Romans 6:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

King James Version (1611)
Being then made free from sinne, yee became the seruants of righteousnesse.

King James Version
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

English Standard Version
and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

New American Standard Bible
and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.

New Century Version
You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to goodness.

Amplified Bible
And having been set free from sin, you have become the slaves of righteousness [of conformity to God's will and purpose].

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Legacy Standard Bible
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Berean Standard Bible
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Contemporary English Version
Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.

Complete Jewish Bible
and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

Darby Translation
Now, having got your freedom from sin, ye have become bondmen to righteousness.

Easy-to-Read Version
You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to what is right.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Being then made free from sinne, yee are made the seruants of righteousnesse.

George Lamsa Translation
Now, being made free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness.

Good News Translation
You were set free from sin and became the slaves of righteousness.

Lexham English Bible
and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

Literal Translation
And having been set free from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness.

American Standard Version
and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.

Bible in Basic English
And being made free from sin you have been made the servants of righteousness.

Hebrew Names Version
Being made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.

International Standard Version
And since you have been freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.John 8:32; 1 Corinthians 7:22; Galatians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And when you were made free from sin, you became obedient to righteousness.

Murdock Translation
And when ye were emancipated from sin, ye became servants to righteousness.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Being then made free fro sinne, ye are become ye seruauntes of ryghteousnesse.

English Revised Version
and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.

World English Bible
Being made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Being then set free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness.

Weymouth's New Testament
You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness--

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And ye delyuered fro synne, ben maad seruauntis of riytwisnesse.

Update Bible Version
and being made free from sin, you were made a slave to righteousness.

Webster's Bible Translation
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

New English Translation
and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

New King James Version
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

New Living Translation
Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

New Life Bible
You were made free from the power of sin. Being right with God has power over you now.

New Revised Standard
and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, being freed from sin, ye were made servants unto righteousness; -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Being then freed from sin, we have been made servants of justice.

Revised Standard Version
and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Ye are then made fre from synne and are be come the servauntes of rightewesnes.

Young's Literal Translation
and having been freed from the sin, ye became servants to the righteousness.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For now that ye are made fre from synue, ye are become the seruauntes of righteousnes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
being then set free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Ya don't work for sin no more. Now you're one of the Lord's hands.

Contextual Overview

¹So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God. So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. ⁴When Death Becomes Life So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God. So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master. ⁵When Death Becomes Life So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land! That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-sovereign country. ⁶Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did. ¹²That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God. ¹⁵So, since we're out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we're free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! ¹⁹ I'm using this freedom language because it's easy to picture. You can readily recall, can't you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God's freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? ²⁰As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn't have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you're proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. ²²But now that you've found you don't have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God's gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

made: Romans 6:14, Psalms 116:16, Psalms 119:32, Psalms 119:45, Luke 1:74, Luke 1:75, John 8:32, John 8:36, 1 Corinthians 7:21, 1 Corinthians 7:22, Galatians 5:1, 1 Peter 2:16

servants: Romans 6:19, Romans 6:20, Romans 6:22, Isaiah 26:13, Isaiah 54:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:10 - proclaim Leviticus 25:55 - my servants Deuteronomy 6:21 - General Deuteronomy 16:12 - General Deuteronomy 27:9 - this day Romans 8:2 - hath 1 Corinthians 9:27 - and Galatians 4:26 - free Galatians 5:13 - ye 1 Thessalonians 2:13 - effectually

Cross-References

Genesis 6:9
This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 7:1
Next God said to Noah, "Now board the ship, you and all your family—out of everyone in this generation, you're the righteous one.

Genesis 7:13
That's the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons' wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.

Isaiah 26:20
Come, my people, go home and shut yourselves in. Go into seclusion for a while until the punishing wrath is past, Because God is sure to come from his place to punish the wrong of the people on earth. Earth itself will point out the bloodstains; it will show where the murdered have been hidden away.

Hebrews 11:7
By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Being then made free from sin,.... Not from a sinful nature; nor from a corrupt heart; nor from vain thoughts; nor from sinful words; nor from sinful actions altogether; but from the damning power of sin: sin brought all men under a sentence of condemnation; Christ has bore the execution of this sentence in himself for his people; hence, as considered in him, they are free from it; and such as are born again have passed from death to life, and shall never enter into condemnation: likewise, such persons are free from the guilt of sin; men are in a legal sense arraigned for sin, accused of it, and being convicted, are pronounced guilty before God; and awakened souls have a sense of it in themselves; but the blood of Christ sprinkled on their consciences frees them from it; though fresh sins committed bring fresh guilt, which requires the continual application of the blood of Jesus for pardon and cleansing: but what is chiefly designed here is freedom from the servitude of sin, as appears from the context. Now God's elect are not released voluntarily by their former masters; nor is their freedom obtained by their own power and will; but it is of God, Father, Son, and Spirit; and the Gospel is generally the means of it, and happy are those persons who are blessed with it! They are rid of a bad master; are freed from the worst of bondage; will be no more servants, as before; are delivered from the power, and out of the kingdom of darkness; are heirs of heaven, and shall enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God: and for the time present are

become the servants of righteousness; servants to God, whose Gospel they obey; servants to Christ, whose righteousness they submit to; and servants to the law of righteousness, as held forth by Christ; they give up themselves to a course and life of righteousness, in which there are true honour, peace, and pleasure.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

“Being then made free from sin.” That is, as a master. You are not under its dominion; you are no longer its slaves. They were made free, as a servant is who is set at liberty, and who is, therefore, no longer under obligation to obey.

Ye became the servants ... - You became voluntarily under the dominion of righteousness; you yielded yourselves to it; and are therefore bound to be holy; compare the note at John 8:32.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Romans 6:18. Being then made free from sin — ελευθερωθεντες is a term that refers to the manumission of a slave. They were redeemed from the slavery of sin, and became the servants of righteousness. Here is another prosopopoeia: both sin and righteousness are personified: sin can enjoin no good and profitable work; righteousness can require none that is unjust or injurious.