For when ye were bondmen of sin ye were free from righteousness.
Paul has been urging believers not to go on in sin. Here he reminds them what their old life really was. There was a freedom in it, but it was freedom from the wrong thing.
Commentators hear irony in the word "free." Paul is not paying a compliment to their past.
There seems to be a grave but cutting irony in this reference to their old condition. The only freedom they knew was freedom in regard to righteousness. They were slaves of sin and had nothing to do with righteousness. And what was the result? Nothing to boast of, certainly. There was so much to fill them with shame! And what is the end of those things? Death.
Another writer keeps the older wording, "free from righteousness," and adds that no one serves both masters at once.
By nature man is a servant of sin. And as a servant of sin he is "free from righteousness" — terrible freedom to be "free from righteousness"! That is what the Apostle says the Romans were before their deliverance. They were not servants of righteousness, but servants of sin. No one can serve sin and righteousness at the same time. They needed deliverance from the power of sin.
That freedom meant they felt no claim of righteousness at all. For the believer, the refusal now runs the other way.
"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." We recognised no claims of righteousness over us while in sin's bondage. Now, as servants of righteousness, we must refuse sin's claims just as completely.
Some assume this describes only ruined lives. One writer answers that objection.
He reminds them of their past: they were the servants, or slaves, of sin. They were not under the rule of righteousness. Righteousness is the will of God, and it was not ruling them. Sin was ruling them. Some say, "Oh, I do not think that I am. I will admit it in the case of the drunkard, but not me." There are plenty of things other than drink that enslave people. We can see it in the case of alcohol. But when it is a case of our manner and our temper, anger, words, lusts and passions, these are not so public. It is not so clear, but it is there all the same. We are all naturally enslaved by sin.
The following verses set two accounts side by side, and one of them has nothing on the credit side.
In Romans 6:20 there is an "end" but no fruits. The end is death.
What that empty account cost is spelled out further.
When they were the servants of sin, they followed their own wills. They gave no thought to the claims of righteousness. Such a course produced no lasting and pleasant fruit, but only shame and, in the end, death. They wasted their lives and their bodies in self-will. It covered them with shame and ended in death.
The point of the reminder is practical. It shuts down the idea that grace leaves a Christian free to carry on sinning.
The apostle has spoken of a change of masters. He will now contrast the result of serving the one with the result of serving the other. When the saints in Rome were the servants of sin they were free from righteousness. Such a service could not produce holiness… So this checks the tendency to treat grace as a licence. It silences any pleading for such practices, and leaves its advocates no ground to stand on. It is irrational, and thoroughly anti-Christian. Continuing in sin denies the Christian's condition, and undermines Christian profession.
- Freedom — Sin gave only one freedom: freedom from righteousness. Commentators call it a cutting irony and a terrible freedom.
- Master — Sin and righteousness are two masters, and no one serves both. Where one rules, the other's claims go unheard.
- Slavery — The bondage is wider than drink. Temper, words and passions enslave just as truly.
- Fruit — Serving sin produced nothing worth keeping, only shame at what they had done.
- Death — That service paid no fruit, but it still had an end, and the end of those things is death.
What fruit therefore had ye *then* in the things of which ye are *now* ashamed? for the end of *them* [is] death.
Paul turns to people who once served sin and asks them to name what they got out of it. He expects silence, because the whole chapter is arguing that a believer cannot go back.
Earlier in the chapter Paul reasons from a fact — the Christian has died with Christ. Here the ground shifts to something the reader must weigh for himself.
Here then we stand on the ground of motives which test the heart. At the beginning of the chapter the ground was a great fact about the Christian: he has a part with Christ in His death, and so is dead to sin and lives to God. Here it is no longer that. It is an appeal to his appreciation of the grace of God which has freed him from his slavery to sin. So what use is he going to make of his freedom?
The verse before it says these people were once "free in regard to righteousness" — and that phrase is not a compliment.
There seems to be a serious but cutting irony in this reference to their old condition. The only freedom they knew was freedom in respect to righteousness. They were slaves of sin and had nothing to do with righteousness. And what was the result? Certainly nothing to boast of — and how much there was to fill them with shame! And what is the end of those things? Death.
The word "fruit" expects a return. Sin gives none.
When they were the servants of sin, they followed their own wills without any thought of the claims of righteousness. Such a course produced no lasting and pleasant fruit. It was a fruitless wasting of their lives, and of the parts of their bodies, in self-will that covered them with shame and ended in death.
Notice the two time frames in the verse: the fruit was then, the shame is now.
When I was in that old bondage, my behaviour was just as shameful. And then I had no thought of "fruit" for God, let alone bringing it forth. Now my former conduct can only make me ashamed. Christ has redeemed us by His precious blood. Let all who belong to Him learn to be more ashamed of that past part of their lives. In those days they walked in step with this world, with little sense of God's claims upon them. "The end of those things is death": the only direction they lead is toward death.
