Romans 6
The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.
Romans 6 WEB
- 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
- 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
- 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
- 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
- 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
- 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
- 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
- 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,
- 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!
- 10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
- 11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 12 Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
- 16 Don't you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
- 17 But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.
- 18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
- 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
- 20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
- 21 What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- 22 But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
- 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5 has just made an argument that some early readers found alarming: "where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly" (Romans 5:20). If God's grace answers sin the way a flood answers a drought, why not keep sinning and let grace keep doing its work? Romans 6 is Paul closing that door — not with a rule, but with a claim about what has actually happened to a person joined to Christ. The chapter runs in two movements: baptism into Christ's death and resurrection (6:1-14), then a second image, slavery and its new master (6:15-23).
6:1-4 Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Paul states the objection in his own voice — "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:1) — and answers with the strongest negation Greek has: μὴ γένοιτο, "may it never be" (Romans 6:2), literally "let it not become" — the same phrase used for recoiling from something monstrous, not merely mistaken.
The reasoning is not moral exhortation but ontological claim: "We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:2). Then the mechanism: "all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death... We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:3-4). The verb συνετάφημεν ("we were buried with") is aorist — a completed event, not an ongoing process. Paul is not describing a feeling or an aspiration; he is describing something baptism enacted. Sacramentalist readers (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, much of the Reformed and Anglican tradition) take this at face value: baptism is where union with Christ's death actually occurs. Others, especially in the free-church tradition, read "baptized into" as shorthand for the whole conversion event — faith, Spirit, and the ordinance together — since Paul elsewhere makes faith, not water, the instrument of justification. The disagreement is real and old; what both sides affirm equally is the point Paul is actually pressing: continuing in sin is not merely disobedient, it's a denial of what has already happened to you.
6:6 Our old man was crucified with him
"Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with" (Romans 6:6). ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος, "the old man," is not a part of the self — a lower nature warring with a higher one — but the whole person as he stood under sin's dominion before Christ. Crucified (συνεσταυρώθη, aorist passive) is decisive language: this happened, once, at the cross, applied to the believer at conversion. καταργηθῇ ("done away with," "rendered inoperative") describes sin's regime being broken, not sin's presence being erased. The verse is routinely misread as a promise of sinlessness — as if 1 John 3:9's "whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin" settles the matter of ongoing struggle. Romans 6 does not say the old master is dead in the sense that he can no longer be obeyed; it says his claim on you is broken. That is why Paul has to keep commanding: "don't let sin reign" (6:12) is an imperative addressed to people who could, in fact, still let it.
6:11 Consider yourselves dead to sin
"Consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:11). λογίζεσθε is an accounting term — reckon, count as true, treat as fact on the books. It is not self-hypnosis or willing a feeling into existence; it is believing what is objectively so about one's status in Christ and acting from that belief rather than from the old identity's habits. This is the hinge of the chapter: verses 1-10 are indicative (what is true), verse 11 turns to imperative (therefore reckon it), and 12-14 spell out what that reckoning looks like in practice — "don't let sin reign in your mortal body... present yourselves to God" (6:12-13). The order matters against two opposite errors: moralism, which demands obedience without grounding it in what Christ did; and quietism, which treats "you're already dead to sin" as an excuse to do nothing.
6:14 Not under law, but under grace
"For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). This is the verse most exploited by exactly the antinomian reading Paul is refuting, as if "under grace" means law no longer defines sin. Paul anticipates the misuse immediately: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!" (Romans 6:15). "Under law" (ὑπὸ νόμον) names a condition of being condemned by a standard one cannot meet and left without power to change; "under grace" names freedom from that condemnation and the gift of a new master. Freedom from law's condemning power is not freedom from moral obligation — it is transfer to a different, and effective, allegiance, as 6:16-18 spells out: everyone serves somebody; the only question is which master.
6:23 The wages of sin is death
The chapter's argument closes as an economic contrast: "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). ὀψώνια, "wages," is a soldier's pay — sin does not merely lead to death, it earns it, honestly, as a debt discharged. χάρισμα, "free gift," has no earning mechanism at all; it is given. The two halves of the verse are not parallel transactions but a deliberate mismatch: what sin pays out in full, grace simply gives.
What the chapter asks
Romans 6 will not let "grace" be turned into permission. It presses the claim that union with Christ is not a status added on top of an unchanged life but a death and resurrection that actually happened to the believer — and asks whether a person will reckon that as true and live from it, or keep living as though the old master still owned them. As Luther put it, "Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it" (Martin Luther, Preface to the Epistle to the Romans) — the chapter's whole argument assumes that kind of confidence is not a feeling to work up but a fact to reckon on, and then to obey.
