How Do We Kill Sin? (No Quarter Part 3)

Killing Sin by the Spirit, Not by the Flesh

For the past three weeks, or including today, three weeks now, we have been looking at the same set of texts. And we study verse by verse here at Sovereign Grace. We go through books of the Bible on Sunday morning, we preach verse by verse.

And I said three weeks ago that I was going to preach verses 5 through 11 as one sermon. And then it didn't work out that it was one sermon and I said, well, it'll be two sermons. Well, last week I said, I need one more.

And I do think that today we will finish through verse 11, Lord willing. And the title of this sort of miniseries in the book of Colossians has been the subject or the title, No Quarter. And No Quarter.

In fact, one of my students is so funny this morning, I said that we were talking about the sermon. And she said, well, you have to do four, because it's quarter, you know, I said, it's a different kind of quarter.

It's not a quarter as in 25%. But the word quarter in this sense means to quarter someone or to house someone or to give them food and shelter. That's what the idea of quarter is. And in the military, the term no quarter means no mercy, no pity, scorched earth, no quarter.

And Paul tells us in Colossians chapter three, verse five, he says to mortify the sins of the flesh or in the ESV, he says to put to death what is earthly in you. And he is saying there very specifically, show sin, no quarter.

Do not coddle it. Do not make excuses for it. Do not sanctify it. Kill it. Kill sin. I was thinking this week about a term that has made its way into our cultural lexicon. Many of you are probably familiar with it, and that is the term toxic relationship.

You ever heard the term toxic relationship? A toxic relationship is a relationship where someone in the relationship is doing harm to the other person, and yet the person having the harm done to them continue to stay with it.

And it just grows and grows and gets worse and worse. And people from the outside can see it. They can recognize what's going on. And oftentimes what they say is, hey, that relationship is toxic. That relationship is deadly.

It's dangerous. Well, the reason why I bring up that term is because I think that oftentimes this is the situation we get in with sin. We desire it with our flesh. So instead of killing it, we make excuses for it, and we don't realize all the while it's killing us.

It's destroying our relationships. It's destroying our health. It's destroying our vitality. It's destroying our lives. But we love it so. And so we excuse it. We make up reasons for it. We sanctify it.

We give it names that sound less sinful. We call it mistakes and peccadilloes. We rarely use the word sin. Well, today we're going to move to the third part of this study. The first part, we looked at what we ought to put to death.

What is the sin that is in view? And we looked at 12 different things that Paul lists here in these verses as sins. And we said that these are not the only sins, but these are a representative list of the sins that we deal with.

And then last week, we looked at why we should put those sins to death. Why do we want to put them to death? Because these are the very reasons why the wrath of God is coming on the world. These are the things that cause God to look upon the world and say, one day I'm going to destroy it.

It's because of this. He's already done it in the flood. He's already demonstrated his power in Sodom and Gomorrah and other places where he's demonstrated local places where he's brought utter destruction.

And one day that will come upon the whole world. And why? Because of sin. So we have in the first sermon, it was what brings this wrath? What should we put to death? And that is sin. The second thing was, why should we put it to death?

And it's because it brings God's wrath and it is dangerous. And today we're going to say, how? How do we do it? How? And this is the one I admit, I think some of you have all been waiting on, because I said from the very first week, I'm going to give it to you.

I'm going to give it to you. How do we do this? Well, today's the day. So let's read the scripture. Let's stand to give honor and reverence to God's word. And then we will begin, says in verse five, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you?

Sexual immorality, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these, you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away.

Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave free. But Christ is all and in all. Father, thank you again for your word. May we now hear your word in truth.

May you keep me from error. May you be glorified and your people be edified. And those who do not know you drawn to the cross of Christ in his name. Amen. So for two weeks, we've been saying put sin to death.

And for two weeks, we've asked the question, how? And the reason why we ask the question, how, if we're honest, is because whether we have been in the Lord for a year, or whether we have been in the Lord for 10 years, or whether we have been in the Lord for 50 years.

