Romans 6:19

Paul had put his teaching in human terms. He had compared the believer’s situation to that of a free person on the one hand and to a slave on the other. He did this to help his readers grasp his point but evidently also to make a strong impact on them. Paul felt constrained to be very graphic and direct in view of their past. They had formerly deliberately yielded to sin. Now they needed to deliberately present (offer) themselves as slaves to God (cf. Romans 6:13; Romans 6:16). This would result in their progressive sanctification. [Note: See Larry J. Waters, "Paradoxes in the Pauline Epistles," Bibliotheca Sacra 167:668 (October-December 2010):435-41.] Note again that progressive sanctification is not totally passive or automatic. It requires some human action.

". . . what we most earnestly assert is that not only Paul here, but our Lord Himself, and Scripture generally, sets forth that only those that know the truth and walk therein, are free." [Note: Newell, p. 242. Cf. John 8:31-32, 34, 36.]