“For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
For anyone who has died has been set free from sin. — Death terminates legal claims; the Greek δικαιόω (dikaioō, "justified/freed") echoes justification language, suggesting sin's dominion is juridically dissolved. This is Paul's most radical claim: death breaks slavery. The believer, co-crucified, is beyond sin's authority. The logic is juridical and mystical simultaneously.
Church Fathers on Romans 6:7
“For he that is dead,” he says, “is freed (Gr. justified) from sin.” This he says of every man, that as he that is dead is henceforth freed from sinning, lying as a dead body, so must he that has come up from baptism, since he has died there once for all, remain ever dead to sin. If then you have died in baptism, remain dead, for any one that dies can sin no more; but if you sin, you mar God's gift. After requiring of us then heroism (Gr. philosophy) of this degree, he…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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