The verses this turns on
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; ἐπιμένωμεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἵνα ἡ χάρις πλεονάσῃ;
- Τί τίς interrogative pronoun · accusative singular neuter G5101
- οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
- ἐροῦμεν; εἶπον verb · future active indicative, 1st person plural G2046
- ἐπιμένωμεν ἐπιμένω verb · present active subjunctive, 1st person plural G1961
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἁμαρτία noun · dative singular feminine G266
- ἵνα ἵνα conjunction G2443
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- χάρις χάρις noun · nominative singular feminine G5485
- πλεονάσῃ; πλεονάζω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G4121
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 Peter 2:16 Live as free people, yet not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
- Galatians 5:13 For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
- Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
- Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Romans 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
μὴ γένοιτο. οἵτινες ἀπεθάνομεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, πῶς ἔτι ζήσομεν ἐν αὐτῇ;
- μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- γένοιτο. γίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent optative, 3rd person singular G1096
- οἵτινες ὅστις relative pronoun · nominative plural masculine G3748
- ἀπεθάνομεν ἀποθνῄσκω verb · aorist active indicative, 1st person plural G599
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἁμαρτία noun · dative singular feminine G266
- πῶς πῶς adverb G4459
- ἔτι ἔτι adverb G2089
- ζήσομεν ζάω verb · future active indicative, 1st person plural G2198
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- αὐτῇ; αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular feminine G846
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- 1 John 3:9 Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
- Colossians 3:2-3 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- 1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
- Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
- Galatians 2:19 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God.
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε ὅτι ὅσοι ἐβαπτίσθημεν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν;
- ἢ ἤ particle G2228
- ἀγνοεῖτε ἀγνοέω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G50
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ὅσοι ὅσος correlative pronoun · nominative plural masculine G3745
- ἐβαπτίσθημεν βαπτίζω verb · aorist passive indicative, 1st person plural G907
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- Χριστὸν Χριστός noun · accusative singular masculine G5547
- Ἰησοῦν, Ἰησοῦς noun · accusative singular masculine G2424
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- θάνατον θάνατος noun · accusative singular masculine G2288
- αὐτοῦ αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive singular masculine G846
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
- Romans 6:8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.
- Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
τοῦτο γινώσκοντες, ὅτι ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος συνεσταυρώθη, ἵνα καταργηθῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τοῦ μηκέτι δουλεύειν ἡμᾶς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ·
- τοῦτο οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · accusative singular neuter G3778
- γινώσκοντες, γινώσκω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G1097
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- παλαιὸς παλαιός adjective · nominative singular masculine G3820
- ἡμῶν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος noun · nominative singular masculine G444
- συνεσταυρώθη, συσταυρόω verb · aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular G4957
- ἵνα ἵνα conjunction G2443
- καταργηθῇ καταργέω verb · aorist passive subjunctive, 3rd person singular G2673
- τὸ ὁ article · nominative singular neuter G3588
- σῶμα σῶμα noun · nominative singular neuter G4983
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
- Galatians 5:24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
- Ephesians 4:22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit,
- Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
- John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς λογίζεσθε ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι νεκροὺς μὲν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ζῶντας δὲ τῷ Θεῷ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.
- οὕτως οὕτω adverb G3779
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ὑμεῖς σύ personal pronoun G4771
- λογίζεσθε λογίζομαι verb · present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person plural G3049
- ἑαυτοὺς ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun G1438
- εἶναι εἰμί verb · present active infinitive G1510
- νεκροὺς νεκρός adjective · accusative plural masculine G3498
- μὲν μέν particle G3303
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- ἁμαρτίᾳ ἁμαρτία noun · dative singular feminine G266
- ζῶντας ζάω verb · present active participle, accusative plural masculine G2198
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Colossians 3:2-3 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
- 1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.
- Romans 6:2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
- Romans 6:12-14 Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτοῦ,
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- οὖν οὖν conjunction G3767
- βασιλευέτω βασιλεύω verb · present active imperative, 3rd person singular G936
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- ἁμαρτία ἁμαρτία noun · nominative singular feminine G266
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular neuter G3588
- θνητῷ θνητός adjective · dative singular neuter G2349
- ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
- σώματι σῶμα noun · dative singular neuter G4983
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
- Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Τί οὖν; ἁμαρτήσωμεν ὅτι οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑπὸ νόμον ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χάριν; μὴ γένοιτο.
- Τί τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular neuter G5101
- οὖν; οὖν conjunction G3767
- ἁμαρτήσωμεν ἁμαρτάνω verb · aorist active subjunctive, 1st person plural G264
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- ἐσμὲν εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 1st person plural G1510
- ὑπὸ ὑπό preposition G5259
- νόμον νόμος noun · accusative singular masculine G3551
- ἀλλὰ ἀλλά conjunction G235
- ὑπὸ ὑπό preposition G5259
- χάριν; χάρις noun · accusative singular feminine G5485
- μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age;
- Ephesians 2:8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, beloved, let's cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- Jude 1:4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Don't you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ᾧ παριστάνετε ἑαυτοὺς δούλους εἰς ὑπακοήν, δοῦλοί ἐστε ᾧ ὑπακούετε, ἤτοι ἁμαρτίας εἰς θάνατον ἢ ὑπακοῆς εἰς δικαιοσύνην;
- οὐκ οὐ particle · nominative G3756
- οἴδατε οἶδα verb · perfect active indicative, 2nd person plural G1492
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ᾧ ὅς relative pronoun · dative singular neuter G3739
- παριστάνετε παρίστημι verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G3936
- ἑαυτοὺς ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun G1438
- δούλους δοῦλος (II) noun · accusative plural masculine G1401
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- ὑπακοήν, ὑπακοή noun · accusative singular feminine G5218
- δοῦλοί δοῦλος (II) noun · nominative plural masculine G1401
- ἐστε εἰμί verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G1510
- ᾧ ὅς relative pronoun · dative singular neuter G3739
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
- Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.
- Joshua 24:15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."
- 2 Peter 2:19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
- Romans 6:12-14 Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
From the interpretive tradition
We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.
Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it.