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Romans 6:15-23
New International Version
Romans 6:15-23
New International Version
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?(A) By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey(B)—whether you are slaves to sin,(C) which leads to death,(D) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God(E) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,(F) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching(G) that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin(H) and have become slaves to righteousness.(I)
19 I am using an example from everyday life(J) 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(K) leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin,(L) you were free from the control of righteousness.(M) 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!(N) 22 But now that you have been set free from sin(O) and have become slaves of God,(P) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.(Q) 23 For the wages of sin is death,(R) but the gift of God is eternal life(S) in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Footnotes
- Romans 6:23 Or through
Romans 6:15-23
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
Romans 6:15-23
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
15 What then [are we to conclude]? Shall we sin because we live not under Law but under God’s favor and mercy? Certainly not!
16 Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?
17 But thank God, though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed and to which you were committed.
18 And having been set free from sin, you have become the servants of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action).
19 I am speaking in familiar human terms because of your natural limitations. For as you yielded your bodily members [and [a]faculties] as servants to impurity and ever increasing lawlessness, so now yield your bodily members [and [b]faculties] once for all as servants to righteousness (right being and doing) [which leads] to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21 But then what benefit (return) did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? [None] for the end of those things is death.
22 But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life.
23 For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 6:19 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies: Greek mele—“Physical; though some commentators interpret it to include the mental faculties as well.”
- Romans 6:19 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies: Greek mele—“Physical; though some commentators interpret it to include the mental faculties as well.”
Romans 6:15-23
The Message
Romans 6:15-23
The Message
What Is True Freedom?
15-18 So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
19 I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
20-21 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22-23 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
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Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) 
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The Message (MSG)
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