"The ultimate question is not who you are, but whose you are. Of course, many people think they are nobody's slave. They dream of total independence. Like a jellyfish carried by the tide feels free because it isn't fastened down with the bondage of barnacles.
But Jesus had a word for people who thought that way. He said, 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' But they responded, 'We....have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" So Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin' (John 8:32-34). "
There is no autonomy in the fallen world. We are governed by sin or governed by God. We are slaves to whom we obey. When we are apart from Christ, we are slaves to sin, and therefore we live in sin and can do nothing but sin. When we are united to Christ through faith in the Gospel, we are set free from sin, and are now slaves to Christ. We are now able to obey Christ.
Moreover, it is only possible to belong to God through the Gospel. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." The purchase that unleashes this power is the death of Christ. The price that was paid was Christ's own blood. Jesus Christ's death on the cross not only frees us from the bondage of sin, but it enables us to belong to God. It matters not who we are, but rather, whose we are.
mike, this was uniquely encouraging to me. Echoing your thoughts, sin is something we have been freed from, not something we need to try and escape. I need to hear that because I fail so often when I continually try to overcome it, without remembering my sin is the reason Jesus died..and he beat it.
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