The apostle Paul asks an interesting question in Romans 6, "What then? Shall we continue to live in sin?"
So when was the last time you've heard anyone, after hearing the Church of Christ gospel message, ask this question?
Think about it.
If we are saved by hearing, believing, repenting from sin, confessing the name of Christ, being baptized in h2o, keeping ourselves saved by continuing to live a moral and religious "good" life...
Would the reaction to that message be 'What then? Shall we continue to live in sin?'
Of course not.
Any infraction or failure of performing all the necessary "steps" or moral/ religious requirements would endanger that person's salvation.
But if we are saved by simply placing faith and trust in the Savior, doesn't it make sense why Paul would anticipate and answer the obvious objection of, "What then? Shall we continue to live in sin?"
And if the Churches of Christ are actually teaching the same gospel as the apostle Paul, shouldn't they be addressing the very same objection of why as believer we do not continue to live in sin?
Yet Church of Christ types are constantly having to defend themselves that they are not teaching a salvation theology of works!
Romans 3:8 is another question you will not hear of the Church of Christ: "And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"? -as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say."
Here, Paul tells how the gospel message is deliberately mischaracterized as though it teaches 'we can continue to live in sin' or 'live any way we want and still be saved' -as Baptists and other evangelicals are often accused of by the Churches of Christ.
Is this a mischaracterization that has ever happened to the Church of Christ? Conversely, did the apostle Paul ever defend himself saying that he was NOT teaching a gospel theology of salvation by works as the Church of Christ constantly is?
If we are not saved by our own cooperation and obedience to moral and religious commands and laws, but by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, 'What then, shall we continue to live in sin?' is an objection and concern that one could easily anticipate, especially if the message being taught is:
Salvation is by simply placing faith in JESUS CHRIST ALONE!
So Why Live Holy?
In regards to why the believer does not continue to live in sin, Bob L. Ross makes these comments from his book Campbellism- It's History and Heresies.
Used by permission.
Campbellites say, "Well, if baptism and the church are not necessary for salvation, why be baptized and join the church?" This is typical language from merit-mongers who think only in terms of salvation by works. Those who speak in this manner have the attitude of "We will be saved by our works, or we just won't work at all.
Apparently those in the Churches of Christ know nothing about the love of God in the believer's heart which will motivate him to do those things that God Has commanded (Galatians 5:6). They think the only reason we should obey God is to keep Him from punishing us for disobedience.
If it were not for this reason, they themselves admit that they would not obey God. A Campbellite preacher once told me that if his salvation did not depend upon his works, then he would just yield to any temptation and sin against God.
That is why God despises the heresy of salvation by works: the "obedience" of such people is rotten at its heart; it arises from a selfish motive and not from a pure love of God. Read the scathing denunciation by Christ of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 and you will see how contemptible the heresy of salvation by works and those who believe it are in the sight of God.
The point is, God does righteousness because He is a righteous person. Jesus Christ does righteousness because He is a righteous person. God's people hunger and thirst after righteousness because of the righteous nature they now have of God. Therefore believers serve God because they love Him for what He has done for them.
I'd be ashamed to have a religion that is followed only because I want something for myself. I'd be ashamed to have a faith that produced no more love in my soul for God than does the notion of salvation by works. Some people say, "Why, if I believed as you do- saved by grace and can't fall- I'd just take my fill of sin."
Such people reveal what they really love- sin. If they were righteous in their hearts, they wouldn't want to commit sin, regardless. The truth is they are committing heinous sin by sticking their filthy rags of self-righteousness in the face of God, rather than trusting in Jesus Christ for the perfect righteousness that could be theirs simply by placing faith in Him.