Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
- BSB Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to 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 6:16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
- 2 Pet 2:19While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
- Prov 5:22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
- 1 Jn 3:8–10He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
- Rom 6:12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
- Rom 6:6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
- Titus 3:3For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- Rom 6:19–20I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
- Eph 2:2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
- Rom 7:25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
- 1 Kgs 21:25But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
- Acts 8:23For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
- Rom 7:14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
- Rom 8:21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
- Matt 5:18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
- John 3:3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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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
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