Romans 6:15

My Notes

What Does Romans 6:15 Mean?

"Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Paul anticipates the obvious objection to grace: if we're saved by grace and not by law-keeping, does that mean we can sin freely? If obedience doesn't earn salvation, why bother obeying? Paul's answer is his strongest Greek expression: me genoito — "may it never be," "absolutely not," "God forbid."

The question is logical within a legalistic framework: if law-keeping doesn't save you, and grace does, then the law is unnecessary and sin is irrelevant. Paul recognizes the logic and rejects the conclusion. The logic is correct but the premise is wrong: grace doesn't make sin irrelevant. It makes sin incompatible.

The answer Paul develops (verses 16-23) reframes the question: you're not free from all mastery — you've changed masters. You were slaves to sin. Now you're slaves to righteousness. Freedom from the law doesn't mean freedom to sin. It means freedom to serve a different master.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Have you ever treated grace as permission to sin rather than power to change?
• 2.What's the difference between freedom from the law and freedom to sin?
• 3.How does changing masters (from sin to righteousness) reframe the grace-and-behavior discussion?
• 4.Has grace changed what you want — or just what you think you can get away with?

Devotional

If grace saves us regardless of behavior, should we sin more to get more grace? Absolutely not. Paul slams the door on the most dangerous misunderstanding of grace: that it licenses sin.

The objection is understandable. If law-keeping doesn't save and grace does, why not maximize grace by maximizing sin? The logic works — if grace is a mathematical equation. But grace isn't math. It's relationship. And no relationship improves by deliberately hurting the other person.

Paul's response reframes the entire discussion: you're not free from mastery. You've changed masters. Under the law, you served sin and couldn't escape. Under grace, you serve righteousness and don't want to escape. The freedom isn't from all obligation — it's from the wrong obligation. You're free from the law's condemnation, not from the call to live well.

The 'God forbid' is Paul's strongest available expression of rejection. He doesn't politely disagree. He erupts. The suggestion that grace enables sin provokes the apostle's most visceral response because it turns the gospel's greatest beauty into its ugliest distortion.

Grace that produces more sin isn't grace — it's license wearing grace's clothing. Real grace produces the opposite: a changed heart that doesn't want to sin, not because it fears punishment but because it loves the One who gave the grace.

Are you using grace as a license to sin — or has grace changed what you want?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture