King James Version
Romans 6
23 verses with commentary
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?</strong> Paul anticipates the antinomian objection to his doctrine of justification by faith alone (Romans 5:20). The Greek verb <em>epimenōmen</em> (ἐπιμένωμεν) means "to remain, continue, persist"—suggesting habitual, deliberate sin rather than occasional failure. Paul frames this as a <em>diatribē</em> question, th...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
VI.
(1-5) These considerations might seem to lead to an Antinomian conclusion. If the increase of sin has only led to a larger measure of forgiveness it might be thought well to continue in sin, and so to enhance the measure and glory of forgiving grace. But to the Christian this is impossible. In regard to sin he is, in theory and principle, dead. When he was converted from heathenism and receive...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was let--**hindered.
**hitherto--**chiefly by his desire to go first to places where Christ was not known (Ro 15:20-24).
**that I might have some fruit--**of my ministry
**among you also, even as among other Gentiles--**The Gentile origin of the Church at Rome is here so explicitly stated, that those who conclude, merely from the Jewish strai...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Believers must die to sin, and live to God.(1-2)
This is urged by their Christian baptism and union with Christ.(3-10)
They are made alive to God.(11-15)
And are freed from the dominion of sin.(16-20)
The end of sin is death, and of holiness everlasting life.(21-23)
**Verses 1-2**
The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness...
Read full commentary →God forbid . How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>God forbid</strong> (<em>mē genoito</em>, μὴ γένοιτο)—Paul's strongest negation, appearing 10 times in Romans. Literally "may it never be!" This emphatic rejection introduces Paul's theological explanation: believers have <strong>died to sin</strong> (<em>apethanomen tē hamartia</em>, ἀπεθάνομεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ)—the aorist tense indicating a definite past event at conversion.<br><br>The phrase ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **That are dead.**—Rather, *that died.* It is well to bear in mind Dr. Lightfoot’s remarks on the importance of keeping the strict aorist sense as opposed to that of the perfect (*i.e.,* the single past action as opposed to the prolonged or continued action) in passages such as this. “St. Paul regards this change—from sin to righteousness, from bondage to freedom, from death to life—as summed ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14-15. I am debtor both to the Greeks--**cultivated
**and to the Barbarians--**rude.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 6
Chapter Outline
Believers must die to sin, and live to God.(1-2)
This is urged by their Christian baptism and union with Christ.(3-10)
They are made alive to God.(11-15)
And are freed from the dominion of sin.(16-20)
The end of sin is death, and of holiness everlasting life.(21-23)
**Verses 1-2**
The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness...
Read full commentary →Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? were: or, are were: or, are
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Know ye not</strong> (<em>ē agnoite</em>, ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε)—Paul assumes his readers understand baptism's significance, suggesting early Christian catechesis explained baptism theologically. The phrase <strong>baptized into Jesus Christ</strong> (<em>eis Christon Iēsoun ebaptisthēmen</em>, εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐβαπτίσθημεν) uses <em>eis</em> (into) indicating incorporation, union, identification—n...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Know ye not.**—It should be as in the Greek, *Or know ye not.* Do you not admit this principle; or am I to suppose that you are ignorant? &c.
**Were baptized into Jesus Christ**—*i.e.,* “into communion with Him and incorporation in His mystical body” (Ellicott on Galatians 3:27). “As many of you as have been baptised in Christ have put on Christ.” Your baptism signified an intimately close a...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14-15. I am debtor both to the Greeks--**cultivated
**and to the Barbarians--**rude.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death</strong>—the aorist passive <em>synetaphēmen</em> (συνετάφημεν, "we were buried with") indicates completed action. The compound verb with <em>syn</em> (with) emphasizes union: not buried like Him but <em>with</em> Him. Immersion baptism dramatizes burial—the baptismal waters as a symbolic grave. Burial confirms death's reality; Christ ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **We are buried with him.**—Burial, is the consequence of death. It is the seal set upon it, as it were, which shows that no revival is possible. Besides, it is the one step which separates it from resurrection. The idea of “buried with Christ” is therefore introduced, on the one hand, to show that the ethical death with Him was final and decisive, and on the other, to prepare the way for an e...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel--**(The words, "of Christ," which follow here, are not found in the oldest and best manuscripts). This language implies that it required some courage to bring to "the mistress of the world" what "to the Jews was a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness" (1Co 1:23). But its inherent glory, as God's life-giving message to a dying world, so filled his s...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death</strong>—<em>symphytoi</em> (σύμφυτοι, "planted together, grown together") is used only here in the NT, meaning organically united, like a graft (cf. Romans 11:17-24). The perfect tense <em>gegonamen</em> (γεγόναμεν) indicates a past event with continuing results: "we have become and remain united." <strong>The likeness of h...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **If we have been planted together.**—“If (so surely as) we have *grown into—become conjoined with.”* The metaphor is taken from the parasitic growth of a plant, but applies to *natural* growth, not *“planted* together with,” as in the Authorised version. The idea would correspond to the growth of a bud or graft regarded as part of that of the stock in which it is inserted. but without referen...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed--**that is (as the whole argument of the Epistle shows), God's justifying righteousness.