We know that we still struggle with what some call besetting sin, some call abiding sin. There's different terms that are used. But we all struggle with sin. In fact, I would hasten to say that if anyone says he doesn't struggle with any sin, he's probably struggling with the sin of pride.

So when we say what the Apostle Paul says here, that we are to put to death that which is earthly in us, and he defines that as sinful things, we ask the question, is this just pie in the sky? And pie in the sky is a term which means something that is unrealistic and therefore meaningless.

Is this unrealistic? Is this pie in the sky? Is this just Paul waxing eloquently about something that never will happen? Well, I truly believe that there are those who think that very thing, that there are those who think that because this is a very difficult thing to consider, that they think that, well, it must then be impossible and therefore not something we have to even consider.

So the question becomes, is it possible to put our sin to death? And as we will see today, the answer is yes, not in the sense of sinless perfectionism. We are not Wesleyans, and we're going to discuss what that means in a little while when we get to the difference between progressive sanctification and the idea of some form of second blessing, which Wesley taught could bring a person to the point where they had no more fighting the battle of sin, either in thought, word or deed for it had all been put to death.

I don't believe that, but there is a sense in which we can daily put our sins to death, but we have to understand what the Bible says about it. We have seen the command, the command to mortify is in verse five.

We've already looked at it. He says to put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you. He gives us the list of sins, and then he says, on account of these, the wrath is coming. We talked about that last week.

He said, in these, you too once walk. We looked at that because we said, that's what we were. It's not what we are. These were the things we walked in, not what we're walking in anymore. Right now, we are walking in Christ.

We're not walking in these things. And now we come to, as he begins to give the imperatives, he says, but you must put them all away. And he gives another list. And then we get to verse nine. And he says, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

That is where we are going to spend our focus today. And I want to show you four things from this text. If you want to know how to put sin to death, there are four things you need to understand. The four things begin with number one.

Recognize Your Position in Christ

We must recognize the position that we are in. How do we mortify sin? First, we must recognize the position that we are in. Notice again, verse nine, if you would look at verse nine again with me, he says, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.

He says, this is something that you have done. It has already happened. Notice that that is not in the form of the imperative. The imperative is a command, something that you must do. And he he does give us a command.

But this is not the command. This is something that has already taken place. You have put off the old self with its practices. This has happened. You say, when did this happen? When did I put off this old self?

Well, the Bible tells us when we are regenerated, when we are born again, we become a new creature. You can mark your Bibles or you can turn there if you can go real fast. Second Corinthians 517. You might not need to go.

What does it say? It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is what? A new creature. Notice it says if anyone is in Christ, it doesn't just say certain ones who are in Christ. It says, if anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away. All things have become new. And this is referring to our change. When we came to Christ, when Christ saved us, might better say when Christ came to us, when the spirit came and regenerated us.

And when we responded in faith by the power of the spirit, there was a change that happened in that moment. And it changed our position. It changed who we were. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

And you say, why are you stressing this so much? We became a new creation, but obviously we're not perfect because I'm a new creation in Christ and I still battle. Yes. But if you don't understand who you are in Christ, then you won't even be in the battle.

If you're not in Christ, you're not in the battle. You see, here's the thing. If you are outside of Christ today, you are a slave to sin. If you are outside of Christ today, you are dead in your trespasses and sins.

Though you walk around living, breathing and having your life, you are, from a spiritual perspective, dead in those sins. You are not regenerated, but if you are in Christ, you are in Christ because you have been regenerated.

The word regenerated, the idea of new life, new birth. Jesus said, unless a man be born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. That happened. I do want you to look at this verse with me. Turn to Romans chapter eight and go to verse 13.

In Romans chapter eight, verse 13. It says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. I want you to notice the dichotomy of ideas in verse 13.

He says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. And you would think he would say, but if you live according to the spirit, you will live. But that's not what he says. He says, if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh.

What he is saying in this verse is actually very profound. Because what he is saying in this verse is for you to do what you are called to do as a believer, which is to put to death, to mortify the deeds of the flesh.

