to trust in Christ for their salvation and to live to love. So asking this question another way highlights the absurdity of it. Shall we not live to love with Jesus because we are no longer under Law but under grace? That’s ridiculous! Absurd! Impossible! Because we are under grace, we consider it a privilege to love in His name. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com