Servants of righteousness are what believers became,
and what Satan’s servants pretend to be.
You have become slaves of righteousness.
His servants also disguise themselves
as servants of righteousness.
Their end will correspond to their deeds.
The phrase is used two ways, and they must not be folded together. Paul tells the church they were slaves of sin and have become slaves of righteousness. Present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. That is the real service. In Corinth he warns that Satan’s servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. The same clothes. A different master. The end will correspond to the deeds.
- The true servant was set free from sin and enslaved to God. The fruit is sanctification, and the end is eternal life.
- The disguise belongs with false apostles and deceitful workmen. They look like servants of righteousness. They are workmen of deceit.
- The angel of light is the pattern of the costume. Jesus is not impressed by the name Lord on the lips of workers of lawlessness.
Do not reject the real calling because deceivers wear it. Do not trust the costume because the calling is real. Deeds and gospel tell them apart. The end matches the deeds.
You have become slaves of righteousness.
His servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
Their end will correspond to their deeds.
- Romans 6 is the true service. Set free from sin, enslaved to righteousness.
- Second Corinthians 11 is the disguise. Satan’s servants wear the name.
- The same phrase does not make them the same people.
- False apostles and deceitful workmen are the men in the costume.
- The fruit of the true service is sanctification. The end is eternal life.
- The end of the disguise corresponds to their deeds.
- The Freedom – Set free from sin.
- The Slavery – Enslaved to righteousness.
- The Fruit – Sanctification, and eternal life.
- The Costume – Satan’s servants dressed as the real thing.
- The Company – False apostles, deceitful workmen.
- The Test – Another Jesus, and deeds that match the end.
- Romans 6:18-19 – “Having been set free from sin, [you] have become slaves of righteousness… so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”
- Romans 6:22 – “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 – “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 – “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.”
- Matthew 7:23 – “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
Present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
His servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Keep the two uses apart. The church was made servants of righteousness. Satan’s servants only dress as them. The end matches the deeds.
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