Romans 6:22

THE MESSAGE

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.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!

King James Version (1611)
But now being made free from sinne, and become seruants to God, yee haue your fruit vnto holinesse, and the end euerlasting life.

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

English Standard Version
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

New American Standard Bible
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

New Century Version
But now you are free from sin and have become slaves of God. This brings you a life that is only for God, and this gives you life forever.

Amplified Bible
But now since you have been set free from sin and have become [willing] slaves to God, you have your benefit, resulting in sanctification [being made holy and set apart for God's purpose], and the outcome [of this] is eternal life.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

Legacy Standard Bible
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification, and the end, eternal life.

Berean Standard Bible
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

Contemporary English Version
Now you have been set free from sin, and you are God's slaves. This will make you holy and will lead you to eternal life.

Complete Jewish Bible
However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life.

Darby Translation
But *now*, having got your freedom from sin, and having become bondmen to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life.

Easy-to-Read Version
But now you are free from sin. You have become slaves of God, and the result is that you live only for God. This will bring you eternal life.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But now being freed from sinne, and made seruants vnto God, ye haue your fruit in holines, and the end, euerlasting life.

George Lamsa Translation
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, your fruits are holy, and the end thereof is life everlasting.

Good News Translation
But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

Lexham English Bible
But now, having been set free from sin and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit leading to sanctification, and its end is eternal life.

Literal Translation
But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life.

American Standard Version
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.

Bible in Basic English
But now, being free from sin, and having been made servants to God, you have your fruit in that which is holy, and the end is eternal life.

Hebrew Names Version
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.

International Standard Version
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become God's slaves, the benefit you reap is sanctification, and the result is eternal life.John 8:32;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And now made free from sin, and become servants to Aloha, you have holy fruits, [fn] of which the end is the life of eternity.

Murdock Translation
And now, as ye have been emancipated from sin, and have become servants to God, your fruits are holy; and the result thereof is life everlasting.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But nowe ye beyng made free from sinne, and made the seruauntes of God, haue your fruite vnto holynesse, and the ende euerlastyng lyfe.

English Revised Version
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.

World English Bible
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.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Weymouth's New Testament
But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But now ye delyuered fro synne, and maad seruauntis to God, han your fruyt in to holinesse, and the ende euerlastinge lijf.

Update Bible Version
But now being made free from sin and being made slaves to God, you have your fruit to sanctification, and the end eternal life.

Webster's Bible Translation
But now being made free from sin, and having become servants to God, ye have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life.

New English Translation
But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

New King James Version
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

New Living Translation
But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

New Life Bible
But now you are free from the power of sin. You have become a servant for God. Your life is set apart for God-like living. The end is life that lasts forever.

New Revised Standard
But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whereas, now, having been freed from sin, and made servants unto God, ye have your fruit for sanctification and, the end, life age-abiding.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting.

Revised Standard Version
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But now are ye delivered from synne and made the servauntes of God and have youre frute that ye shuld be sanctifyed and the ende everlastinge lyfe.

Young's Literal Translation
And now, having been freed from the sin, and having become servants to God, ye have your fruit -- to sanctification, and the end life age-during;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But now that ye be fre from synne, and are become the seruauntes of God, ye haue youre frute that ye shulde be holy: but the ende is euerlastinge life.

Mace New Testament (1729)
but now being set free from sin, and actually in the service of God, the present advantage you reap is holiness, and the future everlasting life.

Simplified Cowboy Version
But since you don't ride for sin's outfit no more and now you ride for God, the good you get puts you on a trail to bein' more like Jesus and the trail ends with livin' forever in heaven.

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

But now: Romans 6:14, Romans 6:18, Romans 8:2, John 8:32, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:13

become: Romans 7:25, Genesis 50:17, Job 1:8, Psalms 86:2, Psalms 143:12, Isaiah 54:17, Daniel 3:26, Daniel 6:20, Galatians 1:10, Colossians 4:12, Titus 1:1, James 1:1, 1 Peter 2:16, Revelation 7:13

ye have: Psalms 92:14, John 15:2, John 15:16, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:9, Philippians 1:11, Philippians 4:17, Colossians 1:10

and the end: Romans 6:21, Numbers 23:10, Psalms 37:37, Psalms 37:38, Matthew 13:40, Matthew 13:43, Matthew 19:29, Matthew 25:46, John 4:36