It must be done by the spirit. It is not something that you will accomplish in the flesh. It is something that must be accomplished through the inner man. It is something that must be accomplished by the spirit within you, empowering you to do it.

So the overarching point, this first point, is you have to recognize the position. If you're not in Christ, you can't do this. But if you are in Christ, the only way you can do it is by the spirit. There is only one way to mortify flesh, and it is through the power of the spirit, not through the power of the flesh.

Therefore, the natural man has no ability, and the Christian only has one source of ability, and it's the spirit. Now I mentioned a few weeks ago the mortification of sin by John Owen. John Owen wrote this tremendous work, and I have, I didn't mention it much last week.

I talked about it a little bit in week one. But I want to read to you a couple of quotes from John Owen. This first one is on what I just said, on it must be done by the spirit. I want you to hear this.

He says, all other ways of mortifying sin are useless. All other helps leave us helpless. It must be done by the spirit. But men may attempt to do this based on other principles or by other means, just as they always done and still do.

But he says, this is the work of the spirit. It is done by him alone, and it cannot be accomplished by any other power. Mortification, using your own strength or carried on by ways that we invent to make ourselves righteous in our own eyes, is the core of every false religion in the world.

Think about false religions. And the standards that they hold to try to keep the flesh in line. Think about the Mormons who demand no tea, no coffee, no caffeine, no joy. They have all of these standards.

It's a joke. It's a standard, right? And they say, this is how we will be made righteous, is if we keep these things, these outward things. They have those things in Islam, the five pillars of Islam. And these are the things that thou must doest to accomplish righteousness.

Maybe. There are people who do that in the Christian life as well. They assign everything a command, and everything becomes righteous external. They live legalistic lives, because they're trying to establish what can only be done by the spirit.

They're trying to establish it in the flesh. It must be done by the spirit. But, and here is a, got to be careful, this one. Though it must be done by the spirit, that does not mean that we do not participate.

Now, if you want to come up with me later, and you want to argue about monergism or synergism and sanctification, we can have that conversation. But just know, I'm tired when I'm done preaching. So at least give me a few minutes.

But that is a big question. And if you don't know what the term monergism and synergism means, it simply means one worker or two working together, two or more synergism, synergy, that idea. And the question is, is this sanctification all of God, or is sanctification something that we participate in?

And some want to argue the pedantics of that, but here's what I believe, and here's what the Bible, I believe, teaches on this subject. God empowers us, but we do participate in our growth as He empowers us.

And I want to read, just in case you think I'm just off out to lunch, I'm just going to read from Owen again. Because again, this guy wrote the book on the subject. This is what he says. If only the Spirit of God can do it, maybe we should just leave the work completely up to Him.

Here's what he says. It is only the Spirit's work in the same way that all graces and good works in us are the Spirit's. He works in us to will and to act according with His good purpose. He exercises all our works in us.

He fulfills every work of faith with power. He assists us to pray, and He is a spirit of humble prayer, and yet we are rightly exhorted to do all these things. He does not work out our mortification in any way that keeps it from being an act of obedience.

I love that sentence. He does not work out our mortification in any way that keeps it from being an act of our obedience. Yes, we participate. We participate in obedience or disobedience. The Holy Ghost works in us and on us in a way that is consistent with who we are, a way that preserves our own liberty and free obedience, and He works on our understanding, our will, our conscience, and our desires consistent with the nature of each.

He works in us and with us, not against us or without us. His assistance and our encouragement to complete the works and not an excuse to neglect it. Hear what He's saying. The Holy Spirit in you, working in you, is not an excuse for you not to be obedient.

People say, oh, well, God's going to do what He's going to do. That's fatalism. Don't let your Calvinism become fatalism. I'm going to shout this from the rooftops for as long as I have breath within me.

Calvinists are the worst about becoming fatalistic. We're everything. We just say it's God's will. Therefore, it's not my fault. God doesn't let you get away with that. God doesn't say because His perfect will is being worked out in your life that you don't have consequences that you're going to have to deal with.

And you do have consequences that you're going to have to deal with. You do have things that you are called to obey or disobey. And when you disobey, there are consequences. And when you obey, there are virtuous things that come from that.

