Romans 6:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

NIV: What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

NASB: Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

CSB: So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death.

NLT: And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

KJV: What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

NKJV: What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

"And how did that turn out?" That's the question Paul is asking about his statement from the previous verse. There, he wrote that before his readers became Christians, they were free from righteousness. That is, they had no requirement, no compulsion, to do what was right in the eyes of God. Some may see this freedom from righteousness as a valuable thing, but Paul immediately shows that it always leads to shame and death instead of the joyful life we might imagine. Paul challenges his readers to describe what they actually got from living free of righteousness. What fruit did that produce? What results came from that?

The lasting result from living free from the control of righteousness is shame. All of us who once indulged in being free from righteousness before we trusted in Christ may feel shame about the consequences that came from serving our sinful desires. This is a good kind of "shame," a right evaluation of the pain created by our sinful choices.

Even more lasting for those who continue to live free from righteousness is death. All sin leads eventually to death and separation from God in hell. Death is the ultimate "fruit" of living free from the control of righteousness.

Romans 6:15–23 asks why we should not keep sinning once we have come to faith in Christ and are no longer under the law of Moses. Paul answers that we can continue to lead lives of volunteer slavery to sin if we don't resist it. Instead, we should live as if righteousness was our master, which, in a sense, it is. We should obey righteousness instead of our sinful desires, in part, because we now understand the consequences of sin. Instead of shame and death, we should serve God who gives eternal life as a gift.

In Romans 6, Paul answers the question of whether Christians should continue to sin. His answer is emphatic: we absolutely should not. First, when we came to God by faith in Jesus, we died to sin. We are not slaves to it any more. Second, what did living for sin ever get us? It led to shame and death. The righteousness given to us for free by God in Christ Jesus leads to becoming like Jesus and to eternal life. We should serve righteousness instead of sin.

After comparing Adam and Christ and what their choices brought into the world, Paul now turns to ask if Christians should continue in sin once they have been saved. He gives several reasons why we must not: we died to sin's power over us; we are now servants to righteousness; and what good did sin ever bring to you, anyway? Paul will transition in Romans 7 to a discussion of what it means to be released from the law of Moses.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.