A slave who flees slavery will fear for the rest of his life to be captured again. But a slave who is set free, is really free and does not need to fear that he will ever be enslaved again.
Paul says that without God we all are slaves of sin (:17). How many people attempt to flee the yoke of this slavery! Humanism and Positive mental attitude are clear examples of this. But although these attempts to flee this slavery sometimes are surprisingly successful, they remain attempts: one must always stay vigilant not to fall back. Yet those who call themselves Christians - but time and again find it really hard not to sin - will experience the very same.
Jesus says, ‘So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ That is not freeing ourselves and therefore not fleeing sin on our own, but being liberated by the blood of the Lamb. And whoever is redeemed by Him – set free from the slavery of sin - does not need his energy anymore to fight his own sins, but can devote all his strength to the kingdom of God. This kingdom breaks through in the whole world – in spite of all increasing darkness – in the hearts of them who submitted wholly to the liberating power of Jesus Christ.
The 22nd verse of todays passage says, ‘But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God…’ Many of us experience so little of the redemption of sin because it became our highest priority not to be bothered by sin, instead of being able to serve our God wholeheartedly.
Only when we offer ourselves as slaves to God, we will experience the true liberation of sin.