³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.^(A)

¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^(A)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(B) which leads to death,^(C) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”^(A)

⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(A) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(B) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(C) 9} No one who is born of God^(D) will continue to sin,^(E) because God’s seed^(F) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(G) are and who the children of the devil^(H) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(I) their brother and sister.^(J)

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign^(A) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.

⁶ For we know that our old self^(A) was crucified with him^(B) so that the body ruled by sin^(C) might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin^(D)—

³ At one time^(A) we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life^(A) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness^(B) leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin,^(C) you were free from the control of righteousness.^(D)