Reciprocal: Leviticus 25:42 - my servants Leviticus 25:55 - my servants Deuteronomy 6:24 - for our good Deuteronomy 27:9 - this day 2 Chronicles 30:8 - serve Psalms 58:11 - a reward for Psalms 116:16 - thou hast Psalms 119:125 - I am thy Proverbs 12:12 - the root Proverbs 12:28 - General Proverbs 23:18 - surely Proverbs 31:31 - of the Ecclesiastes 7:2 - that Isaiah 26:13 - other Matthew 19:16 - eternal Luke 1:74 - that we Luke 8:15 - bring Luke 15:15 - to feed Luke 20:38 - for all John 3:15 - eternal John 5:23 - all men John 15:5 - same Acts 27:23 - and Romans 6:6 - that henceforth Romans 6:19 - unto holiness Romans 7:4 - that we Romans 7:6 - serve Romans 14:18 - in Galatians 6:8 - of the Spirit 1 Thessalonians 4:3 - your Titus 3:3 - serving Hebrews 9:14 - to serve Hebrews 12:14 - and holiness 1 Peter 1:9 - General 1 Peter 2:24 - live Revelation 7:3 - the servants

Cross-References

Genesis 6:3
Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a life span of 120 years."

Genesis 6:4
This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.

Genesis 6:8
But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.

Genesis 7:5
Noah did everything God commanded him.

Genesis 17:23
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased—every male in his household—and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.

Exodus 40:16
Moses did everything God commanded. He did it all.

Deuteronomy 12:32
Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don't add to it; don't subtract from it.

John 2:5
She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, "Whatever he tells you, do it."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God,.... In what sense regenerate persons are free from sin, and are become the servants of God, has been observed already; the consequence of which is, that such have their

fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life: holiness is a fruit of freedom from the bondage of sin, and of serving God; holiness begun in regeneration, calling, and conversion, is a fruit of the Spirit; a course of living righteously is a fruit of holiness, as a principle implanted; a gradual increase in holiness is carried on by the Spirit of God in a course of righteousness; and a course of righteousness, from a principle of grace, issues in perfect holiness; "without which no man shall see the Lord" (#Heb 12:14): here it seems to design, that holiness is fruit, or that which is gain and profit to persons, in opposition to sin, in which there is no profit: it is not indeed profitable to God in point of merit; yet holiness, as a principle of grace, is profitable to the saints in point of meetness for glory; and holiness, as it denotes an external course of life, is useful and profitable on many accounts; hereby God is glorified, the doctrine of Christ is adorned, religion is honoured and recommended, our own credit, reputation, and peace, are preserved, and our neighbour's good promoted.

And the end is everlasting life: as sin issues, if grace prevent not, in everlasting death; holiness issues in eternal life, not by way of merit, but of free gift.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But now - Under the Christian plan of justification.

Being made free from sin - Being delivered from its dominion, and from bondage; in the same manner as before conversion they were free from righteousness, Romans 6:20.

Ye have your fruit unto holiness - The fruit or result is holiness. This service produces holiness, as the other did sin. It is implied here, though not expressly affirmed, that in this service which leads to holiness, they received important benefits, as in the service of sin they had experienced many evils.

And the end - The final result - the ultimate consequence will be. At present this service produces holiness; hereafter it will terminate in everlasting life. By this consideration the apostle states the tendency of the plan of justification, and urges on them the duty of striving after holiness.

Everlasting life - Note, John 3:36. This stands in contrast with the word “death” in Romans 6:21, and shows its meaning. “One is just as long in duration as the other;” and if the one is limited, the other is. If those who obey shall be blessed with life forever, those who disobey will be cursed with death forever. Never was there an antithesis more manifest and more clear. And there could not be a stronger proof that the word “death” in Romans 6:21, refers not to temporal death, but to eternal punishment. For what force would there be in the argument on the supposition that temporal death only is meant? The argument would stand thus: “The end of those sins is to produce temporal death; the end of holiness is to produce eternal life!” Will not temporal death be inflicted, it would be immediately asked, at any rate? Are Christians exempt from it? And do not people suffer this, whether they become Christians or not? How then could this be an argument bearing on the tenor of the apostle’s reasoning? But admit the fair and obvious construction of the passage to be the true one, and it becomes plain. They were pursuing a course tending to everlasting ruin; they are now in a path that shall terminate in eternal life. By this weighty consideration, therefore, they are urged to be holy.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Romans 6:22. But now being made free from sin — As being free from righteousness is the finished character of a sinner, so being made free from sin is the finished character of a genuine Christian.

And become servants to God — They were transferred from the service of one master to that of another: they were freed from the slavery of sin, and engaged in the service of God.

Fruit unto holiness — Holiness of heart was the principle; and righteousness of life the fruit.