And again, you have to understand we're not talking about salvation at this point because we've already said we're talking to those who are in Christ. If we're in Christ, we're saved. We're talking about growth.

We're talking about that which the Word does in us. But the Word doesn't do us in us if the Word isn't in us. This is why when people say, I'm a Christian, I don't read my Bible. How are you growing? What are you eating?

Because if you're eating the food of the world, then you're not growing in the Word of God and you're not growing in the Spirit. Our confession of faith. At this church, we hold to the First London Baptist Confession.

And this is what it says. Listen closely. This is Article 26. The same power that converts to faith in Christ carried on the soul through all duties, temptations, conflicts, sufferings, and whatsoever a believer is.

He is by grace and is carried on in all obedience and temptations by the same. That's a little older English, so let me just translate what it's saying. It's saying essentially this. The same power that converted us keeps us.

And the same power that changed our heart continues to change our life. And therefore, if you are in Christ, your life has been changed. And therefore, you have been empowered to live a life that's pleasing to Christ.

And so seek that power daily in living for Christ. That's what it's saying. I want to read one other quick commentary quote. It says this. Both the passive role and the active role are necessary for a healthy Christian life.

To emphasize the passive role tends to lead to spiritual laziness and neglect. The end result of that course is a lack of maturity. To emphasize the active role leads to legalism, pride, and self-righteousness.

The end result of that is a joyless Christian life. We must remember that we pursue holiness, but only as God empowers us to do so. The end result is a consistent, mature Christian life that faithfully reflects the nature of our holy God.

We talk about the two ditches in here all the time, right? The ditches are legalism and licentiousness. Legalism is I'm going to reach my spiritual zenith by all of these rule keepings. And the licentiousness is I'm going to let go and let God.

And neither one are correct. Neither one are correct. We seek the Lord, empowered by the Spirit, to daily die to sin. That's what we do. That's what we do. It's a daily decision. Calvinists don't believe in decisions.

Yes, we do. And we believe in the consequences of decisions. Again, we are not fatalists. We believe that God works all things together for the good of those who love him. And all things can even include some of my bad decisions.

All of my bad decisions. I don't want to make an excuse. God's working in those things. But understanding, recognizing the position that we are in is number one. That we have to recognize the position that we're in.

Whether we're in Christ or we're not. And if you're not in Christ today, let me just stop right here and say, If you are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, If you will repent of your sin and trust in the finished work that he did on the cross, You will be saved.

And if you don't know what that means, Or if you have questions about your spiritual destiny, your eternity, We have three elders here. We have four deacons here. Any one of these men would be willing to sit with you for any amount of time you need To pray and answer questions and talk to you once the service is completed.

Don't think this is the end of the sermon. We're not even close. But this is the invitation in the middle. Because we've only gotten to point one. Point one is recognize the position that you're in. And it's the most important point.

If you're not in Christ, you're not going to put the death, the deeds of the flesh, Not in a meaningful way. Not in a way that's going to be eternally valuable. Yes, you can go to 12 steps. Yes, you can go to celebrate your recovery.

Yes, you can get off drugs and all those things. But if you have not Christ at the end of your life, All you will have is a very well taken care of corpse and an eternity apart from him in hell. So recognize the position that's most important.

The Ongoing Process of Progressive Sanctification

Number two is you must recognize the process. You must recognize the process. Understand this. Look at verse 10. It says, well let's go back to verse 9. Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.

Look at verse 10. Which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Is being renewed. Is in the present. It's a present participle is what it is. And it is in the sense that this is happening now.

You say, but wait a minute. Wasn't I already renewed? Yes, you were born again. And that is a past tense. You put off. You put on. That was the past tense. But now you are still being renewed daily. And we call this by a theological term.

We call this progressive sanctification. Now don't get it mixed up with progressive Christianity. Because it ain't that. No, we're not progressive Christians. But progressive sanctification is the idea that you are in Christ.

