Romans 6:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For one who has died has been set free from sin.

NIV: because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

NASB: for the one who has died is freed from sin.

CSB: since a person who has died is freed from sin.

NLT: For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

KJV: For he that is dead is freed from sin.

NKJV: For he who has died has been freed from sin.

Paul has described a startling and strange idea in the previous verse, though it is truly joyful once we understand it. The big idea is this: Those who are not in Christ live under the control of sin. They are compelled to sin, to serve self in all the ways that are against God's direction for us. When someone comes to God by faith in Christ, however, that person actually experiences a spiritual death. Specifically, their "old self" is spiritually crucified, as Christ was physically crucified. The slave-driver of sin is done away with in that crucifixion. That person is literally freed from the power of sin to control his or her life.

So Paul writes in this verse that one who has died in this way, being spiritually crucified with Christ, has been set free from sin. Sin is not in charge of our lives any longer. It can no longer compel us to do it our way instead of God's way. It will become clear in the following verses that we have not lost our desire to sin, but it no longer controls us. Now if we sin, we are simply giving in to temptations and old habits.

Paul will show us why we should not continue to do so.

Romans 6:1–14 explores how Christians should think about and respond to sin now that we are in Christ and our sins are forgiven. In explaining this, Paul reveals new information about what happened when we put our faith in Christ. In a spiritual sense, we died with Him, and to our sin. We were then resurrected to a new spiritual life. Now Paul instructs us to continue remembering that we are no longer slaves to sin. We must not offer our bodies to be used for sin, but we must offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness, instead.

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.