Grace is not a license for sin

“Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.” 1 Peter 2:16
Some people get the strange idea that we can sin as much as we want, because God’s grace will cover it. They see grace as a license for sin. But there are many, many passages in the Bible that speak against this kind of attitude. Perhaps the strongest is found in Romans 6: “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Rom. 6:1-2). “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Rom. 6:15). The phrase translated here ‘By no means!’ in the NIV is the most emphatic ‘No!’ that can be expressed in the Greek. Paul says, it is absolutely wrong to use God’s grace as an excuse to keep on sinning.
In our verse today, Peter tells us a similar thing. We have freedom in Christ – freedom from having to obey the sinful nature, freedom to serve God. It’s estimated that half the population in the Roman empire were slaves of some sort or another. They were ‘owned’ by another person. For us today, the analogy would be employers and employees. We are to enjoy our freedom in Christ, because we are no longer slaves to sin (Rom. 6:6). But while we have this new freedom, we are to use it to willingly submit and be a servant – or employee – of God. It’s by God’s grace we are able to do this, and live for a higher calling in life. We ought not take this for granted.