What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?
Parallel translations
- WEB What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
- KJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
- NKJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
- NASB What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
- NLT Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful 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
Paul raises the question whether we should keep sinning so grace may increase. He poses the objection in order to refute it.
Overview
Having said that grace abounded where sin increased (5:20), Paul anticipates a distortion: should believers continue in sin to gain more grace? He raises this objection to confront the false notion that grace licenses sin. The question opens his teaching that justification by grace leads to a transformed life, not to careless sinning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Pet 2:16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.
- Gal 5:13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- Rom 6:15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!
- Rom 2:4Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
- Rom 3:5–8But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.
- Rom 5:20–21The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
- Jude 1:4For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
- Rom 3:31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.
- 2 Pet 2:18–19With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 6:1 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.