with Christ has made us free. While under the law, our spirit is legal and slavish ; and our works are works of constraint and fear. When under grace, our spirit is filial and free (ch. 8 : 15) ; and our works spon- taneous and cordial. Paul teaches this doctrine at length in the next chapter, and shows that the freedom from the law, which the legal moralist says must lead to licentiousness, is essential to holiness.
(15) TVhat then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace ? God forbid. Paul evinces constantly his anxiety to avoid misapprehension, and to show that freedom from the law is very different from being free from moral obligation. He, therefore, for the second time, denies that the Hiberty of the gospel is a liberty to sin. As the illustration and confirmation of the principle of v. 14, are formally resumed at the beginning of the next chapter, the apostle contents himself here with proving the unsoundness of the objection presented in this verse, by showing that it is as impossible for the Christian to live in sin, as for the slave of one man to be obedient to another ; or for a man to serve two masters at the same time.
(16) Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, &c. ' Know ye not that those who obey sin are its slaves ; hurried on from one degrading service to another, until it works their ruin ; but that those who serve holiness are constrained, though sweetly, to constancy and fidelity, until the glorious consummation of their course V As a servant or slave is under an influence which secures obedience to his master, so also, in spiritual or moral relations, a man who serves sin is under an influence which secures the continuance of his obedience, and he who serves holiness is under an influence which effectually secures the constancy of his service. This being the case, it is not possible for the Christian or servant of holiness to be found engaged in the service of sin. The language and the construction are here nearly the same as in v. 13. To yield ourselves as servants unto any one, is to give ourselves up to his authority and control. All unrenewed men give themselves up to sin under one form or another. They are. therefore, its slaves, kept faithful to this service, and reap its final reward. Christians, on the other hand, give themselves up to holiness, and are kept faithful and receive their reward. This is more fully expressed in the next clause.
Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. The ex- pression servants of obedience is very unusual. From the opposition, how- ever, between sin and obedience, the latter must mean holiness or goodness in general, although no precisely similar use of the word occurs, see ch. 5 : 19. In like manner, from the antithesis between death and righteous" ness, the one being the result of sin, and the other of obedience, it is evident that the latter must be taken metonymically for the effects of righteousness, i. e. the favour of God, happiness, the opposite of death
(17) But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart, &c. As it is the apostle's object to show that