From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?(A) Absolutely not!(B) 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone[a] as obedient slaves,(C) you are slaves of that one you obey(D)—either of sin leading to death(E) or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin,(F) you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed[b] over,(G) 18 and having been set free from sin,(H) you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 I am using a human analogy(I) because of the weakness of your flesh.[c] For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:16 Lit that to whom you offer yourselves
  2. 6:17 Or entrusted
  3. 6:19 Or your human nature

Freedom from sin

15 So what? Should we sin because we aren’t under Law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, that you are slaves of the one whom you obey? That’s true whether you serve as slaves of sin, which leads to death, or as slaves of the kind of obedience that leads to righteousness. 17 But thank God that although you used to be slaves of sin, you gave wholehearted obedience to the teaching that was handed down to you, which provides a pattern. 18 Now that you have been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. 19 (I’m speaking with ordinary metaphors because of your limitations.) Once, you offered the parts of your body to be used as slaves to impurity and to lawless behavior that leads to still more lawless behavior. Now, you should present the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness, which makes your lives holy.

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