The Alternatives

All men, Paul says, are without exception bond servants; either to sin or to justice. Paul is emphatic on this point. Men are not Gods, they are not autonomous, they are not free to establish the conditions of the universe. They enter into a world which is already given, they live in terms of two alternatives, either as bondservants of sin, or the bondservants of righteousness or justice. They serve something because they are creatures: as our Lord said, “No man can serve two masters.” So men will either serve sin, lawlessness, or they will serve justice.