Romans

6:15-23

Arguments in support of the proposition, 1:18-11:36

3. The consequential blessings that flow to the righteous in Christ, 5:1-8:39

v] Freedom from the slavery of sin

In 6:1-23 Paul speaks of the "newness of life" that flows to believers as a consequence of their having been set right before God. By being "in Christ", "united" to him, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we become like Christ, we become the holy person we are in Christ. Our old life was dominated by sin, we were "slaves to sin", but now this is no more. We are now "slaves to God", and as a consequence, our life is characterized by a tendency toward right-living. "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life."

In 6:15-23 Paul continues to explain that his gospel, a message concerning the righteous reign of God, his setting everything right, out of faith [Christ's faithfulness and our faith in Christ's faithfulness], apart from the law, facilitates the fullness of new life in Christ, and thus of itself promotes holy living within the Christian fellowship, rather than sinful living. Again, in v15, cf. v1, Paul restates the charge against him by nomist believers ("the weak", 15:1) that his teaching on justification promotes libertarianism. Paul again answers this charge by explaining that justification, by its very nature, promotes right-living, not careless-living. In v1-14 Paul had used the image of a believer being "united with" Christ in his death and resurrection, which union shapes a life lived to God. Now in v15-23 he uses the image of slavery. We were all once "slaves to sin" which promoted an "ever-increasing wickedness" leading "to death", but now we are free from the "slavery" (power?) of sin. Believers are now "slaves to God", a slavery which promotes "obedience" and "righteousness" leading to "holiness" and "eternal life." In 7:1-6 Paul will explain how slavery to sin is broken by our having been discharged from the authority of the law.

ti oun "what then?" - Possibly, "what shall we say", BDF argues for an ellipsis. Introducing a similar false inference to that of v1, an inference used by Paul's nomist brothers to counter the notion that the Christian life is lived by grace through faith rather than by a faithful adherence to the law, "what inference are we to draw?", v1, Barclay. The inference is that if salvation is all of grace, then sin doesn't matter, but we all know that sin does matter to God, so obviously the "all of grace" theory is flawed.

aJmarthswmen (aJmartanw) aor. sub. "shall we sin" - may we sin. A deliberative subjunctive. Aorist indicating a single act of sin, "seeing we are saved by grace, what's one sin here or there?"

uJpo nomon "under law" - "Ruled by law", CEV; "slaves", Williams; "under the authority of", Weymouth... is a bit too strong, but "guided by law" is a touch weak. The argument of Paul's opponents is not focused on conversion, it's not over how a person becomes a Christian. The argument is over the Christian life and the part the law plays in the business of living for Christ. In simple terms, we might say, it's an argument over sanctification. Paul argues that a believer's standing wholly rests on the covenant faithfulness of God (it is a "gift", a "grace" of God, of "promise") out of faith (Christ's and ours). Although sin is irrelevant when it comes to our standing before God, it does not "abound" because it is irrelevant. Paul's argument is that a believer, standing right in the presence of God, will be motivated toward "holiness", rather than sinfulness, and this apart from the law.

ouk oidate perf. "don't you know" - do you not know. "You know well enough", NEB.

paristanete (paristhmi) pres. "offer" - present, offer in the sense of place beside such as in a sacrifice. The idea is not of being enslaved, but of our offering ourselves as a slave to one of two masters. "Surrender yourselves", TEV.

eiV uJpakohn (h) "to obey" - to/for obedience. In the sense of be in subjection to. "You belong to the power you choose to obey", Phillips. The two masters we may belong to are either "sin" or "God", under which masters we live in "sin / ever increasing wickedness" or "obedience / holiness."

htoi .... h "whether ...... or" - This is the only example of this construction in the New Testament and implies that there are only two alternatives to choose from.

aJmartiaV (a) "[slaves to] sin" - Here surely the active state of rebellion against God, ie. capital "S" sin, Moffatt.

uJakohV (h) "obedience" - This final use of the word in the verse is problematical. What does it mean to belong to obedience, having chosen to be subject to obedience? Presumably the obedience is that which naturally flows from a slavery to God, in which case Paul has compressed his argument here. So, as slavery to sin issues in sin, so a slavery to God issues in obedience. The difficulties still remain because the end of "obedience" is "righteousness", as the end of "sin" is "death". Surely not "results in being put right with God", TEV, ie. justification. Moo suggests that "righteousness" here is "moral righteousness, conduct pleasing to God", and given the context, this seems more likely.

hte (eimi) imperf. "you used to be" - Imperfect underlining what was the case.

uJphkousate (uJpakouw) aor. "you [wholeheartedly] obeyed" - Aorist pointing to a decisive act of believing the gospel, turning to Christ.

ek kardiaV (a) "wholeheartedly" - from heart. "Voluntary and sincere", Hodge; "without reservation", JB.

tupon (oV) "form" - form or type. The gospel, the Christian teaching concerning Christ, "the pattern of teaching", NEB.

eiV oJn paredoqhte (paradidwmi) aor. pas. "to which you were entrusted" - to which you were committed, delivered over to. The passive indicating the stress upon God's action in delivering the readers over to the teaching, although an active sense reads better, "that you received", Goodspeed.

