Add parallel Print Page Options

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Read full chapter

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

21 So what benefit[a] did you then reap[b] from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, freed[c] from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit[d] leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 23 For the payoff[e] of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Romans 6:21 tn Grk “fruit.”
  2. Romans 6:21 tn Grk “have,” in a tense emphasizing their customary condition in the past.
  3. Romans 6:22 tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”
  4. Romans 6:22 tn Grk “fruit.”
  5. Romans 6:23 tn A figurative extension of ὀψώνιον (opsōnion), which refers to a soldier’s pay or wages. Here it refers to the end result of an activity, seen as something one receives back in return. In this case the activity is sin, and the translation “payoff” captures this thought. See also L&N 89.42.