I 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. For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
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Romans 6:19-22 sits inside this longer paragraph.
I 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. For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Parallel Translations
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I 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.
For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
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I will speake grossly because of the infirmitie of youre flesshe. As ye have geve youre membres servauntes to vnclennes and to iniquitie from iniquitie vnto iniquitie: even so nowe geve youre membres servantes vnto rightewesnes that ye maye be sanctified.
For when ye were the servauntes of synne ye were not vnder rightewesnes.
What frute had ye then in tho thinges wher of ye are now ashamed. For the ende of tho thynges is deeth.
But now are ye delivered from synne and made the servauntes of God and have youre frute that ye shuld be sanctifyed and the ende everlastinge lyfe.
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I speake after the maner of man, because of the infirmitie of your flesh: for as yee haue giuen your members seruants to vncleannes and to iniquitie, to commit iniquitie, so now giue your mebers seruants vnto righteousnesse in holinesse.
For when ye were the seruants of sinne, ye were freed from righteousnesse.
What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are nowe ashamed? For the ende of those things is death.
But now being freed from sinne, and made seruants vnto God, ye haue your fruit in holines, and the end, euerlasting life.
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Cross-references (98)
- 1 Peter 2:16 (v22) as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
- Romans 6:18 (v22) Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
- Romans 8:2 (v22) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Romans 1:32 (v21) who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those…
- Romans 6:13 (v19) Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your…
Show all 97 cross-references
- Galatians 5:13 (v22) For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
- 1 Peter 4:2-4 (v19) that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough…
- John 8:32 (v22) You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- Colossians 3:5-7 (v19) Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and…
- Romans 7:5 (v21) For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
- Ephesians 2:2-3 (v19) in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works…
- Romans 6:16-17 (vv19–20) Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to…
- Isaiah 54:17 (v22) No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the…
- John 8:34 (v20) Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.
- Romans 6:14 (v22) For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- Romans 6:23 (v21) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 7:22 (v22) For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.
- Proverbs 14:12 (v21) There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 (v19) Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the…
- Galatians 5:22 (v22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- Galatians 6:7-8 (v21) Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh…
- 1 Peter 1:9 (v22) receiving the result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
- Romans 3:5 (v19) But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
- Galatians 1:10 (v22) For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant…
- Romans 6:21 (v22) What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- Romans 7:4 (v22) Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was…
- Psalms 92:14 (v22) They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green,
- Psalms 143:12 (v22) In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am your servant.
- Proverbs 16:25 (v21) There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
- Jeremiah 8:12 (v21) Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall…
- Jeremiah 17:10 (v21) “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Daniel 3:26 (v22) Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants…
- Daniel 12:2 (v21) Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Matthew 25:46 (v22) These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- John 4:36 (v22) He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
- John 15:2 (v22) Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- Romans 8:6 (v21) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
- Romans 8:13 (v21) For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Galatians 3:15 (v19) Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.
- Hebrews 6:8 (v21) but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- 1 John 2:28 (v21) Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
- Genesis 50:17 (v22) ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please…
- Numbers 23:10 (v22) Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
- Deuteronomy 17:6 (v21) At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put…
- Deuteronomy 21:22 (v21) If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
- 2 Samuel 12:5-7 (v21) David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! He must…
- 1 Kings 2:26 (v21) To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you…
- Ezra 9:6 (v21) and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our…
- Job 1:8 (v22) Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one…
- Job 40:4 (v21) “Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Job 42:6 (v21) Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
- Psalms 37:37-38 (v22) Mark the perfect man, and see the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed…
- Psalms 73:17 (v21) until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.
- Proverbs 1:31 (v21) Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes.
- Proverbs 5:10-13 (v21) lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man’s house. You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and…
- Proverbs 9:17-18 (v21) “Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there, that her guests are in…
- Isaiah 3:10 (v21) Tell the righteous “Good!” For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
- Jeremiah 3:3 (v21) Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be…
- Jeremiah 12:13 (v21) They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits,…
- Jeremiah 31:19 (v21) Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I…
- Jeremiah 44:20-24 (v21) Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him an answer, saying, “The…
- Ezekiel 16:61-63 (v21) Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them…
- Ezekiel 36:31-32 (v21) “ ‘ “Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your…
- Ezekiel 43:11 (v21) If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its exits, and its…
- Daniel 9:7-8 (v21) “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,…
- Matthew 13:40 (v22) As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.
