< Romans 6 >
1 What then shall we say? are we still to continue in sin that favour may abound?
What are we to say, then? Are we to continue to sin, in order that God’s loving-kindness may be multiplied?
2 Far be it! we who have died unto sin, how, any longer, shall we live therein?
Heaven forbid! We became dead to sin, and how can we go on living in it?
3 Or know ye not that, we, as many as were immersed into Christ [Jesus], into his death were immersed?
Or can it be that you do not know that all of us, who were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, in our baptism shared his death?
4 We were, therefore, buried together with him through our immersion into his death, in order that—just as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, so, we also, in newness of life should walk.
Consequently, through sharing his death in our baptism, we were buried with him; that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by a manifestation of the Father’s power, so we also may live a new Life.
5 For, if we have come to be grown together in the likeness of his death, certainly, in that of his resurrection also, shall we be.
If we have become united with him by the act symbolic of his death, surely we shall also become united with him by the act symbolic of his resurrection.
6 Of this taking note—that, our old man, was crucified together with him in order that the sinful body might be made powerless, that we should, no longer, be in servitude to sin;
We recognise the truth that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that the body, the stronghold of Sin, might be rendered powerless, so that we should no longer be slaves to Sin.
7 For, he that hath died, hath become righteously acquitted from his sin.
For the man who has so died has been pronounced righteous and released from Sin.
8 Now, if we have died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with him;
And our belief is, that, as we have shared Christ’s Death, we shall also share his Life.
9 Knowing that, Christ having been raised from among the dead, no more dieth, —death, over him, no more, hath lordship, —
We know, indeed, that Christ, having once risen from the dead, will not die again. Death has power over him no longer.
10 For, in that he died, unto sin, died he once for all, but, in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
For the death that he died was a death to sin, once and for all. But the Life that he now lives, he lives for God.
11 So, ye also, be reckoning yourselves to be—dead indeed unto sin, but, alive unto God in Christ Jesus.
So let it be with you — regard yourselves as dead to sin, but as living for God, through union with Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin, therefore, reign in your death-doomed body, that ye should be obedient to its covetings;
Therefore do not let Sin reign in your mortal bodies and compel you to obey its cravings.
13 Neither be presenting your members as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin, but present yourselves unto God as though alive from among the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness unto God;
Do not offer any part of your bodies to Sin, in the cause of unrighteousness, but once for all offer yourselves to God (as those who, though once dead, now have Life), and devote every part of your bodies to the cause of righteousness.
14 For, sin, over you, shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under favour.
For Sin shall not lord it over you. You are living under the reign, not of Law, but of Love.
15 What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under favour? Far be it!
What follows, then? Are we to sin because we are living under the reign of Love and not of Law? Heaven forbid!
16 Know ye not that, unto whom ye are presenting yourselves as servants for obedience, servants ye are unto [him unto] whom ye are obedient, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness?
Surely you know that, when you offer yourselves as servants, to obey any one, you are the servants of the person whom you obey, whether the service be that of Sin which leads to Death, or that of Duty which leads to Righteousness.
17 But thanks be unto God, that—whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient out of the heart unto the mould of teaching into which ye were delivered;
God be thanked that, though you were once servants of Sin, yet you learned to give hearty obedience to that form of doctrine under which you were placed.
18 And, being freed from sin, ye were made servants unto righteousness; —
Set free from the control of Sin, you became servants to Righteousness.
19 In human fashion am I speaking, because of the weakness of your flesh; —for, just as ye presented your members as servants unto impurity and unto lawlessness [for lawlessness], so now, present ye your members as servants unto righteousness for sanctification.
I can but speak as men do because of the weakness of your earthly nature. Once you offered every part of your bodies to the service of impurity, and of wickedness, which leads to further wickedness. Now, in the same way, offer them to the service of Righteousness, which leads to holiness.
20 For, when ye were servants of sin, ye were free as to righteousness; —
While you were still servants of Sin, you were free as regards Righteousness.
21 What fruit, therefore, had ye then—in things for which ye now are taking shame to yourselves? For, the end of those things, is death.
But what were the fruits that you reaped from those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of such things is Death.
22 Whereas, now, having been freed from sin, and made servants unto God, ye have your fruit for sanctification and, the end, life age-abiding. (aiōnios )
But now that you have been set free from the control of Sin, and have become servants to God, the fruit that you reap is an ever-increasing holiness, and the end Immortal Life. (aiōnios )
23 For, the wages of sin, is death; but, God’s gift of favour, is life age-abiding, in Christ Jesus our Lord. (aiōnios )
The wages of Sin are Death, but the gift of God is Immortal Life, through union with Christ Jesus, our Lord. (aiōnios )