eleuqerwqenteV (eleuqerow) aor. pas. part. "have been set free" - having been set free, released. Probably an attendant circumstance participle identifying action accompanying the main verb "you were enslaved", although possibly temporal, "when you were set free ...." In what sense is a believer "set free" from sin? Some commentators stress the moral sense, so "set free from the power of sin." It is true that since a believer is no longer under the law, sin has lost it's power to control us. The law empowers sin, makes it more sinful, so without the law, sin's power is reduced. That's not to say we still don't sin. Yet, it is also possible that Paul has in mind a legal sense, "set free from the condemnation of sin", a condemnation that ends in "death". Of course, both ideas may be present. See 6:1-14 where this issue is covered in more detail.

th/ dikaiosunh/ (h) "[have become slaves] to righteousness" -[you were enslaved] to the righteousness, justice. Enslaved to "righteousness" can be understood in a moral sense, "to justice", "slaves of right-doing", Williams, or understood in a legal sense as "enslaved to right-standing / righteousness before God." We are constantly faced with this choice in the passage before us. The sense is likely to be moral in that Paul's argument is that when a believer possesses righteousness before God (ie. is set right before God) then such possession prompts righteousness, justice, right-living, ... under God.

anqrwpinon legw "I put this in human terms" - humanly I speak. I speak "as people do in daily life", BAGD.

thn asqeneian (a) "weak [in your natural selves]" - weak [in your flesh]. Meaning their difficulty in grasping the significance of what Paul is saying. Other possibilities include, moral weakness and the weakness of their pre Christian state.

paresthste (paristhmi) aor. "offered" - Aorist indicates the completeness of the action, so "wholeheartedly offered."

melh (oV) "parts" - body. Not quite parts, but rather an individual member or part which represents the whole. Therefore "body" is better, or even just "yourself" - "just as you offered yourselves in slavery to impurity"

th/ akaqarsia/ (a) "impurity" - uncleanness. This is a state of sinfulness, sometimes referring to degenerate sexual sinfulness, although not here. This state of sinfulness/uncleaness produces "ever-increasing wickedness."

th/ anomia/ eiV thn onomian "ever-increasing wickedness" - to lawlessness to/for lawlessness. Doubled = lawlessness on top of lawlessness. The preposition may indicate result (with a view to), "wickedness for wicked purposes", TEV.

eiV aJgiasmon (oV) "leading to holiness" - to/for sanctification. Lit. offer/present your members as slaves to righteous toward/unto (the end/consequence of which is) sanctification. Again, the preposition is best taken to indicate result. The phrase parallels the idea of offering our members to impurity/sinfulness, the consequence of which is "ever increasing wickedness." Sanctification is the consequence of offering ourselves to righteousness. As noted above, "righteousness" here may refer to a state of righteousness in the presence of God, but more likely that righteousness, right-living, which is the natural consequence of a legal righteousness before God. One slavery leads to death, the other to sanctification. The NIV "holiness", consecration, is unclear, but none-the-less, correct. The eternal state, which state a believer possesses in Christ who now reigns, namely "holiness", may be in Paul's mind, or an orientation that reflects that (inaugurated/realized) state, "with a view to sanctification", CBSC.

eleuqeroi adj. "free" - "You were not under the influence of grace", or taken in a moral sense, "you were under no obligation to do what God required", TH.

hn/ dikaiosunh/ (h) dat. "from the control of righteousness" - [you were free ones] to righteousness. The dative takes the sense either of "free with regard to", Moule, or "free from." Either, "not under the influence of right standing / righteousness before God", or the moral sense, "you were free so far as doing right was concerned", Williams.

tina oun karpon eicete tote "what benefit did you reap ......?" - therefore, what fruit had you then? The shorter question is to be preferred, "and what gain did that bring you? Things that now make you ashamed, for their end is death", REB, cf. NAB, JB.

nuni de "but now" - The present is now contrasted with the past.

eleuqerwqenteV (eleuqerow) aor. pas. part. "have been set free" - having been freed. The participle is temporal; the aorist indicating a decisive act. Set free from the state of sinfulness (the unregenerate state) although justification also frees a believer to live (imperfectly) a righteous life, ie. "it leads to sanctification" ("holiness"?). The ultimate consequence is "eternal life."

doulwqenteV de tw/ qew/ "have become slaves to God" - having been enslaved to God. Illustrating Christian commitment, "bound to the service of God", REB; "employed by God", Phillips.

eiV aJgiasmon (oV) "leads to holiness" - [you have the fruit of you] to sanctification. It is possible that the fruit itself is "sanctification", "the advantage you get is sanctification", NRSV; although "the fruit of being made righteous" is possibly better, Phillips. On the other hand, the preposition "to/for", indicating purpose or result = "leads to", "yields a harvest", Moo, implies that "the fruit begins the process of sanctification (becoming holy)", Morris, the consummation of which is "eternal life." Note Morris' term "process". Sanctification is commonly defined as "the progressive realization of the person we are in Christ." Yet, the word "progressive" can lead to error, particularly where obedience to the law is used as a mechanism to "progress" Christ-likeness, holiness. We are best to view sanctification as a product of justification, a state of holiness, which, in the renewing power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, we seek to realize in our daily life; albeit, always imperfectly. That is, we are holy, but also we strive to be holy (indicative / imperative again!).

oywnia (on) "wages" - a soldier's pay, the payment for sin.

carisma (a) "the gift" - "A gift (freely and graciously given)", BAGD. Eternal life is given not earned.

en + dat. "in [Christ Jesus our Lord]" - The sense is usually "in union with". Sometimes Paul uses "through", either way, Jesus is the source of life eternal.

Romans Introduction.

lectionarystudies.com