Romans
6 English Standard Version (ESV)
Dead to
Sin, Alive to God
6 What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin
still live in it? 3 Do you
not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like
his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old
self[a] was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin. 8 Now if we
have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ,
being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all,
but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you
also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as
instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as
instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will
have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to
Righteousness
15 What then? Are we to
sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present
yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,[c] you are slaves of the
one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which
leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks
be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to
the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from
sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your
natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves
to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your
members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of
sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time
from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those
things is death. 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What kind of servant/slave am I. One who
is willing? Or just enduring, and if that, how? With
complaints and bitterness or do I have Joy? Am I
a slave to Christ in name only? Saying
the words, but going my own way – or seeking Him, and walking in His way out of
love for his great gift of forgiven sin, and salvation in Him.