You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
- KJV Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
- NKJV And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
- NASB and after being freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.
- NLT Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
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
Set free from sin, believers have become slaves of righteousness. Freedom in Christ means a new and rightful servitude to God.
Overview
Paul summarizes the great exchange: liberation from sin's bondage results in enslavement to righteousness. This is not the loss of freedom but its true fulfillment, since serving God is the purpose for which we were made. The believer's freedom is therefore freedom for holiness, not from obligation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Rom 6:22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.
- Rom 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
- Gal 5:1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- John 8:32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- Isa 54:17No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.
- Rom 6:7For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
- Rom 6:14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- 1 Pet 2:16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
- Isa 26:13O LORD our God, other lords besides You have had dominion, but Your name alone do we confess.
- Ps 119:45And I will walk in freedom, for I have sought Your precepts.
- Ps 119:32I run in the path of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.
- Ps 116:16Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
- 1 Cor 7:21–22Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let it concern you—but if you can gain your freedom, take the opportunity.
- John 8:36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
- Luke 1:74–75deliverance from hostile hands, that we may serve Him without fear,
- 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.
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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 6:18 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.