Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
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.
- BSB You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to 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.
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, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
- Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Gal 5:1Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
- John 8:32You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- Isa 54:17No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
- Rom 6:7For he who has died has been freed from sin.
- Rom 6:14For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- 1 Pet 2:16as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
- Isa 26:13Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name.
- Ps 119:45I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.
- Ps 119:32I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free. HEY
- Ps 116:16Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your servant. You have freed me from my chains.
- 1 Cor 7:21–22Were you called being a bondservant? Don’t let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.
- John 8:36If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
- Luke 1:74–75to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,
- Rom 6:19–20I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
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 6:18 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.