- Matthew 13:43 (v22) Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
- Matthew 19:29 (v22) Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will…
- Luke 15:17-21 (v21) But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will…
- John 15:16 (v22) You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that…
- Romans 7:25 (v22) I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.
- Romans 8:26 (v19) In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession…
- Romans 15:1 (v19) Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
- 1 Corinthians 5:6 (v19) Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
- 1 Corinthians 9:8 (v19) Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing?
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 (v22) Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
- 2 Corinthians 7:11 (v21) For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation,…
- Ephesians 5:9 (v22) for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
- Philippians 1:11 (v22) being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- Philippians 3:19 (v21) whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
- Philippians 4:17 (v22) Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account.
- Colossians 1:10 (v22) that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of…
- 2 Timothy 2:16-17 (v19) But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness, and those words will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and…
- Titus 1:1 (v22) Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones, and the knowledge of the truth which…
- Hebrews 10:29 (v21) How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of…
- Hebrews 12:15 (v19) looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many…
- James 1:15 (v21) Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- James 5:20 (v21) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
- 1 Peter 4:17 (v21) For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey…
- Revelation 7:13 (v22) One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and where did they come from?”
- Revelation 16:6 (v21) For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this.”
- Revelation 20:14 (v21) Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
- Psalms 86:2 (v22) Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
- Daniel 6:20 (v22) When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living…
- 1 Corinthians 15:32-33 (v19) If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for…
- Hebrews 4:15 (v19) For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like…
- James 1:1 (v22) James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
97 distinct cross-references across this passage (98 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19. I speak what is human, etc. He says…
19. I speak what is human, etc. He says that he speaks after the manner of men, not as to the substance but as to the manner. So Christ says, in John 3:12, that he announced earthly things, while yet he spoke of heavenly mysteries, though not so magnificently as the dignity of the things required, because he accommodated himself to the capacities of a people ignorant and simple. And thus the Apostle says, by way of preface, that he might more fully show how gross and wicked is the calumny, when it is imagined, that the freedom obtained by Christ gives liberty to sin. He reminds the faithful at the same time, that nothing is more unreasonable, nay, base and disgraceful, than that the spiritual grace of Christ should have less influence over them than earthly freedom; as though he had said, “I might, by comparing sin and righteousness, show how much more ardently ye ought to be led to render obedience to the latter, than to serve the former; but from regard to your infirmity I omit this comparison: nevertheless, though I treat you with great indulgence, I may yet surely make this just demand — that you should not at least obey righteousness more coldly or negligently than you served sin.” It is a sort of reticence or silence, a withholding of something when we wish more to be understood than what we express. He does yet exhort them to render obedience to righteousness with so much more diligence, as that which they served is more worthy than sin, though he seems not to require this in so many words.
As ye have presented, etc.; that is, “As ye were formerly ready with all your faculties to serve sin, it is hence sufficiently evident how wretchedly enslaved and bound did your depravity hold you to itself: now then ye ought to be equally prompt and ready to execute the commands of God; let not your activity in doing good be now less than it was formerly in doing evil.” He does not indeed observe the same order in the antithesis, by adapting different parts to each other, as he does in 1 Thessalonians 4:7, where he sets uncleanness in opposition to holiness; but the meaning is still evident.
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He mentions first two kinds — uncleanness and iniquity; the former of which is opposed to chastity and holiness, the other refers to injuries hurtful to our neighbour. But he repeats iniquity twice, and in a different sense: by the first he means plunders, frauds, perjuries, and every kind of wrong; by the second, the universal corruption of life, as though he had said, “Ye have prostituted your members so as to perpetrate all wicked works, and thus the kingdom of iniquity became strong in you” By righteousness I understand the law or the rule of a holy life, the design of which is sanctification, as the case is when the faithful devote themselves to serve God in purity.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv20–21 Righteousness had no rule over you.
Righteousness had no rule over you.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19 I speak after the manner of men because…
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Ver. 19. After the manner of men] That is commonly, Crassius et rudius loquor, by a similitude drawn from human affairs of easy and ordinary observation.
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To uncleanness, and to iniquity] Mark the opposition, there are three tos in the expression of the service to sin; but in the service of God only two. Wicked men take great pains for hell; would they but take the same for heaven, they could not likely miss it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv19–22 I speak after the manner of men because of…
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: q.d. I accommodate myself to your capacity, because of the weakness of your understanding in spiritual things; therefore I use this familiar similitude of service and freedom, that by these secular and civil things you might the better understand such as are spiritual: see Joh 3:12.
