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.
13 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.
14 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.
7 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Reading as
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Oldest first.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:3–4What does being "baptized into His Death" mean? That it is with a view to our dying as He did. For Baptism is the Cross. What the Cross then, and Burial, is to Christ, that Baptism hath been to us, even if not in the same respects. For He died Himself and was buried in the Flesh, but we have done both to sin. … Do you believe, he means, that Christ died, and that He was raised again? Believe then the same of thyself. For this is like to the other, since both Cross and Burial is thine. For if thou hast shared in Death and Burial, much more wilt thou in Resurrection and Life. … When then the fornicator becomes chaste, the covetous man merciful, the harsh subdued, even here a resurrection has taken place, the prelude to the other.
What does being "baptized into His Death" mean? That it is with a view to our dying as He did. For Baptism is the Cross. What the Cross then, and Burial, is to Christ, that Baptism hath been to us, even if not in the same respects. For He died Himself and was buried in the Flesh, but we have done both to sin. … Do you believe, he means, that Christ died, and that He was raised again? Believe then the same of thyself. For this is like to the other, since both Cross and Burial is thine. For if thou hast shared in Death and Burial, much more wilt thou in Resurrection and Life. … When then the fornicator becomes chaste, the covetous man merciful, the harsh subdued, even here a resurrection has taken place, the prelude to the other.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 10; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:8–9And indeed even before the crown, this is in itself the greater crown, the partaking with our Master. But he says, I give even another reward. Of what kind is it? It is life eternal. … For suppose not, he says, because He once died, that He is mortal, for this is the very reason of His being immortal. For His death hath been the death of death, and because He did die, He therefore doth not die.
And indeed even before the crown, this is in itself the greater crown, the partaking with our Master. But he says, I give even another reward. Of what kind is it? It is life eternal. … For suppose not, he says, because He once died, that He is mortal, for this is the very reason of His being immortal. For His death hath been the death of death, and because He did die, He therefore doth not die.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 11; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:23After speaking of the wages of sin, in the case of the blessings, he has not kept to the same order … for he does not say, the wages of good deeds, "but the gift of God;" to show, that it was not of themselves that they were freed, nor was it a due they received, neither yet a return, nor a recompense of labors, but by grace all these things came about. And so there was a superiority for this cause also, in that He did not free them only, or change their condition for a better, but that He did it without any labor or trouble upon their part: and that He not only freed them, but also gave them much more than before, and that through His Son.
After speaking of the wages of sin, in the case of the blessings, he has not kept to the same order … for he does not say, the wages of good deeds, "but the gift of God;" to show, that it was not of themselves that they were freed, nor was it a due they received, neither yet a return, nor a recompense of labors, but by grace all these things came about. And so there was a superiority for this cause also, in that He did not free them only, or change their condition for a better, but that He did it without any labor or trouble upon their part: and that He not only freed them, but also gave them much more than before, and that through His Son.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 12; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 6:3–4What he intimated in the last verse -- that Christ destroys sin in his people, he proves here by mentioning the effect of baptism, by which we are initiated into his faith … his doctrine is this -- that the death of Christ is efficacious to destroy and demolish the depravity of our flesh, and his resurrection, to effect the renovation of a better nature, and that by baptism we are admitted into a participation of this grace. … Farther, it is not to the point to say, that this power is not apparent in all the baptized; for Paul, according to his usual manner, where he speaks of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign; for we know that whatever the Lord offers by the visible symbol is confirmed and ratified by their faith. In short, he teaches what is the real character of baptism when rightly received.
What he intimated in the last verse -- that Christ destroys sin in his people, he proves here by mentioning the effect of baptism, by which we are initiated into his faith … his doctrine is this -- that the death of Christ is efficacious to destroy and demolish the depravity of our flesh, and his resurrection, to effect the renovation of a better nature, and that by baptism we are admitted into a participation of this grace. … Farther, it is not to the point to say, that this power is not apparent in all the baptized; for Paul, according to his usual manner, where he speaks of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign; for we know that whatever the Lord offers by the visible symbol is confirmed and ratified by their faith. In short, he teaches what is the real character of baptism when rightly received.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 6:3–4; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 6:7–11But though among men there is found no such example, there is yet no reason why you should think, that what is said here is a vain speculation, or despond in your minds, because you find not yourselves to be of the number of those who have wholly crucified the flesh; for this work of God is not completed in the day in which it is begun in us; but it gradually goes on, and by daily advances is brought by degrees to its end. So then take this as the sum of the whole, -- "If thou art a Christian, there must appear in thee an evidence of a fellowship as to the death of Christ; the fruit of which is, that thy flesh is crucified together with all its lusts; but this fellowship is not to be considered as not existing, because thou findest that the relics of the flesh still live in thee; but its increase ought to be diligently labored for, until thou arrivest at the goal."
But though among men there is found no such example, there is yet no reason why you should think, that what is said here is a vain speculation, or despond in your minds, because you find not yourselves to be of the number of those who have wholly crucified the flesh; for this work of God is not completed in the day in which it is begun in us; but it gradually goes on, and by daily advances is brought by degrees to its end. So then take this as the sum of the whole, -- "If thou art a Christian, there must appear in thee an evidence of a fellowship as to the death of Christ; the fruit of which is, that thy flesh is crucified together with all its lusts; but this fellowship is not to be considered as not existing, because thou findest that the relics of the flesh still live in thee; but its increase ought to be diligently labored for, until thou arrivest at the goal."