And daily being conformed to his image. Daily being conformed to the image of Christ. 2 Corinthians 3 .18 says this. And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord. Are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. It says that we are being transformed. We are being transformed. Philippians 3 .12. Paul speaking of himself. He says not that I've already attained it.

As if I'm already perfect. But I press on. Paul says I'm not already perfected. I'm not in glory. And we think of the apostle Paul as probably one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. But he says I'm not yet perfected.

That means I'm going through the process. I'm going through sanctification. And again, 2 Peter 3 .18 gives us command. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we're perfected at our new birth, why do we need to grow?

If we're perfect when we get born again, why do we need to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? You see, progressive sanctification is what happens after our position changes. There's actually three types of sanctification if you want to get real specific and nerd out on theology for a minute.

There's positional sanctification, progressive sanctification, and perfect sanctification. Positional sanctification is what happens when you get saved. You get moved from one position to the other. Sanctification means to be set apart.

You get moved from here to there. You went from a child of darkness to a child of light. You went from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. That happened. And that happened by God's grace alone.

God moved you from one kingdom to the other. Seated in heavenly places with Christ. Positional sanctification. And perfect sanctification is in that glorious day when we receive our new bodies in the new heaven and the new earth and will never once ever again desire sin.

Just for a minute. Just think about that. What's that going to be like? We don't know. But it's going to be awesome. I mean just don't even have a desire for sin. You say well that can't be. That's the way Adam and Eve were before the fall.

They didn't sin. They had no shame. They had no contention between themselves or with God. And then sin entered the world and death through sin and death spread to all men because all men sinned. We know what happened.

That's coming again. That's perfect sanctification. And that is coming. But in the middle. Between positional and perfect. We have this progressive thing that happens from the moment you're born again to the moment you see Christ at death.

There is this progressive change where you are conformed to the image of Christ. And understanding that process helps you get through day to day. Understanding that Christ is changing you helps you understand the day to day battles that you're facing.

Some believe that you can reach perfect sanctification in this life. Now just for a moment. Let us not be too critical. Because there are some verses that some could lean that direction. Like in 1 John where it says he who is born of God does not sin.

There are some verses that people have taken and said here is my reason for believing in perfect sanctification in this life. You say well how do you interpret that verse in 1 John? In that verse when he says those who are born of God do not sin.

That idea of sinning is in the idea of the ongoing habitual lifestyle. And I will say this. If you are a Christian and your lifestyle is that of ongoing habitual sin. That is unrepented and no struggle.

Then there is a reason to question whether or not you are a believer. That's what the verse is saying. That is why we have something called church discipline. Church discipline is when someone in the body is living in habitual, unrepentant, continual sin.

Even after having been challenged once, twice and even by the body has been challenged to repent. And they say I don't want to repent. I want to live in this sin. Then we have every reason to question whether or not that person has been regenerated.

You understand right? That's what that verse is talking about. But you say well brother I have sin that I battle with. Okay join the club. That ain't the same. The person under church discipline is the person who is not battling.

The person under church discipline is the person who has given up and let that sin be their lifestyle. And sin should not be the lifestyle of the believer. There should be no such thing as a Christian who also identifies himself as a murderer.

Or a Christian who also identifies himself as a thief. Or a Christian who also identifies himself as a scandalous adulterer. Or any kind of adulterer. Or even a homosexual. When we take those sins and we add them to the faith.

And we say we are this type of Christian. Then what we've done is we've robbed the faith of any meaning at all. So just real quick. Wesley's idea was that you could receive perfect sanctification in this life.

I do not believe that that is true. But I do believe we grow. I do believe I'm a different man than I was 20 years ago. I came to know the Lord when I was 19. Which now is 24 years ago. Hold on. Okay.

24 years ago I came to know the Lord. And I'm not the same man that I was. I'm certainly not what I should be. But I'm not what I was. Christ has taught me. He's trained me. He's conformed me ever so slightly more to his image.

And I ask you. Is Christ doing that work in your life? Do you see Christ working in your life by the Spirit to conform you to his image? Again, you say, well, should I be looking to myself for assurance?

