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Romans 6

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What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

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God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

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Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

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Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

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For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

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Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

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For he that is dead is freed from sin.

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Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

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Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

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For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

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Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

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Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

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For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

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What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

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Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

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But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

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Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

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I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

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For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

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What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

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But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

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For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Romans 6

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! Paul's indignant rejection opens the chapter and sets its refrain—an ethical urgency grounded in baptismal theology and union with Christ. Baptism into Christ Jesus is baptism into his death; the baptized are buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too walk in newness of life. The baptized are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus; therefore, sin must not reign in the mortal body, and the members of the body must not be presented as instruments of wickedness but as instruments of righteousness to God. Paul employs the slavery metaphor with theological force: once enslaved to sin, humanity is now enslaved to righteousness, having obeyed from the heart the form (typos) of teaching delivered, the obedience that leads to sanctification. The wages of sin is death (a personification of sin as master and death as payment), but the free gift (charisma) of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord—grace overthrows merit and transforms slavery into sonship.

Romans 6:1

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? — Paul's diatribe style poses an objection that his gospel of grace might license sin; the rhetorical question introduces the fundamental misunderstanding that divine mercy could justify moral laxity. The Greek μή γένοιτο (mē genoito, "by no means!") forcefully rejects this false inference. This opening establishes the ethical urgency of Christian identity: grace is not permissive but transformative.

Romans 6:2

We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? — Union with Christ through baptism is described as a death to sin's dominion, not merely to individual sins; Paul appeals to the indicative reality of the believer's status (nous, "we know") before issuing the imperative. The rhetorical μή γένοιτο underscores that death to sin is not hypothetical but constitutive of Christian existence. Baptism is corporate and mystical incorporation into Christ's death.

Romans 6:3

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? — Baptism is entry into Christ's death, understood not as mere symbol but as mystical participation (eis Christos, "into Christ"); the Greek eis conveys both direction and identity. Paul assumes the Roman readers understand the baptismal tradition: immersion into death, burial in the eschatological waters. This sacramental union is the foundation of all Christian ethics.

Romans 6:4

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. — Baptism mirrors Christ's death and resurrection; burial in the water and emergence enact the death of the old self and birth of the new creation. The Father's δόξα (doxa, "glory") raised Christ—the same divine power available to believers through participation. The new life (καινότης ζωῆς, kainotēs zōēs) is not moral self-improvement but eschatological newness, resurrection existence here and now.

Romans 6:5

For if we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. — The future tense ("will certainly be") assures ultimate resurrection, grounded in present union (σύμφυτος, symphytos, "grown together with"); Paul's logic is participatory, not contractual. Just as his death is our death, his exaltation is our exaltation. The realized eschatology of baptism points forward to bodily resurrection.

Romans 6:6

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. — The σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας (soma tēs hamartias, "body of sin") is not the physical body itself but the ensemble of human nature organized under sin's tyranny; crucifixion (συνεσταύρωμαι, synestauromai, "co-crucified") is not metaphor but mystical reality. The goal is liberation from servitude (δουλεία, douleia) to sin—the transition from one master to another.

Romans 6:7

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.

Romans 6:8

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. — Faith (πιστεύω, pisteuō) grasps the historical Christ-event and applies it existentially to the believer; the future tense indicates both present pledge and certain hope. Living with Christ is not merely post-mortem but present fellowship in his risen life, already anticipated in baptism and the Spirit.

Romans 6:9

For we know that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. — Christ's resurrection is eschatological victory; his exaltation breaks death's cyclic tyranny irreversibly. The κυριότης (kyriotes, "dominion") of death is abolished—no restoration of his former death. This is the ground of believer confidence: union with the Risen One means participation in his triumph.

Romans 6:10

For in that he died, he died to sin once for all; but in that he lives, he lives to God. — The ἐφάπαξ (ephapax, "once for all") echoes Hebrews' atonement logic: death to sin is singular, unrepeated, eschatologically decisive. The resurrection life is ἀπαρτί (aparts, "henceforth") lived toward God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pros ton theon), a relational orientation. Christ's death-once undoes sin's power; his life-now manifests God-orientation.

