Sex after salvation − Romans 6

Once we have received God’s salvation, are we free to act in the same way as before salvation? Do we have license to act as the unsaved acts, and yet without sin? Because Christians are forgiven, can they do whatever they want with impunity? As Christians have been given the grace of Jesus Christ, doesn’t this mean that there is no longer any sin for them? In the Family, can we act in a way considered ‘sinful’ by other Christians, by the world, or even according to what is written in the Bible and get away with it? Of course not, or ‘God forbid’ as Paul says when asked the very same questions.

Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (KJV)

One of the purposes of the law of Moses was to define sin, to make it abundantly clear to a wicked world what was sin and what was not. Just by reading the law, the most degenerate person on the planet could understand the will of God.

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

Of course the law had its shortcomings, in that it had no power to change anyone’s heart. The Law was unable to express the heart of God, the love for Him and for each other that He fervently desires us to have. Moreover, nobody is able to attain perfection through keeping the law. We just can’t do it.

Rom 5:21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, the infinite love of God sent Jesus to bring us superabundant grace, to live the heart of the Law in us and through us, thus enabling us to secure that elusive perfection by proxy, in Christ Jesus.

So, understanding that our salvation is a wonderful work of the grace of God, that it has nothing to do with our own works, does it matter if we continue in the same sins after salvation as before salvation?

Suppose…

Let’s rephrase that question to be specifically applicable to the Family. Suppose that before salvation I had sex with girlfriends, sex with prostitutes, sex with other people’s wives, one night stands etc. Now all that comes clearly under the Biblical definition of ‘fornication’. This particular topic, that of sexual matters pertaining to the unsaved is not covered much, if at all, in the Family, but if we think about it and do a study through older Family pubs, we’d probably come to the conclusion that this is sinful behaviour.

Let’s narrow down our supposition. Suppose that before salvation I had sex with a girlfriend and sex with my friend’s wife, who for the sake of this supposition happened to be in agreement with what I did. Is that still sin? It must be, or sin no longer exists. In this example scenario, I broke the Old and New Testament prohibitions against adultery (with my friend’s wife) and fornication (with my girlfriend). Does it matter that my friend was in agreement? No, God’s standards remain the same regardless of whether we agree with Him or not. If that were not so, He would not be God. Sin is sin no matter how we try to justify ourself. God said not to commit adultery and in this example I slept with my friend’s wife.

OK, now one day someone witnesses to us all, and we all get saved. Me, my friend, my friend’s wife, my girlfriend. We all yield to the Lord, receive Jesus into our hearts and lives and get born again. We are all filled with the Holy Spirit, we start reading the Bible, we pray, we go witnessing, we are all so excited about the change Jesus brought in our lives. We read about the grace of God in us, the forgiveness of God, we read Jesus’ commands to love one another, and so to celebrate our exciting new lives I have sex with my girlfriend, and on the next night, I sleep with my friend’s wife, who for the sake of this supposition again happens to be in agreement.

Last week, before I was saved, I had sex with my girlfriend and it was sin. Is it still sin this week, after salvation? Likewise with my friend’s wife. Can the same action, with the same agreement be sin before salvation, but not sin after salvation?

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

That’s the answer. Salvation means the death of our sins. It was our sins that were nailed to the cross. It’s certainly not right to take out those nails and re-appropriate those same sins.

Rom 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Salvation means newness of life. He gives us power to escape the clutches of our sinful habits. When people get saved, they often receive miraculous power to quit smoking or get delivered from drug addiction etc.

Rom 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

After salvation sin can no longer enslave us. We now have the power of freedom. Does this mean the freedom to do the same things as before, only now they have been redefined as no longer sin? No, the freedom Christ gives us is the freedom from sin, the power to escape from its clutches, to walk out of darkness into the light. Whereas before we were imprisoned by our sins, now we have a choice of whether to yield to sin or yield to the Lord.

Rom 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

OK, so now let’s continue our supposition. Suppose that I end up joining the Family. So does my girlfriend, and my friend and his wife follow suit. We serve the Lord for many years in many countries and one day are unexpectedly reunited. We have all spent years learning of the grace of God and the law of love. We decide to form a home together. Conveniently for this supposition neither I nor my former girlfriend ever married. We move in together and to celebrate I have sex with my former girlfriend and on the following night with my friend’s wife. Naturally everybody is in completely agreement and ‘has the faith’ for it under the law of love.

Is this action ‘not sin’ because it’s under the law of love?

To have a look at what Jesus said about the law of love, click here. To read about the law of love in the rest of the New Testament click here.

Can we redefine sin as ‘not sin’ because we are no longer under the law but under grace? Does the grace of God cover us for actions that were sin before salvation, and transform them into righteousness because Jesus is in our heart? If we have ‘enough love’ or ‘the faith for it’ can that change a sinful action into one permitted and encouraged in the sight of God?

Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

OK, there’s our answer. Sin has been defined by God and we may not redefine it according to ‘our own faith’ or by saying that we are acting ‘in love’. It was the same sin when my example-self slept with my example-girlfriend and with my example-friend’s example-wife regardless of whether it occurred before salvation, at salvation, or many years later.

It’s a question of yieldedness.

The only difference was that before salvation we were prisoners of sin. We could not save ourself from our actions or from the consequence (eternal death) of our actions. After salvation we bask in the glory of God; the grace of God has given us the power to choose to yield ourself to Him, or to remain in sin.

Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin cannot be redefined. After we’re saved we have the power to choose to whom we yield, whether to God, which brings forth fruit to God, or to sin, which constantly seeks to re-enslave us. The grace of God is not a licence to continue in the same actions as the unsaved world, yet without sin. Grace is not a set of magic glasses to make everything look righteous. Grace is not a new coat of paint to make the same sinful actions now shiny and clean. Grace does not remove the commandment ‘Do not commit adultery’ from our rulebooks.

Grace gives us the power to have Jesus live His life in us. Grace is God loving us despite our sins, and giving us the strength to grow in Him. Grace never lowers the standard by even half a millimetre yet eternally extends the love of God to us. Grace is Jesus loving us enough to eat with us, shielding us from the stones that should rightfully smite us, telling us to ‘Go and sin no more’, comforting us when we are heavy-laden, washing us when our feet are dirty, dying for us, nailing our sins to His cross. That’s grace. Please don’t despise our dear Lord by declaring that this wonderful grace excuses our ongoing sins. Don’t spit on His sacrifice on the cross by un-nailing those sins and carrying them around again. Don’t yield to sin, yield to God!

Rom 6:13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

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