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For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:14 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
  • BSB For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
  • NKJV For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
  • NASB For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.
  • NLT Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

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

Sin will not master those who are under grace rather than law. Grace, not the law, breaks sin's dominion and empowers obedience.

Overview

Paul promises that sin will not have dominion, a statement of assurance grounded in the believer's new standing. Being 'under grace' means belonging to the realm of God's saving favor in Christ, which both pardons and transforms. Far from licensing sin, grace is the very power by which sin's reign is overthrown.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Gal 5:18But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
  • Rom 7:4–11Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
  • Heb 8:10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
  • Rom 6:12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
  • Gal 4:4–5But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
  • Rom 3:19–20Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
  • John 8:36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
  • John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
  • 2 Cor 3:6–9Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
  • Ps 130:7–8Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
  • Gal 3:23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
  • Rom 5:20–21Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
  • Rom 11:6And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
  • Titus 2:14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
  • Gal 4:21Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
  • Mic 7:19He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
  • Matt 1:21And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
  • Rom 8:12Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
  • Rom 6:15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
  • Rom 4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 6:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 6:14 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.