Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
- KJV Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
- NKJV Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
- NASB Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
- NLT Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus declares that everyone who sins is a slave of sin. The deepest bondage is moral and spiritual, not political.
Overview
With a solemn "most certainly," Jesus exposes the universal condition of humanity: practicing sin reveals enslavement to it. This corrects their boast and points to a bondage no ancestry can break. The verse underscores the gospel's diagnosis that all need the liberating work of Christ, since none can free themselves from sin's grip.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Rom 6:16Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?
- 2 Pet 2:19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
- Prov 5:22The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- 1 Jn 3:8–10The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
- Rom 6:12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
- Rom 6:6We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
- Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Rom 6:19–20I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
- Eph 2:2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
- Rom 7:25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
- 1 Kgs 21:25(Surely there was never one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, incited by his wife Jezebel.
- Acts 8:23For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”
- Rom 7:14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
- Rom 8:21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
- Matt 5:18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
- John 3:3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 8:34 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.