¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves ^(A)to anyone as obedient slaves,^[a] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(A)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[a] to sin.

¹⁹ They promise them ^(A)freedom, ^(B)but they themselves are slaves^[a] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

^15 (A)And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^(B)choose this day whom you will serve, whether ^(C)the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^(D)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^(E)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

^24 (A)“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^(B)money.^[a]

¹² Let not ^(A)sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ^13 (B)Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ^(C)present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

^19 (A)I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For ^(B)just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members ^(C)as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

^20 (D)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ^21 (E)But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things ^(F)of which you are now ashamed? ^(G)For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you ^(H)have been set free from sin and ^(I)have become slaves of God, ^(J)the fruit you get leads to sanctification and ^(K)its end, eternal life. ^23 (L)For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹⁷ But ^(A)thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the ^(B)standard of teaching to which you were committed,