**from faith to faith--**a difficult clause. Most interpreters (judging from the sense of such phrases elsewhere) take it to mean, "from one degree of faith to another." But this agrees ill with the apostle's design, which has nothing to do with the prog...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him</strong>—<em>touto ginōskontes</em> (τοῦτο γινώσκοντες) introduces a known theological truth. <strong>Our old man</strong> (<em>ho palaios hēmōn anthrōpos</em>, ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος) refers not to part of the Christian (as in later dualistic anthropology) but to the whole person as they were in Adam, under sin's reign. The aorist pass...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6-11) Further description of this process. The Christian’s union with the crucified Christ binds him also to crucify or mortify (ascetically) the sinful desires of his body. Thus he is released from the dominion of those desires. But this is not all. Just as Christ passed from the cross to the resurrection, and overcame death once for all, exchanging for it a life wholly dependent upon God; so, t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Ro 1:18. Why This Divinely Provided Righteousness Is Needed by All Men.
**18. For the wrath of God--**His holy displeasure and righteous vengeance against sin.
**is revealed from heaven--**in the consciences of men, and attested by innumerable outward evidences of a moral government.
**against all ungodliness--**that is, their whole irreligiousness, or their living without any conscious refer...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →For he that is dead is freed from sin. freed: Gr. justified
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For he that is dead is freed from sin</strong>—<em>ho gar apothanōn dedikaiōtai apo tēs hamartias</em> (ὁ γὰρ ἀποθανὼν δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας). The perfect passive <em>dedikaiōtai</em> (has been justified/freed) is forensic language: death cancels all legal claims. This may reference Jewish teaching that death atones, but Paul transforms it: the believer's death <em>in Christ</em> br...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Is freed.**—“Absolved,” the same word that is used elsewhere for “justified.” The dead man is no longer liable to have the charge of sin brought against him. This is the general proposition, the major premise, adduced in proof of what had gone before, viz., the particular proposition that he who is ethically dead is no longer the slave of sin.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. Because that which may be--**rather, "which is."
**known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them--**The sense of this pregnant statement the apostle proceeds to unfold in Ro 1:20.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Now if we be dead with Christ</strong>—the first-class conditional (<em>ei de apethanomen syn Christō</em>, εἰ δὲ ἀπεθάνομεν σὺν Χριστῷ) assumes the condition is true: "since we died with Christ" (not "if" in the sense of doubt). The aorist tense points to the definite historical reality of co-death at conversion. <strong>We believe that we shall also live with him</strong> (<em>pisteuomen...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. For the invisible things of him from--**or "since"
**the creation of the world are clearly seen--**the mind brightly beholding what the eye cannot discern.
**being understood by the things that are made--**Thus, the outward creation is not the parent but the interpreter of our faith in God. That faith has its primary sources within our own breast (Ro 1:19); but it becomes an intelligible...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more</strong>—<em>eidotes hoti Christos egertheis ek nekrōn ouketi apothnēskei</em> (εἰδότες ὅτι Χριστὸς ἐγερθεὶς ἐκ νεκρῶν οὐκέτι ἀποθνῄσκει). The perfect participle <em>egertheis</em> (having been raised) indicates permanent state: Christ remains in resurrection life. <em>Ouketi</em> (no longer, no more) emphasizes the finality—Chri...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Dieth no more.**—The eternal subsistence of the life of Christ is a guarantee for the permanence and reality of our own life, so far as it is dependent on His. If it were possible that the life of Christ should fail, the whole fabric that the believer’s faith builds upon it would fall to the ground.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. Because that, when they knew God--**that is, while still retaining some real knowledge of Him, and ere they sank down into the state next to be described.
**they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful--**neither yielded the adoration due to Himself, nor rendered the gratitude which His beneficence demanded.
