Romans 6:14

For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the Law, but under grace.

This is the practical inference and deduction from the preceding discussion. Since the believers have entered into the most intimate union with Christ, with the fruits of His death and with the blessings of His life, through Baptism, therefore they must break with all the former associations: Sin now shall not reign in your mortal body, to obey its lusts. The body of man, also of the believer, is mortal, and as such subject to death and to sin. Man, being mortal, must die. But sin, although it still lives in the body and apparently makes it subject to its own wages, shall not be the lord and master over the body; the sinful lusts should not exert their dominion over the body: they should not make the members of the body their tools and instruments for the working of evil. If the Christians should yield obedience to the lusts and desires of their heart, then they would make their mortal body a sinful body, one that submits to sin, is subject to sin. The sanctification of the Christians will rather show itself in this way; that the Christians control the body with all its members, hands, feet, eyes, ears, tongue. etc., keeping them back from the service of sin, not permitting the lusts to find their gratification in actual transgressions. The will of the Christians will place itself in opposition to sin and thus keep the body within the bounds prescribed by the Word and will of God. They will not offer their members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin.

That is the one side of sanctification. But there is also the positive side: Rather present yourselves to God, place yourselves at the disposal of God, as alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness unto God. The Christians were formerly, before the regenerative power of Baptism came to them, in a condition of spiritual death, Ephesians 2:1 ff. In that condition they served all the lusts, were subject to all vices. But from this spiritual death they have been awakened and therefore should devote themselves, their life, their bodies, their members, their hearts, their minds, their thoughts, to the service of God, for the promotion of His honor and glory. This does not imply that the Lord demands a false asceticism, but is an admonition which shall find its application in the ordinary, every-day life of every Christian, in the performance of the works of his calling. If the body and all its members thus serve God in the righteousness of life, then the work of sanctification will be carried on in a God-pleasing manner.

And the Christians can obey these commands, follow these injunctions, as the encouragement of the apostle, Romans 6:15, shows. It is not a hopeless struggle in which the Christians are engaged, in which the outcome, from the start, is destined to be unfavorable to their faith and spiritual life, but it is an effort which is bound to succeed. The apostle is joyfully confident, knowing that the power of sin is definitely broken, and that the triumph of the cause of Christ is assured by the completeness of Christ's work. For sin will not rule over you, it will not gain the ascendancy again. And the reason is: For not are you under the Law, but under grace. The Law ever demands, but does not give the strength to perform its demands, and therefore it cannot deliver from the dominion of sin. But grace, under which we have placed ourselves in conversion, in Baptism, not only delivers us from the guilt and power of sin, but also gives us the ability to withstand sin, to shun the evil, and to do that which pleases the Lord. Thus we renounce all dependence upon our own merit and strength, accept the offer of grace, of free justification as a gift of God, and receive deliverance from sin and the power to please our heavenly Father.