For as ye have yielded, &c.: q.d. The great thing that I desire of you (and it is most reasonable) is this, that you would be as sedulous and careful now to obey God, as you have formerly been to obey and serve sin; to do good, as you have been to do evil.
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To uncleaness; to fleshly lusts, which defile you.
To iniquity unto iniquity; i.e. adding one sin to another; or else by the former you may understand original, by the latter actual sin. He useth three words about the service of sin, and but two about the service of God; wicked men take great pains for hell; oh that we would take the same for heaven.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv20–22 That is, you were free de facto, not de…
That is, you were free de facto, not de jure; when you were sin’s servants, you were void of righteousness, that had no part of your service then; therefore sin should not have on joy of your service now; as righteousness had no part of your service in your carnal state, so there is no reason why sin should have any service from you in your gracious state.
Learn, That such sinners as are now become servants to God, ought to be as free from sin, as before they were free from righteousness: It will evidently appear so, if we consider the great and good Master which we serve, the nature of our present work, the certainty and transcendency of our future reward, the obligations we lie under as creatures, as new creatures, by the law of creation, by the favour of redemption, by the promise and hopes of glorification; all this should engage us to the love and practice of universal holiness.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv19–22 I speak after the manner of men,.... This refers…
I speak after the manner of men,.... This refers either to what the apostle had said already concerning service and liberty, things which were known among men, and easy to be understood; or to the following exhortation: what he was about to say, he delivered in a manner suited to their understandings, and was "that which was human"; not angelic, or what required the power, purity, and perfection of angels; or what was unreasonable or impossible, but what was their reasonable service, as men; and might be done through the grace of God, in the strength of Christ, and by the assistance of the Spirit: and though he might have insisted upon it with good reason, that they ought to be more diligent and industrious in the service of God than they had been in the service of sin; yet
because of the infirmity of their flesh, considering that they had flesh, or corrupt nature, and were attended with weakness in knowledge, faith, and obedience; he only pressed this upon them, that in like manner as they had been servants to sin, they would be servants to righteousness:
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for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; what they yielded to the service of sin were their "members"; by which, as before, may be meant, either the powers and faculties of their souls, or the parts and members of their bodies, or both; and particularly the latter, as the eyes and ears, the tongue, the mouth, the hands, and feet, which are all employed by a natural man in the drudgery of sin: these are yielded to sin under the form and character of "servants"; and as such are governed, directed, and ordered to fulfil this and the other lust, which is done willingly and readily: these members are "yielded", presented, and given up cheerfully to this slavery; which is both scandalous and unrighteous: it is "to uncleanness"; which designs all sorts of pollution and filthiness, both of flesh and spirit: "and to iniquity"; everything that is contrary to the law, all unrighteousness and ungodliness; and it is added, "unto iniquity"; which may design all sorts of sin, a progress in it, adding continually to it; which shows them to have been thorough hearty servants of sin. Now what the apostle exhorts to, and requires of them, is, that
even so now they would yield their members servants to righteousness unto holiness; that is, let the same members that have been employed in the service of sin, be made use of in the service of righteousness: let your eyes be employed in looking and diligently searching into the Scriptures of truth; your ears in hearing the Gospel preached; your lips, mouth, and tongue, in expressing the praises of God, for what he has done for you; your hands in distributing to the interest of religion, and the necessities of the saints; and your feet in hastening to attend on public worship, and observe the testimonies of the Lord: let them be employed under the same form and character as servants, waiting upon the Lord, ready to fulfil his will; and in the same manner, freely, willingly, and cheerfully, and that constantly and universally, in all acts of righteousness and holiness.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv19–21 I speak after the manner of men - Thus…
I speak after the manner of men - Thus it is necessary that the scripture should let itself down to the language of men. Because of the weakness of your flesh - Slowness of understanding flows from the weakness of the flesh, that is, of human nature. As ye have presented your members servants to uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now present your members servants of righteousness unto holiness - Iniquity (whereof uncleanness is an eminent part) is here opposed to righteousness; and unto iniquity is the opposite of unto holiness. Righteousness here is a conformity to the divine will; holiness, to the whole divine nature. Observe, they who are servants of righteousness go on to holiness; but they who are servants to iniquity get no farther. Righteousness is service, because we live according to the will of another; but liberty, because of our inclination to it, and delight in it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv19–22 Verse 19. I speak after the manner of men]…
Verse 19. I speak after the manner of men] This phrase is often used by the Greek writers to signify what was easy to be comprehended; what was ad captum vulgi, level with common understandings, delivered in a popular style; what was different from the high flights of the poets, and the studied sublime obscurity of the philosophers.
Because of the infirmity of your flesh] As if he had said: I make use of metaphors and figures connected with well-known natural things; with your trades and situation in life; because of your inexperience in heavenly things, of which ye are only just beginning to know the nature and the names.
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Servants to uncleanness, &c.] These different expressions show how deeply immersed in and enslaved by sin these Gentiles were before their conversion to Christianity. Several of the particulars are given in the first chapter of this epistle.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v19 Rom 6:19-22. I speak after the manner of men…
Rom 6:19-22. I speak after the manner of men — He seems to mean that his reasoning was taken from the customs of men, and was accommodated to their apprehension; and that he used metaphors and allegories which were well known; because of the infirmity of your flesh — Dulness of apprehension, and weakness of understanding, flow from the infirmity of the flesh; that is, of human nature. Or, as some understand the expression to mean, I recommend a duty to you, suited to human nature; yea, even to the infirmities thereof; that you should do as much for God as you have done for sin, and be as diligent in the service of Christ as you have been in the pursuit of your lusts. For as — In time past, while you were ignorant of the gospel, and many of you the slaves of heathen vice and idolatry; ye yielded your members servants to uncleanness — To various fleshly lusts which defiled you; and to iniquity — Or unrighteousness toward others; unto iniquity — Adding one iniquity to another; even so now — Being enlightened by the gospel to see the evil of such things, and the miserable consequences awaiting them; and being renewed by the influences of divine grace, it is but reasonable that you should be as ready to pursue a pious and virtuous line of conduct, and to do good now, as formerly you were to do evil; and become servants of righteousness unto holiness — Observe, reader, they who are true servants of righteousness, which may here mean a conformity to the divine will, go on to holiness, which implies a conformity to the divine nature. For when ye were the servants of sin — Were under its guilt and power; ye were free from righteousness — You not only had not righteousness enough, but, strictly speaking, had no true righteousness at all; never doing any single action that was truly good, and, on the whole, acceptable to God, because none was performed from such principles as could entitle it to his complete approbation. In all reason, therefore, ye ought now to be free from unrighteousness; to be as uniform and zealous in serving God as you were in serving the devil. What fruit had ye then in those things — Consider, what advantage did you derive from the practices to which you were then habituated, and whereof ye are now ashamed? — The very remembrance of which now gives you pain, and creates in you much remorse and trouble? For the end of those things is death — The word τελος, here rendered end, signifies both the end for which a thing is done, and the last issue of it. It is used in the former sense, 1Pe 1:9; receiving, το τελος, the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls; the end or purpose for which ye believed. But its meaning here is, that the punishment of death, to be inflicted on sinners, is the natural consequence, or issue, and reward of their sin.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv19–22 I speak after the manner of men - I…
I speak after the manner of men - I speak as people usually speak; or I draw an illustration from common life, in order to make myself better understood.
Because of the infirmity of your flesh - The word “infirmity” means weakness, feebleness; and is opposed to vigor and strength. The word “flesh” is used often to denote the corrupt passions of people; but it may refer here to their intellect, or understanding; “Because of your imperfection of spiritual knowledge; or incapacity to discern arguments and illustrations that would be more strictly spiritual in their character.” This dimness or feebleness had been caused by long indulgence in sinful passions, and by the blinding influence which such passions have on the mind. The sense here is, “I use an illustration drawn from common affairs, from the well-known relations of master and slave, because you will better see the force of such an illustration with which you have been familiar, than you would one that would be more abstract, and more strictly spiritual.” It is a kind of apology for drawing an illustration from the relation of master and slave.
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For as ye have yielded - Note, Rom 6:13. Servants to uncleanness. Have been in bondage to impurity. The word “uncleanness” here refers to impurity of life in any form; to the degraded passions that were common among the heathen; see Rom. 1.
And to iniquity - Transgression of law.
Unto iniquity - For the purpose of committing iniquity. It implies that they had done it in an excessive degree. It is well for Christians to be reminded of their former lives, to awaken repentance, to excite gratitude, to produce humility and a firmer purpose to live to the honor of God. This is the use which the apostle here makes of it.