Romans 6:11

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. — Λογίζομαι (logizomai, "reckon/count") is financial language: believers are to register themselves as possessing a new accounting in Christ, dead on sin's ledger, alive to God's. This is declarative identity—not self-generated but acknowledged in baptism. The imperative rests on the indicative already established.

Romans 6:12

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. — The basileia (dominion) of sin, though broken, still tempts; the body (σῶμα, soma) in its earthly mortality remains a site of moral struggle. Paul addresses the paradox: legally dead to sin yet still inhabiting bodies where sin whispers. Ethics flows from eschatology: the reign of sin is terminated, but believers must enforce that verdict through obedience.

Romans 6:13

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to God as instruments of righteousness. — Paristēmi ("present/offer") is the counterpart to baptismal surrender; the body's μέλη (melē, "members/limbs") are not morally neutral but must be enlisted actively for righteousness. The σκεῦος (skeuos, "instrument/vessel") language suggests the body is a tool redirected toward God through voluntary self-offering.

Romans 6:14

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. — The κυριότης (kyriotes, "dominion") of sin is definitively broken; being ὑπὸ χάριν (hypo charin, "under grace") rather than ὑπὸ νόμον (hypo nomon, "under law") is the altered power structure. The law reveals sin but does not liberate from it; grace enslaves the believer to God. This pivots toward the extended Romans 7 discussion of law's function.

Romans 6:15

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? — Paul restages the earlier objection (6:1): does grace license immorality? The mē genoito again emphatically denies this false inference. The rhetorical pattern underscores that Paul's theology generates constant misreading: grace is so radical, so liberating, that it appears to abolish ethics.

Romans 6:16

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves to obey him, you are slaves to the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? — Slavery (δουλεία, douleia) is unavoidable; the question is not freedom but whom you serve. The two masters are sin unto θάνατος (thanatos, "death") and obedience unto δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē, "righteousness"). Paul's argument is stark: autonomy is illusory; all persons are servants to a power.

Romans 6:17

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. — The μορφή (morphē, "pattern/form") of teaching is the gospel tradition; obedience ἐκ καρδίας (ek kardias, "from the heart") indicates not external compliance but volitional reorientation. The passive ἀπαredōthēte ("were entrusted") suggests divine action: God has committed the teaching to them. Faith is not intellectual assent but grateful submission to a teaching that transforms the heart.

Romans 6:18

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. — The paradox crystallizes: freedom from sin is simultaneously enslavement to righteousness (δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē). The ἐλευθερόω (eleutherōō, "freed") is completed action; the subsequent δουλεία is the new status. Christian liberty is not autonomy but theonomous bondage—willing service to justice.

Romans 6:19

I am using an example from everyday life because of the limitations of your human nature. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. — Paul acknowledges the slavery metaphor's inadequacy (διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, "because of the weakness of your flesh"); yet it illustrates the transfer of allegiance. Escalation characterized sin's path (μᾶλλον, mallon, "ever-increasing"); righteousness progresses toward ἁγιασμός (hagiasmos, "sanctification/holiness"), the actual transformation of life.

Romans 6:20

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. — Slavery to sin freed from righteousness's claim; the life of sin experienced itself as liberty but was actually bondage. This inverts apparent freedom: the unbeliever is freed from the good. The grammar traces the historical arc: past slavery, present liberation.

Romans 6:21

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. — Fruit (κάρπος, karpos) of sin is shame and θάνατος (thanatos, "death")—existential and eschatological. The rhetorical question exposes sin's bankruptcy: it promises satisfaction but delivers only disgrace. Paul appeals to the Roman Christians' own experience: the old way led nowhere.

Romans 6:22

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. — The contrast is absolute: formerly enslaved to sin and reaping death; now enslaved to God and reaping ἁγιασμός (hagiasmos, "holiness") and ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios, "eternal life"). The teleology shifts from deterioration to sanctification. Slavery to God is the road to genuine freedom and eternal fellowship.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. — The final verse pairs the economy of sin (ὀψώνια, opsōnia, "wages"—what is earned through service) with the χάρισμα (charisma, "gift") of God. Death is merited; eternal life is grace. The contrast crystallizes Paul's entire argument: under the old regime, death is the paycheck; under grace, eternal life is unmerited gift. Everything in Christ Jesus is the eschatological treasure.