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For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:14 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
  • KJV For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
  • BSB For sin shall not be your master, because 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 you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • Rom 7:4–11Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
  • Heb 8:10“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
  • Rom 6:12Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
  • Gal 4:4–5But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
  • Rom 3:19–20Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
  • John 8:36If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
  • John 1:17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
  • 2 Cor 3:6–9who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
  • Ps 130:7–8Israel, hope in Yahweh, for with Yahweh there is loving kindness. With him is abundant redemption.
  • Gal 3:23But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
  • Rom 5:20–21The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
  • Rom 11:6And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
  • Titus 2:14who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
  • Gal 4:21Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law?
  • Mic 7:19He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
  • Matt 1:21She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
  • Rom 8:12So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
  • Rom 6:15What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!
  • Rom 4:16For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, 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.