Faithlife Study Bible (FSB) is your guide to the ancient world of the Old and New Testaments, with study notes and articles that draw from a wide range of academic research. FSB helps you learn how to think about interpretation methods and issues so that you can gain a deeper understanding of the text.
6:15–23 Paul continues to discuss whether sin results in more grace (see v. 1). Here Paul reformulates the discussion in terms of the law and grace. Believers are called to use their freedom to bring righteousness, since sin can only result in death. Paul uses imagery of slavery, fruit, and labor to emphatically deny the question posed in v. 15.
6:17 slaves of sin See v. 16 and note.
note.
Paul uses the term “slave” to describe a person under the complete control of someone or something. Prior to faith in Christ and baptism, believers were enslaved to sin and suffered its effects.
Paul presents salvation as deliverance from spiritual bondage. He illustrates it as a transfer from one master to another—from sin to God.
pattern of teaching Refers to the gospel message and its ethical implications. Paul emphasizes obedience because it functions as the only tangible expression of faith
Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Ro 6:15–23). Lexham Press.
The Lexham Context Commentary: New Testament surveys each book of the New Testament at several levels—Book, Division, Section, Pericope, Paragraph, and Unit—providing contextually appropriate commentary on each level. The reader of the commentary can easily ascertain the contextual importance of any larger section, or pericope, or even a particular verse of Scripture.
Life Under Grace (6:15–18)
Verses 15–18 present the second objection, along with Paul’s counterquestion and its rationale. Believers are not free to sin because they have been set free from sin, so that they now serve righteousness.
6:17–18 Applying this point to his audience, Paul gives thanks that they have been set free from sin. They have become obedient “from the heart” (i.e., the inmost self) to the pattern of teaching to which they were committed, so they are now slaves of righteousness. The pattern of teaching may be either the gospel or Christ himself. The believers were literally “handed over” to this authority.
Mangum, D., ed. (2020). Lexham Context Commentary: New Testament (Ro 6:15–23). Lexham Press.
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