"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted." -
Romans 6:17
The Book of Romans is the densest communication of inerrant truth in the Bible. It is the summary of Paul’s doctrine, which he sent in place of his personally coming to Rome. Therefore, every passage is stuffed full of truth so that it seems to be bursting at the seams. I remember when my wife and I were preparing to leave Japan and come home to America after a two-year mission trip, we were packing our belongings in large Rubbermaid chests. Each chest could only hold so much, and we made use of every square inch of those chests, including taking the cases off cassette tapes and using a vacuum cleaner hose to suck the air out of bags of clothes so they would take up as little space as physics would permit! So, it seems, was the treasure chest of the Book of Romans.
This one verse cited above is a typical example. Paul is addressing the issue of sanctification, the way that Christians should make progress in holiness by putting sin to death. The question on the heading of this entire section (Romans 6-8) is “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase” (Rom. 6:1)? Paul wants to make it clear that those who are truly justified by grace through faith are also progressively growing in Christlike holiness by putting sin to death and living a righteous life in obedience to God’s commands. Romans 6:17 fits beautifully into this overall pattern. He tells us what we were before we were converted—slaves to sin. When sin yelled through temptation, we obeyed. We were dominated by sin as a tyrant dominates his hapless subjects. But God worked his saving power in us, rescuing us from the dark dominion of sin and bringing us into the freedom of Christ’s kingdom of light.
And wholehearted obedience to the gospel command to repent and believe in Christ was the power of that salvation, that rescue. God worked that repentance and faith in our souls by his grace and power, so he deserves to be thanked for it!! It was not a grudging obedience to Christ, but wholehearted! Now that that has happened, Paul yearns for us to continue in the same pattern of wholehearted obedience.
"...God handed our precious souls over to the gospel for the continued work of sanctification."
But to what? To “that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” There is a “form” of doctrine… the word “form” (Greek tupos) represents the manner in which a coin is struck… a hardened pattern that never changes and which is imprinted by force onto the blank gold or silver coin resulting in a reproduced image. We Christians are to be conformed to that sound doctrine by the force of truth. But amazingly, Paul says also that we were “entrusted” with that form of doctrine. The word “entrusted” could be translated as “handed over” but the sense is one of safekeeping rather than arrest. When parents leave their precious children in the hands of a babysitter or nanny or caretaker, they have carefully vetted that person to be sure their children will be protected, provided for, and cherished. So, it is with our souls… God handed our precious souls over to the gospel for the continued work of sanctification. The gospel message of Christ as Lord and ongoing salvation in his name will take very good care of our souls until we are finally saved. It will feed us, correct us, train us in righteousness, protect us from the devil, and deliver us safely to heaven.