Unto holiness - In order to practice holiness. Let the surrender of your members to holiness be as sincere and as unqualified as the surrender was to sin. This is all that is required of Christians. Before conversion they were wholly given to sin; after conversion they should be wholly given to God. If all Christians would employ the same energies in advancing the kingdom of God that they have in promoting the kingdom, of Satan, the church would rise with dignity and grandeur, and every continent and island would soon feel the movement. No requirement is more reasonable than this; and it should be a source of lamentation and mourning with Christians that it is not so; that they have employed so mighty energies in the cause of Satan, and do so little in the service of God. This argument for energy in the divine life, the apostle proceeds further to illustrate by comparing the rewards obtained in the two kinds of servitude, that of the world, and of God.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv19–20 I speak a human thing,[2] or I am proposing…
I speak a human thing,[2] or I am proposing to you what is according to human strength and ability assisted by the grace of God, with a due regard to the weakness and infirmity of your flesh. The sense, according to St. John Chrysostom is this, that the apostle having told them they must be dead to sin, lead a new life, &c. he now encourages them to it, by telling them, that what is required of them is not above their human strength, as it is assisted by those graces which God offers them, and which they have received. Where we may observe that these words, I speak of a human thing, are not the same, nor to be taken in the same sense, as chap. iii. 6. when he said, I speak after a human way, or I speak like men. (Witham) --- What I ask of you Christian Romans, is, that you so earnestly labour for your sanctification as to improve daily in virtue, as formerly you plunged every day deeper and deeper into vice. (Menochius)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Humanum dico, Greek: anthropinon lego; chap. iii. 6. Secundum hominem, Greek: kat anthropon. See St. John Chrysostom, hom. xii.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv19–22 I speak after the manner of men--descending, for illustration,…
I speak after the manner of men--descending, for illustration, to the level of common affairs.
because of the infirmity of your flesh--the weakness of your spiritual apprehension.
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for as ye have yielded--"as ye yielded," the thing being viewed as now past.
your members servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto--the practice of
iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to Righteousness unto holiness--rather, "unto (the attainment of) sanctification," as the same word is rendered in Th2 2:13; Co1 1:30; Pe1 1:2 : --that is, "Looking back upon the heartiness with which ye served Sin, and the lengths ye went to be stimulated now to like zeal and like exuberance in the service of a better Master."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv19–21 19. After the manner of men—I illustrate deep spiritual…
19. After the manner of men—I illustrate deep spiritual truth by ordinary images drawn from secular life.
Infirmity… flesh—Which needs spiritual truth in material shapes. The Roman Christians knew the significance of slavery as a source of illustration, being not only familiar with it, but even being, perhaps, some of themselves slaves. He momentarily apologizes for this sort of illustration, and then pushes it to its final and awful result.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19. after the manner of men] More lit., humanly.…
19. after the manner of men] More lit., humanly. He apologizes, so to speak, for using the peculiarly earthly image of the slave-market to enforce a truth of the most exalted spiritual dignity; namely, the necessary conformity of the wills of the justified to the will of God.
because of the infirmity of your flesh] i.e., because you are “weak” to apprehend spiritual truth, as being still “in the flesh;” affected by that element of your nature which (besides being the stronghold of sin) is always the antithesis of “the spirit.” This is his reason for going so low for his metaphor; for boldly depicting their state of justification as one also of slavery. No illustration less harsh would convey the full reality of obligation to their minds.
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to uncleanness and to iniquity] Two main aspects of sin. “Iniquity “is lit., and better, lawlessness. The first of the two words means, the craving for evil as such; the second, the hatred of holy restraint as such.
unto iniquity] Lit., again, unto lawlessness; i.e. “with the result of lawless acts on the lawless principle.” See 1Jn_3:4, where the Gr. precisely means, “sin and lawlessness are convertible terms.”
servants] The word is, of course, emphatic in both parts of the verse.
righteousness] See notes above on Rom_6:16-18, in favour of still referring this word to justification, the “gift of righteousness” (see on ch. Rom_5:17) regarded as the new motive in the life of the justified; the new power which was to use their “members” as its “weapons” against sin. (See on Rom_6:13.)
unto holiness] Lit., and better, unto sanctification. The Gr. noun indicates rather a process than a principle or a condition. (So too Heb_12:14.) The result of the new “bondage” was to be a steady course of purification; a process of self-denial, watchfulness, and diligent observance of the holy will of the God of Peace.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv19, 21, 22 (19) I speak after the manner of men.—I am…
(19) I speak after the manner of men.—I am using a merely human figure of speech, a figure taken from common human relations, and not a high mystical phrase such as I used just now, because of the dulness of your understanding: that form of expression you might not be able to comprehend; this present figure is clear even to a mind that is busy with earthly and carnal things, and has not much faculty for taking in anything beyond.
