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Romans 6

KJV · Chapter 6/16

1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4Therefore 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.

5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13Neither 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.

14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16Know 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?

17But 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.

18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

19I 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.

20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul answers the question of whether we should keep sinning since grace abounds: by no means. He explains that baptism symbolizes dying with Christ to sin and rising to a new life, setting us free to serve God.

Explanation

After explaining grace in chapter 5, Paul anticipates an obvious objection: if grace covers even sin, why not sin more so that grace may abound even more? His answer is firm: whoever died with Christ in baptism cannot go on living as a slave to sin, because that contradicts the new identity received. The central image is a change of 'ownership': we once served sin, now we serve righteousness. It is a practical message about how grace is not a license to live without responsibility, but freedom to live differently.

Fun facts

  • Baptism by immersion, which Paul symbolically describes as 'burial' and 'resurrection,' was the most common practice in the early church, literally reflecting the going down into and coming up out of the water as a symbol of death and new life.
  • The phrase 'the wages of sin is death' uses a Greek term (opsonia) that originally meant the pay given to a Roman soldier — a vivid metaphor for what sin 'pays' those who serve it.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Romans 6:1Paul takes up more seriously an objection he had already mentioned in passing back in 3:8: if more sin means more grace appears (the end of chapter 5), wouldn’t the logic be to keep sinning on purpose?
  2. Romans 6:2An immediate, forceful answer to the previous question: it makes no sense for someone who has already “died” to sin to keep living in it, just as someone who was raised would not go back to living like a corpse.
  3. Romans 6:3Paul explains what he means by “dying to sin”: baptism itself, a ceremony the readers had already experienced, symbolizes being united to Christ’s death, not only to his life.
  4. Romans 6:4Baptism at that time was by full immersion in water: the person disappeared underwater and then emerged again. Paul uses this physical act as a staged scene — going down is like dying and being buried, coming up is like being raised to a new life.
  5. Romans 6:5This continues the image of baptism as a symbolic burial: if a person is united to Christ’s death in this way, the logic follows that they will also be united to his resurrection.
  6. Romans 6:6“Old man” describes the former version of someone, dominated by sin, as opposed to a new version. The image follows the same logic as baptism: one way of living “dies” and another takes its place.
  7. Romans 6:7This uses courtroom language: death “settles” the debt, like a defendant who has served the sentence and can no longer be charged for the same crime — it’s that settlement Paul applies to whoever has died with Christ.
  8. Romans 6:8This follows the reasoning from “dying with” to “living with”: the same union with Christ’s death guarantees, in Paul’s view, a future union with his life.
  9. Romans 6:9This explains why Christ’s resurrection is different from other resurrections recounted in the Bible, like Lazarus’s: he will not die again, because death has lost its dominion over him for good.
  10. Romans 6:10This sums up Christ’s work in two balanced statements: his death dealt with the problem of sin once for all, and his life now is entirely devoted to God.
  11. Romans 6:11This applies the logic of the previous verses directly to the reader: since Christ died to sin and lives to God, the believer should reckon themselves to be in that same position.
  12. Romans 6:12After the theological explanation comes the practical command: don’t let sin go back to ruling the body, dictating the desires a person follows.
  13. Romans 6:13“Instruments” could also be translated as weapons; the image is of choosing which side of the battle one’s own body will fight for, on behalf of unrighteousness or on behalf of God.
  14. Romans 6:14“Under” describes being under the authority or dominion of something. Paul contrasts two systems — one in which a person is held to keeping rules, and another in which they receive an undeserved favor — without saying here that the law has stopped being valid, only that it is no longer what has dominion.
  15. Romans 6:15This repeats almost the same question from the start of the chapter, now tied to the theme from the end of chapter 5, living “under grace” instead of “under the law”: would that be reason to sin more freely? Again, the answer is no.
  16. Romans 6:16This uses the well-known image of slavery in the Roman world: whoever presents themselves as someone’s servant ends up obeying that someone, whether sin, which leads to death, or obedience, which leads to righteousness.
  17. Romans 6:17Paul gives thanks for the change that has already taken place in the readers: they were servants of sin, but came to obey from the heart the form of teaching they were handed, probably a reference to the basic instruction given to every new convert.
  18. Romans 6:18This closes the idea of the previous verse with a change of owner: freed from sin, the readers became, in that same language of slavery, servants of righteousness.
  19. Romans 6:19“Sanctification” is the process of becoming ever more set apart for a specific purpose, in this case, for living an upright life. Paul uses the image of servitude, being someone’s property, on both sides: formerly a servant of sin, now a servant of righteousness.
  20. Romans 6:20This shows the ironic side of that earlier “freedom”: while they were servants of sin, the readers were free from any obligation to righteousness — a freedom that, in Paul’s view, was nothing to be proud of.
  21. Romans 6:21A rhetorical question exposing the empty result of that former life: no good fruit came from the things the readers are now ashamed of, and their final destination was death.
  22. Romans 6:22This closes the chapter with the final contrast: free from sin and now servants of God, the fruit of this new condition is sanctification in the present and eternal life in the end.
  23. Romans 6:23“Wages” was the payment a soldier or laborer received for service rendered — the idea is that sin pays exactly what it promises. On the other side, the “free gift” is the opposite of wages: it is not earned by work, it is given freely.

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