The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
- KJV For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
- NKJV For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
- NASB For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
- NLT When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
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
Christ died to sin once for all and now lives wholly to God. His finished work is the pattern for the believer's new orientation.
Overview
The 'once' emphasizes the complete, unrepeatable sufficiency of Christ's atoning death. Having dealt fully with sin, the risen Christ now lives entirely unto God. Believers united to Him are called to reckon themselves in this same finished reality.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Cor 5:21God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- 1 Pet 4:6That is why the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged as men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- 2 Cor 5:15And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again.
- Rom 8:3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
- Rom 14:7–9For none of us lives to himself alone, and none of us dies to himself alone.
- Heb 9:26–28Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
- Rom 6:11So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
- Luke 20:38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 6:10 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.