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"Because the creature itself also shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into
the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8: 21).
We must now look at the various derivations of the word translated "bondage":--
"That henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6: 6).
"Servants to obey, his servants ye are" (Rom. 6: 16).
"Ye were the servants of sin" (Rom. 6: 17).
"Ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6: 18).
"Servants to uncleanness . . . . . servants to righteousness unto holiness" (Rom. 6: 19).
"When ye were the servants of sin" (Rom. 6: 20).
"Now . . . . . having become servants to God" (Rom. 6: 22).
"We should serve in newness of spirit" (Rom. 7: 6).
"With the mind I myself serve the law of God" (Rom. 7: 25).
"Ye have not received the spirit of bondage" (Rom. 8: 15).
"Shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption" (Rom. 8: 21).
How is this freedom attained and what is the nature of the bondage from which it
liberates? The first part of the question is answered in Rom. 6: 7; the second in 6: 14
and 8: 21:--
"He that is dead is freed from sin" (Rom. 6: 7).
We have already drawn attention to the fact that the word translated "freed from" is
literally "justified from". There is, however, no error here; the A.V. translation is
gloriously true. But we must see for ourselves. The book of Job contains the thought
that in death "the servant is free from his master" (Job 3: 19). And the Talmud has a
maxim: "When a man dies, he is freed from the commands." In Rom. 6: we have
moved from the doctrine of justification from sin's penalty and guilt (Rom. 1:-5:) and
have passed on to the consideration of the doctrine of sanctification, and the believer's
freedom from sin's dominion and service. Alford's comment on Rom. 6: 7 is worth
quoting here:--
"The difficulty of this verse arises from the apostle having in a short and pregnant
sentence expressed a whole similitude, joining as he elsewhere does in such cases the
subject of the first limb of the comparison with the predicate of the second. Fully
expressed, it would stand thus: For, as a man that is dead is acquitted and released from
guilt and bondage (among men: no ref. to God's judgment of him); so a man that has
died to sin is acquitted from the guilt of sin and released from its bondage."
To make sure that every reader will appreciate this note we set out the passage, with
verse 7 in the centre, showing what is the "first limb of the comparison", and what is "the
predicate of the second":--
Rom. 6: 2-6. The believer is "dead to sin".
\
Rom.
/ He that is dead
/
6: 7.
\ Is freed from sin.
\
Rom. 6: 8-14. Let not sin therefore reign that ye should obey it.
/