**but became vain--**(compare Jr 2:5).
**in their imaginations--**thou...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For in that he died, he died unto sin once</strong>—<em>ho gar apethanen tē hamartia apethanen ephapax</em> (ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ). <em>Ephapax</em> (ἐφάπαξ, "once for all") emphasizes the unrepeatable, final nature of Christ's atoning death—contra-medieval Mass theology that re-presented the sacrifice. <strong>He died unto sin</strong> (<em>tē hamartia</em>, dative) c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) But it is not possible that the life of Christ should fail. Death has lost all its power over Him. The death which He died, He died to sin. It was the last sacrifice which He made to sin, and one that freed Him from its dominion for ever. He died to it once for all, and His death did not need to be, and could not be, repeated. On the other hand, His life is assured, because it is wholly depen...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22-23. Professing themselves--**"boasting," or "pretending to be"
**wise, they became fools--**"It is the invariable property of error in morals and religion, that men take credit to themselves for it and extol it as wisdom. So the heathen" (1Co 1:21) [Tholuck].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-10**
Baptism teaches the necessity of dying to sin, and being as it were buried from all ungodly and unholy pursuits, and of rising to walk with God in newness of life. Unholy professors may have had the outward sign of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, but they never passed from the family of Satan to that of God. The corrupt nature, called the old man, because ...
Read full commentary →Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord</strong>—<em>logizesthe</em> (λογίζεσθε, "reckon, count, consider") is present imperative, indicating continuous command. This is accounting terminology (used of Abraham's faith being 'reckoned' as righteousness, Romans 4:3). Believers must actively calculate themselves as what t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) Theoretical application to the readers. They are to regard themselves as dead, *i.e.,* insensible and inaccessible to sin, but living in close allegiance and devotion to God through union with Christ.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22-23. Professing themselves--**"boasting," or "pretending to be"
**wise, they became fools--**"It is the invariable property of error in morals and religion, that men take credit to themselves for it and extol it as wisdom. So the heathen" (1Co 1:21) [Tholuck].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-15**
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. But, as unholy lusts are not quite rooted out in this life, it must be the care of the Christian to resist their motions, earnestly striving,...
Read full commentary →Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body</strong>—<em>mē oun basileuetō hē hamartia en tō thnētō hymōn sōmati</em> (μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι). The present imperative with <em>mē</em> means "stop allowing sin to reign" (if it currently does) or "do not begin allowing." <em>Basileuetō</em> (βασιλευέτω, "let it reign") personifies sin as a tyrant-king. <stron...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12-14) Practical and hortatory consequence. Therefore expel sin, and refuse to obey its evil promptings. Keep your bodies pure and clean. Let them no longer be weapons in the hands of wickedness; let them rather be weapons with which to fight the battle of righteousness and of God. You have every encouragement to do this. For sin shall no longer play the tyrant over you. The stern and gloomy Empi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. Wherefore God also--**in righteous retribution.
**gave them up--**This divine abandonment of men is here strikingly traced in three successive stages, at each of which the same word is used (Ro 1:24, 26; and Ro 1:28, where the word is rendered "gave over"). "As they deserted God, God in turn deserted them; not giving them divine (that is, supernatural) laws, and suffering them to corrupt t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-15**
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. But, as unholy lusts are not quite rooted out in this life, it must be the care of the Christian to resist their motions, earnestly striving,...
Read full commentary →Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. instruments: Gr. arms, or, weapons
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin</strong>—<em>mēde paristanete ta melē hymōn hopla adikias tē hamartia</em> (μηδὲ παριστάνετε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ). Present imperative again: stop presenting or don't start. <em>Paristanete</em> (παριστάνετε, yield, present, offer) was used of presenting sacrifices or soldiers presenting themselves for...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Instruments.**—Rather, as margin, *arms,* or *weapons* which sin is to wield. The same military metaphor is kept up in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin” (your pay as soldiers of sin) “is death.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie--**that is, the truth concerning God into idol falsehood.
**and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator--**Professing merely to worship the Creator by means of the creature, they soon came to lose sight of the Creator in the creature. How aggravated is the guilt of the Church of Rome, which, under the same flimsy pretext, does shamel...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-15**
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. But, as unholy lusts are not quite rooted out in this life, it must be the care of the Christian to resist their motions, earnestly striving,...
Read full commentary →For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For sin shall not have dominion over you</strong>—<em>hamartia gar hymōn ou kyrieusei</em> (ἁμαρτία γὰρ ὑμῶν οὐ κυριεύσει). The future <em>kyrieusei</em> (κυριεύσει, shall lord over, exercise mastery) contains assurance: sin's tyranny is broken and will not reassert itself because of believers' new position. This isn't prediction but promise based on the reality Paul has expounded. The ver...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26-27. For this cause God gave them up--**(See on Ro 1:24).
**for even their women--**that sex whose priceless jewel and fairest ornament is modesty, and which, when that is once lost, not only becomes more shameless than the other sex, but lives henceforth only to drag the other sex down to its level.
