16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Two things are here intimated by Apostle Paul;
1. That all men really are, and ought to be reputed servants to that master whose works they do, and whose commands they obey: Whom ye obey his servants ye are.
Learn thence, That we may infallibly know whose servants we are, and what master we serve, Christ or Satan, by examining and inquiring whose commands we execute and obey.
2. The apostle intimates, that every person or servant shall receive a reward suitable to the master he serves, and proportionable to the work he does. If Satan be our master, sin is our work, and death our wages; if we are the servants of God, obedience is our work, and eternal life will be our reward: There is a reward for the righteous, and wages for the workers of iniquity.
The devil’s drudges shall have full pay, but no content; the wages of sin is death; there’s pay, such as it is, woeful pay, a black penny.
God’s servants, though they do not work for wages, yet they shall not work for nothing! Verily there is a reward for the righteous; a reward of mercy, not of merit; a reward of grace, not of debt:
And accordingly, the apostle says here, His servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.
But why does he not say of obedience to life, as well as of sin to death? then the antithesis had been more plain and full.
Ans. Because though sin is the cause of death, yet obedience is not the cause of life, but only the way to it: Via ad regnum, non causa regnandi.