¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

“Me gnoito,” reverberates Paul to another challenge to his divinely inspired logic. May it never be! This time the question is, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” In other words, the accusation is that Paul is promoting lawlessness, that a person can do whatever he wants because, according to Paul, there is no judgment for sin. Again, on the surface, there seems to be merit to the objection—that is, depending on one’s presuppositions. If we assume that the only possible motivation for not sinning is the fear of judgment, then the objection is sustained. However, grace is a far greater motivation, which leads Paul to conclude shortly, “Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! … Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 7:24-25a, 8:1).

Why would that not be a good thing, to escape the judgment of God? The only way to make sense of the objection to such a wonderful thing, and this is confirmed throughout the history of religion, is that the fear of judgment can be wielded like some sort of spiritual club by religious “authorities” to control or manipulate the behavior of others. Such reduces man’s response to God, not as coming from a divine-image-bearer, but as from an animal that can simply be whipped into shape through manipulations of the religious powers that be.

So then, lest Paul be seen as promoting lawlessness, what then motivates a Christian who is safe and secure in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to avoid sin? Why not just enjoy the fruits of the flesh and sin, since there is no judgment? In a word, if we could give contemporary colloquial expression to Paul’s words, “That’s just plain stupid. Might as well shoot yourself in the foot!” To be sure, sin may seem to have an immediate benefit. Anger welled up finds relief in its initial expression, for example, but one has to live with the consequences of being enslaved to his anger. Lust given full expression finds momentary enjoyment in its indulgence, but one suffers the slavery of unrestrained passions that can destroy him or her. One may chase after the thrill of greed, only to find oneself locked in slavery to debt for years. Yes, a Christian can sin (for we still do sin) and still go to heaven, but is that a good and desirable thing? “Me gnoito!” Absolutely not. Why would I want to be a slave to sin all over again?

Lord, help me to not succumb to the false notion that sin is an advantage in life.