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 6:7–11; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Romans 6:1–2Shall we hence take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? … No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles at the thought of it … We must live no longer in sin (Rom 6:2), we must not be as we have been nor do as we have done. … Though there are none that live without sin, yet, blessed be God, there are those that do not live in sin, do not live in it as their element, do not make a trade of it: this is to be sanctified.
Shall we hence take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? … No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles at the thought of it … We must live no longer in sin (Rom 6:2), we must not be as we have been nor do as we have done. … Though there are none that live without sin, yet, blessed be God, there are those that do not live in sin, do not live in it as their element, do not make a trade of it: this is to be sanctified.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 6:1–2; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Romans 6:3As many as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death - In baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; and we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, and particularly with regard to his death and resurrection.
As many as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death - In baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; and we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, and particularly with regard to his death and resurrection.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 6:3; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.
Romans 6
Romans 6:1–23, World English Bible
Romans 6 in the Bible · Told in the Story: Chapter 23, No Condemnation
What others have written
7 passages from writers of 2 traditions, in their own words, each with their dates and tradition. The site doesn’t say who is right: read them beside the verses. About these
Oldest first.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:3–4What does being "baptized into His Death" mean? That it is with a view to our dying as He did. For Baptism is the Cross. What the Cross then, and Burial, is to Christ, that Baptism hath been to us, even if not in the same respects. For He died Himself and was buried in the Flesh, but we have done both to sin. … Do you believe, he means, that Christ died, and that He was raised again? Believe then the same of thyself. For this is like to the other, since both Cross and Burial is thine. For if thou hast shared in Death and Burial, much more wilt thou in Resurrection and Life. … When then the fornicator becomes chaste, the covetous man merciful, the harsh subdued, even here a resurrection has taken place, the prelude to the other.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 10; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:8–9And indeed even before the crown, this is in itself the greater crown, the partaking with our Master. But he says, I give even another reward. Of what kind is it? It is life eternal. … For suppose not, he says, because He once died, that He is mortal, for this is the very reason of His being immortal. For His death hath been the death of death, and because He did die, He therefore doth not die.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 11; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Chrysostomc. 347–407Early church, EastHomilies on the Epistle to the Romans · on Romans 6:23After speaking of the wages of sin, in the case of the blessings, he has not kept to the same order … for he does not say, the wages of good deeds, "but the gift of God;" to show, that it was not of themselves that they were freed, nor was it a due they received, neither yet a return, nor a recompense of labors, but by grace all these things came about. And so there was a superiority for this cause also, in that He did not free them only, or change their condition for a better, but that He did it without any labor or trouble upon their part: and that He not only freed them, but also gave them much more than before, and that through His Son.
John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans, Homily 12; the Oxford translation (Library of the Fathers, 1839–1877), revised for the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff (New York, 1889); the text of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The edition
Archbishop of Constantinople, called “golden-mouthed” for his preaching; his sermons on the Gospels and on Paul's letters are still read in the Orthodox church.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 6:3–4What he intimated in the last verse -- that Christ destroys sin in his people, he proves here by mentioning the effect of baptism, by which we are initiated into his faith … his doctrine is this -- that the death of Christ is efficacious to destroy and demolish the depravity of our flesh, and his resurrection, to effect the renovation of a better nature, and that by baptism we are admitted into a participation of this grace. … Farther, it is not to the point to say, that this power is not apparent in all the baptized; for Paul, according to his usual manner, where he speaks of the faithful, connects the reality and the effect with the outward sign; for we know that whatever the Lord offers by the visible symbol is confirmed and ratified by their faith. In short, he teaches what is the real character of baptism when rightly received.
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 6:3–4; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
John Calvin1509–1564ReformedCommentaries · on Romans 6:7–11But though among men there is found no such example, there is yet no reason why you should think, that what is said here is a vain speculation, or despond in your minds, because you find not yourselves to be of the number of those who have wholly crucified the flesh; for this work of God is not completed in the day in which it is begun in us; but it gradually goes on, and by daily advances is brought by degrees to its end. So then take this as the sum of the whole, -- "If thou art a Christian, there must appear in thee an evidence of a fellowship as to the death of Christ; the fruit of which is, that thy flesh is crucified together with all its lusts; but this fellowship is not to be considered as not existing, because thou findest that the relics of the flesh still live in thee; but its increase ought to be diligently labored for, until thou arrivest at the goal."
John Calvin, Commentaries, on 6:7–11; Calvin Translation Society (Edinburgh, 1843–1855); the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
The French reformer of Geneva, from whose teaching the Reformed and Presbyterian churches come.
Matthew Henry1662–1714English PresbyterianCommentary on the Whole Bible · on Romans 6:1–2Shall we hence take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? … No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles at the thought of it … We must live no longer in sin (Rom 6:2), we must not be as we have been nor do as we have done. … Though there are none that live without sin, yet, blessed be God, there are those that do not live in sin, do not live in it as their element, do not make a trade of it: this is to be sanctified.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 6:1–2; 1706–1714; the text of the Free Use Bible API. The edition
An English Presbyterian minister whose commentary on the whole Bible Protestants have read for three centuries.
John Wesley1703–1791MethodistExplanatory Notes upon the New Testament · on Romans 6:3As many as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into his death - In baptism we, through faith, are ingrafted into Christ; and we draw new spiritual life from this new root, through his Spirit, who fashions us like unto him, and particularly with regard to his death and resurrection.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 6:3; London, 1755; the text of CrossWire’s public-domain module. The edition
The Anglican priest who began the Methodist movement; his notes on the Bible were written for ordinary readers.