There is no "free man"

I was talking to the guys in my class a couple weeks ago now, but am finally getting a chance to write about it. We were discussing quite a few things, but one of the topics that came up was when we are free to do as we choose. I made the point that we're never really "free" in the sense he was meaning. 

Romans 6:16 - 23 states: "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness,resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Now most of us are familiar with Romans 6:23, but the context (as always) is important. Before salvation we are not technically "free" to choose to do what we want. Scripture tells us we are slaves to sin. In other words the unsaved man, because he has thus far rejected to choose (I won't be going into predestination vs. free will here) to follow the grace of God, will continue in sin. This is his natural state. On the other hand the saved man, because the Holy Spirit indwells him, can obey righteousness. This is his natural state. Then comes verse 23. Slaves to sin earn death, but lest we think we can earn our salvation, Scripture specifically points out that eternal life is the free gift of God. 

However, as we know from Romans 7, perfect obedience is not always how it plays out in life. Thus sanctification; that work which the Holy Spirit does in us to conform us to the image of Christ. By grace we submit ourselves, "[become] slaves of righteousness," and we are continually sanctified. Praise be to God that, "we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Our hope is that, "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (1 John 3:2). Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Maranatha.