**did change, &c.--**The practices here referred to, though too abundantly attested by...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-15**
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. But, as unholy lusts are not quite rooted out in this life, it must be the care of the Christian to resist their motions, earnestly striving,...
Read full commentary →Slaves to Righteousness
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid</strong>—<em>ti oun? hamartēsōmen hoti ouk esmen hypo nomon alla hypo charin? mē genoito</em> (τί οὖν; ἁμαρτήσωμεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑπὸ νόμον ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χάριν; μὴ γένοιτο). Paul anticipates a second antinomian objection, similar to v. 1 but focused specifically on freedom from law. The aorist subjunctive <em>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15-23) *Free* forgiveness! What does that mean? Freedom to sin? Far from it. That were to return into the old slavery. To yield to sin is to be the servant or slave of sin with its consequence—death. On the other hand, obedience and righteousness go together. Happily you have escaped from sin, and taken service with righteousness. Service, I say, using a plain human figure to suit your imperfect ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26-27. For this cause God gave them up--**(See on Ro 1:24).
**for even their women--**that sex whose priceless jewel and fairest ornament is modesty, and which, when that is once lost, not only becomes more shameless than the other sex, but lives henceforth only to drag the other sex down to its level.
**did change, &c.--**The practices here referred to, though too abundantly attested by...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 11-15**
The strongest motives against sin, and to enforce holiness, are here stated. Being made free from the reign of sin, alive unto God, and having the prospect of eternal life, it becomes believers to be greatly concerned to advance thereto. But, as unholy lusts are not quite rooted out in this life, it must be the care of the Christian to resist their motions, earnestly striving,...
Read full commentary →Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey</strong>—<em>ouk oidate hoti hō paristanete heautous doulous eis hypakoēn, douloi este hō hypakouete</em> (οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ᾧ παριστάνετε ἑαυτοὺς δούλους εἰς ὑπακοήν, δοῦλοί ἐστε ᾧ ὑπακούετε). The rhetorical question assumes the principle is self-evident. <em>Doulous</em> (δούλους, slaves) is ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Know ye not.**—An apparent tautology, but one which really teaches a deep ethical truth. Don’t you know that what you make yourselves that you become? The habit which you form ends by becoming your “second nature.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-31. gave them over--**or "up" (see on Ro 1:24).
**to do those things which are not convenient--**in the old sense of that word, that is, "not becoming," "indecorous," "shameful."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-20**
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when ...
Read full commentary →But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. which: Gr. whereto ye were delivered
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin</strong>—<em>charis de tō theō hoti ēte douloi tēs hamartias</em> (χάρις δὲ τῷ θεῷ ὅτι ἦτε δοῦλοι τῆς ἁμαρτίας). The imperfect <em>ēte</em> (ἦτε, ye were) indicates past continuous state, now changed. Paul gives thanks not for their slavery to sin itself but for their deliverance from it—the clause is ironic or elliptical, completed by t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Have obeyed.**—Rather, *obeyed.* (See Note on Romans 6:2.) In like manner correct “have yielded” to “yielded” in Romans 6:19.**
That form of doctrine.**—That *pattern of teaching,* or express moral rule of life.
**Delivered you.**—Literally, *to which you were delivered*—*to the direction of which you were handed over.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-31. gave them over--**or "up" (see on Ro 1:24).
**to do those things which are not convenient--**in the old sense of that word, that is, "not becoming," "indecorous," "shameful."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-20**
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when ...
Read full commentary →Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness</strong>—<em>eleutherōthentes de apo tēs hamartias edoulōthēte tē dikaiosynē</em> (ἐλευθερωθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ). Two aorist passives: <em>eleutherōthentes</em> (ἐλευθερωθέντες, having been freed) and <em>edoulōthēte</em> (ἐδουλώθητε, ye were enslaved). The passives indicate divine action—...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **Ye became the servants.**—Comp. “Whose service is perfect freedom,” adopted from St. Augustine.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-31. gave them over--**or "up" (see on Ro 1:24).
**to do those things which are not convenient--**in the old sense of that word, that is, "not becoming," "indecorous," "shameful."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-20**
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when ...
Read full commentary →I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh</strong>—<em>anthrōpinon legō dia tēn astheneian tēs sarkos hymōn</em> (ἀνθρώπινον λέγω διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν). Paul acknowledges his slavery metaphor is <em>anthrōpinon</em> (ἀνθρώπινον, human, in human terms)—imperfect but pedagogically helpful. <em>Astheneia tēs sarkos</em> (ἀσθένεια τῆς σαρκός, weakness ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **I speak after the manner of men.**—I am using a merely human figure of speech, a figure taken from common human relations, and not a high mystical phrase such as I used just now, because of the dulness of your understanding: that form of expression you might not be able to comprehend; this present figure is clear even to a mind that is busy with earthly and carnal things, and has not much f...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**28-31. gave them over--**or "up" (see on Ro 1:24).
