Romans 6:17 – Paul’s type of teaching 

Now thanks be to God that you were slaves of Sin, yet you obey from the heart the type of teaching to which you were given over.

The believers in Rome were slaves to sin. Past. Also in 5: 8 Paul speaks of “when we were still sinners”. While we are now righteous. Such statements are about our identity in Christ. That is Paul’s “type of teaching”: learning who we are in God’s eyes. And thank GOD for that.

Paul did not come up with therapies to try to get people to get rid of their sinful addictions. Such therapies and methods approach a human being as a slave. It teaches you: you are stuck in a sinful habit because you are a slave. If you believe that that is your identity, then you cannot do otherwise. If you think you are a slave, then you will also act and feel addicted.

How liberating, then, is Paul’s “type of teaching”! He taught the believers that you were slaves to sin. And now you are justified or acquitted. Died and raised with Christ, may you live for GOD! Not by trying desperately, but in heartfelt faith that you can be who you are.

Delen: