Not Under Law but Under Grace

Observe the sequence of Romans 6:12-14. First a prohibition: do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Then a positive command: offer yourselves to God. Then a promise: sin shall not be your master. And finally the reason for the promise: because you are not under the law but under grace. The commands come first, but the ground of the commands comes last, and the ground is grace.

Interpret that carefully, because it runs against instinct. We tend to think law is what keeps sin in check and grace is what lets it loose. Paul says the reverse. Under law, sin has a lever. The law tells you what to do and gives you no power to do it, and sin uses the command itself to provoke the very thing forbidden. Under grace, the lever is gone. You are accepted before you obey, so obedience stops being a desperate attempt to win standing and becomes the natural life of someone who already has it.

Notice too the word mortal in verse 12. Paul does not pretend that our bodies are already glorified. They are mortal, they have desires, and those desires can still be obeyed. The victory is real but it is fought out in ordinary flesh.

Apply it by asking where sin still uses the law as a lever in your life. Is there a command that provokes you rather than guides you, and what does that reveal? When you fail, do you return to grace or retreat to trying harder under law? What would it look like this week to offer one specific part of yourself, your speech perhaps, or your evenings, to God as an instrument of righteousness?