**to do those things which are not convenient--**in the old sense of that word, that is, "not becoming," "indecorous," "shameful."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-20**
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when ...
Read full commentary →For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. from: Gr. to righteousness
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness</strong>—<em>hote gar douloi ēte tēs hamartias, eleutheroi ēte tē dikaiosynē</em> (ὅτε γὰρ δοῦλοι ἦτε τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐλεύθεροι ἦτε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ). The imperfect <em>ēte</em> (ἦτε, ye were) indicates past continuous state, now ended. <em>Eleutheroi tē dikaiosynē</em> (ἐλεύθεροι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, free from righteousness) is ir...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32. Who knowing--**from the voice of conscience, Ro 2:14, 15
**the judgment of God--**the stern law of divine procedure.
**that they which commit such things are worthy of death--**here used in its widest known sense, as the uttermost of divine vengeance against sin: see Ac 28:4.
**not only do the same--**which they might do under the pressure of temptation and in the heat of passion.
**...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 16-20**
Every man is the servant of the master to whose commands he yields himself; whether it be the sinful dispositions of his heart, in actions which lead to death, or the new and spiritual obedience implanted by regeneration. The apostle rejoiced now they obeyed from the heart the gospel, into which they were delivered as into a mould. As the same metal becomes a new vessel, when ...
Read full commentary →What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?</strong>—<em>tina oun karpon eichete tote eph' hois nyn epaischynesthe</em> (τίνα οὖν καρπὸν εἴχετε τότε ἐφ᾿ οἷς νῦν ἐπαισχύνεσθε). Rhetorical question expecting the answer: none (or only bad fruit). <em>Karpon</em> (καρπόν, fruit) is agricultural metaphor for results, outcomes, consequences. The imperfect <em>eichete</em> ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21) **For.**—(You had no fruit) for. &c. Some put the question at “then.” “What fruit had ye therefore (omitted in the Authorised version) at that time? Things of which ye are now ashamed; for their end is death.” But the construction of the Authorised version is probably best.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-23**
The pleasure and profit of sin do not deserve to be called fruit. Sinners are but ploughing iniquity, sowing vanity, and reaping the same. Shame came into the world with sin, and is still the certain effect of it. The end of sin is death. Though the way may seem pleasant and inviting, yet it will be bitterness in the latter end. From this condemnation the believer is set at li...
Read full commentary →But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God</strong>—<em>nyni de eleutherōthentes apo tēs hamartias doulōthentes de tō theō</em> (νυνὶ δὲ ἐλευθερωθέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δουλωθέντες δὲ τῷ θεῷ). The aorist passives <em>eleutherōthentes</em> (ἐλευθερωθέντες, having been freed) and <em>doulōthentes</em> (δουλωθέντες, having been enslaved) mark conversion's definite historical...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Ye have your fruit.**—You are no longer without fruit. Your fruit is the new Christian life which leads on to sanctification and finally to eternal life.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-23**
The pleasure and profit of sin do not deserve to be called fruit. Sinners are but ploughing iniquity, sowing vanity, and reaping the same. Shame came into the world with sin, and is still the certain effect of it. The end of sin is death. Though the way may seem pleasant and inviting, yet it will be bitterness in the latter end. From this condemnation the believer is set at li...
Read full commentary →For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For the wages of sin is death</strong>—<em>ta gar opsōnia tēs hamartias thanatos</em> (τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος). <em>Opsōnia</em> (ὀψώνια, wages) was military pay, earned compensation. Sin pays its 'employees' exactly what they deserve: death. The genitive <em>tēs hamartias</em> (of sin) indicates sin as employer; death is the earned wage. This is justice: sin merits death. <em>...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **The gift of God.**—The natural antithesis would be “wages;” but this would here be inappropriate, and therefore the Apostle substitutes “the free gift.” In spite of your sanctification as Christians, still you will not have *earned* eternal life; it is the gift of God’s grace.
**Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 21-23**
The pleasure and profit of sin do not deserve to be called fruit. Sinners are but ploughing iniquity, sowing vanity, and reaping the same. Shame came into the world with sin, and is still the certain effect of it. The end of sin is death. Though the way may seem pleasant and inviting, yet it will be bitterness in the latter end. From this condemnation the believer is set at li...
Read full commentary →