Paul names no particular sins. That silence widens the verse far past the obvious vices.
But now they were ashamed of the former fruitless works. Let us observe how wide the language is in this chapter. There is no specification. The contrast lies between nature and grace — God's glory and man's will. Anything that did not make for holiness was fruitless, even if it was not evil in itself. Such things did not fit the liberty of an obedient servant of God. A spiritual man judges himself. When he remembers hours wasted on trivial pursuits, shame brings a blush to his face — even though what he was doing might look quite harmless to other people.
The verse is one half of a pair. Paul sets the barren past against a present service that does yield something, and both have an "end."
What fruit did they have then in the things they were now ashamed of? It was a fruitless wasting of the parts of their bodies in lawlessness, and the end was death. But now we are free from sin — free in the sense of being out of bondage, no longer sin's slaves. We have become slaves to God, entirely given up to serve Him, and we have our fruit unto holiness. The end is everlasting life. Along the way we also grow in the knowledge of God, in likeness to Him, and in separation of heart to Him from all evil, according to what He is.
This chapter has been answering people who would go on sinning. Verse 21 is part of that answer.
So the idea that a Christian may keep on sinning is checked. Any pleading for such practices is silenced, and those who argue for them have no ground to stand on. It is irrational, and thoroughly anti-Christian. Going on in sin denies what a Christian is, and it undermines any Christian profession. Allowing sin at all does not fit the change of masters that all saints in Christ claim to be under.
- Freedom — the only freedom sin ever gave was freedom from righteousness. That is nothing to boast of.
- Fruit — the honest answer is none. That service wasted life and body and returned nothing lasting or pleasant.
- Shame — all that is left of it now is a blush. It covers even wasted hours the world would call harmless.
- End — those things run in one direction only, and the destination is death.
- Exchange — the new master yields fruit for holiness, growth in the knowledge of God, and an end of everlasting life. Going back denies what a Christian is.
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.
Romans 6 answers the charge that grace makes people careless about sin. But what does it mean to be "set free from sin," and why does that freedom lead into service?
(The ESV says "sanctification" where the older translation says "fruit unto holiness." The writers quoted below use the older wording.)
Many take "set free from sin" to mean the sinful nature is gone. One writer marks out what the freedom covers and what it does not:
"Free from sin" does not mean free from the old nature, as many teach. It means free from the ruling power of the sin that still lives inside. Then comes the contrast: the old state in sin, and the place of deliverance grace has brought the believer into. In the former life, as unsaved slaves of sin, there was an awful fruit, and the end of it is death. But now they are servants of God, freed from sin's awful slavery. Their fruit is different: the fruit of holiness, and the end is eternal life.
Another writer puts it in a phrase: the believer is free "from the slavery, not from conflict" (C. Stanley).
Paul does not describe a person set loose with no master. He moves from one ownership to another, and one commentator explains why there is no third option:
Independence is not possible for a creature. He is a servant of good or of evil. But his natural condition was that of bondage to sin. Grace, then, has delivered him from that. He has gone out from the house of bondage; but it is to meet and to serve the God of his salvation. Redemption has made him His.
Another writer shows what this freedom is for:
Christ sets free the soul that was once the slave of sin. He calls it to stand fast in His liberty and never wear a yoke of bondage again. For there is no middle ground or other alternative. But grace uses this liberty to be so much the more His bondman, free from sin to serve the Lord Christ.
The verse names two things: fruit now, and an end later. One writer keeps both in view and describes the fruit that comes now:
But now we are free from sin — his great theme, as we have seen. Free here means out of bondage, no longer sin's slaves; that alone is the sense of the words here. We have become slaves to God, entirely given up to serve Him, and we have our fruit to holiness. The end is everlasting life. But along the way there is growing in the knowledge of God, and likeness to Him, and separation of heart to Him from all evil, according to what He is.
Another writer traces this fruit to its source. Under sin's control "there was the hatred of holiness, and we were utterly powerless to be holy... But the divine nature delights in holiness, and this is the fruit it produces" (An Outline of Sound Words).
If the change of master is real, then the argument "sin freely, grace covers it" collapses. One commentator draws the conclusion:
This checks the drift toward lawlessness. It silences any argument for such practices, and shows their advocates have no ground to stand on. It is irrational, and thoroughly anti-Christian. Continuing in sin is a denial of Christian standing, and destroys Christian profession. Allowing sin at all clashes with the change of masters that all saints in Christ claim as their own.
Here eternal life stands at the end of the road. Elsewhere Scripture speaks of it as something the believer already holds. One writer shows these are two angles on one gift, not two doctrines:
Everlasting life is here viewed as the end of the wonderful story. In the writings of the Apostle John we find it presented as a present possession of the believer. There is no conflict between these two views of it. What is ours now in its essence will be ours in its full extent when eternity is reached.
