Roma 6:15-23

The Believer’s Enslavement to God’s Righteousness

6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves ¹  as obedient slaves, ²  you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? ³  6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed ⁴  from the heart that pattern ⁵  of teaching you were entrusted to, 6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 6:19 (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) ⁶  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness.

6:21 So what benefit ⁷  did you then reap ⁸  from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 6:22 But now, freed ⁹  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ¹⁰  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 6:23 For the payoff ¹¹  of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Roma 8:6-13

8:6 For the outlook ¹²  of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 8:9 You, however, are not in ¹³  the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but ¹⁴  the Spirit is your life ¹⁵  because of righteousness. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one ¹⁶  who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ ¹⁷  from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you. ¹⁸ 

8:12 So then, ¹⁹  brothers and sisters, ²⁰  we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 8:13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will ²¹  die), ²²  but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

[6:16]  ¹ tn Grk “to whom you present yourselves.”

[6:16]  ² tn Grk “as slaves for obedience.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.

[6:16]  ³ tn Grk “either of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness.”

[6:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “you were slaves of sin but you obeyed.”

[6:17]  ⁵ tn Or “type, form.”

[6:19]  ⁶ tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV).

[6:19]  sn Verse 19 forms something of a parenthetical comment in Paul’s argument.

[6:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “fruit.”

[6:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “have,” in a tense emphasizing their customary condition in the past.

[6:22]  ⁹ 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….”

[6:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “fruit.”

[6:23]  ¹¹ tn A figurative extension of ὀψώνιον (oywnion), 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.

[8:6]  ¹² tn Or “mindset,” “way of thinking” (twice in this verse and once in v. 7). The Greek term φρόνημα does not refer to one’s mind, but to one’s outlook or mindset.

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Or “are not controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.”

[8:10]  ¹⁴ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “life-giving.” Grk “the Spirit is life.”

[8:11]  ¹⁶ sn The one who raised Jesus from the dead refers to God (also in the following clause).

[8:11]  ¹⁷ tc Several mss read ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun, “Jesus”) after Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”; א* A D* 630 1506 1739 1881 pc bo); C 81 104 lat have ᾿Ιησοῦν Χριστόν. The shorter reading is more likely to be original, though, both because of external evidence (א² B D² F G Ψ 33 Ï sa) and internal evidence (scribes were much more likely to add the name “Jesus” if it were lacking than to remove it if it were already present in the text, especially to harmonize with the earlier mention of Jesus in the verse).

[8:11]  ¹⁸ tc Most mss (B D F G Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat) have διά (dia) followed by the accusative: “because of his Spirit who lives in you.” The genitive “through his Spirit” is supported by א A C⁽*⁾ 81 104 1505 1506 al, and is slightly preferred.

[8:12]  ¹⁹ tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[8:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[8:13]  ²¹ tn Grk “are about to, are certainly going to.”

[8:13]  ²² sn This remark is parenthetical to Paul’s argument.