No, we're not talking about assurance. We're talking about growth. We're talking about growth. And are we growing? Should we be growing? Yes. And if we're not, why? In sanctification, some people draw a line.

Like you start here. Jesus is here. And you go, it's not like that. It's like one of those stock things. Where we go and we have struggles. And sometimes the stock slips. Sometimes. And even our confession addresses that.

I don't have it in front of me right now. But it addresses the idea that as we go through this life that there will be times where we will slip. That doesn't make an excuse for it. It's just the reality.

It's identifying the truth. But the ultimate goal is conformation to Christ. Conformation, not confirmation. Don't think like Roman Catholics have confirmation. No. Conformation, to be formed into his image.

You know, that's what we're predestined to, my dear Calvinist friends. Having been predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. We always think about predestination as our end goal. We're predestined for heaven.

Yes, but that's not all. Christ didn't just save you so you could go to heaven. Christ saved you so that he could form you to his image here. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. You were created in Christ Jesus not just to go to heaven. But you were created in Christ Jesus to image him here.

That's the process. Making us more like Christ. And you could ask yourself daily, is what I'm doing today conforming me to Christ? Or is what I'm doing in rebellion to Christ? And I'm not saying every single day you got to have your nose stuck so far in your Bible that you can't see anything else.

No, we have to live and we have to go and work and we have to do things. But the word of God should influence everything that we do. And you can't do that if you're not in the word of God. I will say this.

Your growth is tied so much to the word of God that we often don't even realize just how essential our time with God is in his word. Because we often just get so caught up in other things. And yet, and don't do this as an experiment, but think about in your life times where you've gone time away from God's word.

I mean, what's the old phrase? The Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible, right? Because either we will be seeking after God's word or the world will influence us to seek after something else.

And when we're seeking after that other thing, we really don't want to be in the word, do we? And we don't want to go and find our conviction. We don't want to do what James says, do look at the mirror and see how the mirror reflects us.

And we don't want to do that. So we just put it away. All right. So we got through two. Let's go to number three. So we've recognized the position. We've recognized the process. Now let's look at number three.

Recognize the danger. So what is this? What is he talking about? Look at verse 11. Verse 11 comes out of nowhere. Some people think it's not even connected to what Paul just said. It's absolutely connected.

And I believe it is actually the culmination of everything he just said. But it's difficult to understand how. Because he just said, put to death that which is earthly in you. You put off the old man.

You put on the new man. You're being renewed in knowledge after the image of your creator. And then verse 11, here is not Greek and Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised. Barbarians, Scythians, slave or free.

Now this is very similar to something he says in the book of Galatians. Where in Galatians he says in Christ there's neither male or female. Neither slave nor free. Neither Jew nor Greek. Right? It's very, very similar.

The only difference, we don't see the term male and female here. He doesn't make that distinction here. And he doesn't talk about barbarians and Scythians in Galatians. So there's a little difference.

But the point stays the same. And the point that Paul is making here is that in the church there are not divisions based upon earthly things. Such as race. Such as kinship. Such as color. All of these things are not what should divide.

And he uses Greek and Jew because primarily that was the big division in the Jewish world at that time. You were either a Jew or you were a dog. You were part of the Gentile. You were the Goyim. You were outside.

And if they left Israel and came back to Israel, they would shake the dirt off of their feet before they came back into Israel. So as to not taint the blessed land of Israel with the dirt of the Gentiles.

So this distinction that's made here. This division between Greek and Jew is very much alive in the first century church. And of course circumcised and uncircumcised is another way of saying the same thing.

Because the Jews were known for their circumcision. It was the mark given by God to Abraham that marked out his people. Barbarians were those who were considered to be unlearned. It actually comes from the name barbarian comes from the idea of the word bar-bar.

Would be like what a child would say. Like ba-ba. Like that. And a barbarian was a person who just didn't have much education. They were not educated. As well as the Scythians who were just seen as another class.

And of course slaves and free. Well, those distinctions were made because there were those who had slaves. There were those who were slaves. And there were those who were free. And so Paul makes this distinction.