Another writer states the same contrast between the two apostles and then guards it carefully:
For Paul the end is everlasting life; for John, "Whoever has the Son has life." I do not mean a difference in doctrine, for there is none, but a difference of aspect and grasp in the Word — one is intrinsic life, the other is condition in result before God.
- Freed — the freedom is from sin's rule, not from its presence; the conflict remains, but the old owner is gone.
- Enslaved — nobody stands masterless; grace takes you out of the house of bondage to make you God's servant.
- Fruitful — the new service bears fruit the old life never had: knowing God better, growing like Him, a heart set apart from evil.
- Consistent — the master has changed, so living in sin denies the standing a Christian claims.
- Finished — the road ends in eternal life; what is ours now in essence will be ours in full in eternity.
For the wages of sin [is] death; but the act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This verse closes the chapter by setting a wage beside a gift. One life is what a person has earned; the other is what God hands over free — and the commentators press hard on that difference.
The verse assumes a service relationship. A wage means work has been done for someone. One writer asks whether a person can ever quit that job.
But someone may ask: is man, in his natural condition, a slave of sin? Can he never practise righteousness? Must he always obey this terrible master? This master pays death as wages for all the service his poor, degraded servants give him. Yes. Unless a power greater than his own sets him free, he must serve that merciless tyrant as long as he is in this world. That master's only payment brings him to the grave in disgrace.
Calling death a wage rules out treating it as simply how bodies work.
"The wages of sin is death," a solemn sentence which Adam and countless others have proved in their own bodies. Death is the wages of sin, not the debt of nature. God did not make man to die, but by sin man forfeited his life.
Commentators notice what the sentence does not say. It never claims death is the entire settlement, and it never claims eternal life is the whole of what God gives.
Note carefully how the phrase is built. The Holy Spirit avoids saying that the wages of sin stop at death. Judgment remains, and God appoints it to man just as He appoints death. Together they are the full wages of sin. It would not be safe to say that even eternal life is the whole of God's free gift. As we shall find in Romans 8, and in many other Scriptures, He gives the Holy Spirit to be the believer's portion. Add to that the relationship of a son, and the inheritance that goes with it.
The second half of the verse changes category, not just outcome. A gift has only one possible response.
What a contrast between "wages" and "gift" — wages earned: death, the judgment of God in all its terror. Gift — what can you do with a gift? You cannot buy a gift — then it would be a sale. You cannot earn a gift, or it would be your due. All you can do with a gift is receive it and thank the giver. Sin has forfeited our natural life. But eternal life is God's gift. It cost the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If God simply waived the wage, the first half of the verse would be empty. One writer points to the cross. There God did not cancel the penalty He had announced. He paid it.
Where was His truth, which had pronounced death on the offender? Where was His majesty, which had been trampled underfoot? Sin called the whole character of God into question. The Lord offers Himself for His Father's glory, according to the counsels of God. His truth is made good. The wages of sin is death. The cross is absolute proof of it. It was the wages of sin paid by the Son of God Himself. No one escaped except through His dying for them — and He was the Son of God.
The closing phrase locates the life. Some older translations read "through Jesus Christ our Lord." One writer argues that the wording matters more than it looks.
This is not just life from another source. It is life of a completely new character and quality. It is not the old failed life restored, but a far higher life — a divine life. Only one life is eternal. The words "in Christ Jesus our Lord" show that its source is a divine Person who has now become man. The wording is "in," not "through," as the older translation has it. And it is "Christ Jesus," not "Jesus Christ." Such differences may look small, but in Scripture they always carry meaning.
The previous verse made eternal life the end of a road of holiness, which could sound like a prize for good conduct. This verse blocks that reading — and one writer turns the phrase around to show how large the gift is.
The end is everlasting life, received in its full result in glory, as it is in God's purpose. But that is the gift of God. The path to it is the path of obedience and holiness, but the thing itself is the gift of God. Death we have earned — it is the wages of sin; but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is not merely that eternal life is the gift of God, but that the gift of God is nothing less than eternal life.
- Master. Sin is not a mood but an employer, and no one serves it part-time. Without a rescue greater than himself, a man works for it until the grave.
- Wage. Death is what that work earns, not what nature owes. Judgment still waits beyond it, so death alone is not the full settlement.
- Substitute. God did not cancel the wage; the cross is proof He paid it, and none escape except through the Son who died for them.
- Gift. A gift cannot be bought or deserved, only received with thanks. Eternal life is never the reward for the holy path, though holiness is the path.
- Life. The gift is held in a Person: not the old forfeited life patched up, but divine life in Christ Jesus. And even that is not the whole of what God gives.