this is what i'm learning.

Paul is set on his readers understanding God’s grace accurately. The most erroneous response is to believe that God’s grace permits us to sin and even increase in sin. In chapter six, there are two misconceptions: the former believe that if grace in its fullness is true, then all will choose unabashedly to sin, so they tend to legalism. The latter group is unsure of God’s grace empowering the sufficiency of Christ’s redeeming work, so they prefer to mark their salvation by quantifiable efforts. But grace is an affront to both of these perspectives. The gospel asserts that God’s grace does not grant us freedom to sin. Further, it presents that any mark of spiritual transformation is solely by the Holy Spirit and not our own efforts. It is integral that this chapter is punctuated upon verse 23. Because “the free gift of God” being our righteousness destroys doubting the sufficiency of grace or the requisite of works. God’s grace, fully exemplified in his gift of offering Christ’s work for us, both wholly frees us from the propensity to sin and empowers us to freely choose lives free of sin. It is both an unwavering assurance of our salvation and righteousness, and an empowerment of ourselves to freely choose to obey “the standard of teaching to which [we are] committed” (17).