Your flesh.—This corresponds nearly to what is elsewhere called “the carnal mind,” a mind alive only to material and sensible things.
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To iniquity unto iniquity.—Ye yielded up your members to iniquity for the practice of iniquity.
Unto holiness.—Rather, for sanctification; to be made holy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv19–20 I speak after the manner of men because of…
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. Here anyrwpinon legw ("I speak humanly") may be taken as referring to the expression immediately preceding, viz. edoulwyhte th dikaiosunh . St. Paul may mean, "In saying you were made slaves to righteousness, I am using human language not properly applicable to your spiritual relations. For you are not really in bondage now; you have been emancipated from your former bondage to sin, and are now called upon to render a free willing allowance to righteousness; being, in fact, sons, not slaves." This view of the true position of the Christian being one of freedom recurs so often and so forcibly with St. Paul that it is peculiarly likely to be the thought before him here; the very word edoulwyhte would be likely to suggest it. (cf. Rom_8:15, seq.; 2Co_3:17 Gal_4:4-7 Gal_5:1, Gal_5:13) If (he would say) you fully realized your position as sons of God, you would feel it impossible even to think of sinning willingly; but, in accommodation to your human weakness, I put the case as if you had only been transferred from one bondage to another, so as to show that, even so, you are under an obligation not to sin. According to this view of the meaning of the passage, "the infirmity of your flesh" has reference to dulness of spiritual perception, sarx being opposed in a general sense to pneuma . Had they been pneumatikoi , they would have discerned ta tou pneumatov tou Yeou without need of any such human view of the matter being put before them. (cf. 1Co_2:14) Some, however, taking asyeneian thv sarko to denote moral weakness, which renders the attainment of holiness difficult for man, (cf. Mar_14:38) understand anyrwpinon legw as meaning, "I require of you no more than is possible for your frail humanity; for I call on you only to render to righteousness the same allegiance you once rendered to sin." This interpretation gives a totally different meaning to the clause. It has the support of Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Calvin, Estius, Wetstein, and others; but it does not appear so natural or probable as the other, which is accepted by most modern commentators. For as ye yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto sanctification (rather than holiness, as in the Authorized Version; the word is agiasmov , always so translated elsewhere). This is a setting forth of what must follow in practice from the view that has been taken of the change in the Christian"s position resembling the transference of bondservants from one master to another. They must devote their members (see above on ver. 13) to the service of the new master in the same way as they had done to that of the old one; the aims or results of the two services being also intimated. The old service was in giving themselves up to uncleanness (with reference to sins of sensuality), and generally to anomia , i.e. lawlessness, or disregard of duty; and its result is expressed by a repetition of the latter word. For sin leads to nothing positive; lawless conduct only results in a habit or state of lawlessness; whereas the service of righteousness in itself leads to sanctification to the abiding result of participation in the holiness of God. "Qui justitiae serviunt, proficiunt; anomoi , iniqui, sunt iniqui, nil amplius" (Bengel).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv19, 21, 22 I speak after the manner of men.
Rom_6:19-20
I speak after the manner of men.
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Apostolic exhortation
I. Its method. After the manner of men, i.e., (Gr.) humanly--as men ordinarily speak, borrowing any illustrations from common life. Spiritual subjects are made plainer by familiar comparisons, and so preachers should use simple language and homely illustrations. This was exemplified in Christ, and inspired writers in general. The most useful preachers have ever been those who speak most humanly. The arrow too high flies over the head; too low falls short of the mark.
II. The reason for the method. The infirmity of your flesh--imperfect knowledge through the flesh--an apology for the use of the expression slaves, etc. Some believers are still babes and carnal (1Co_3:1-4; Heb_5:12-14); others are spiritual and of a full age. In Gods family are fathers, young men, little children (1Jn_2:12-14). The flesh is an impediment to the apprehension of truth. Carnal nature views holiness not as liberty but as bondage. Arguments and modes of speaking to be adapted to the hearers state. Let not the mature and enlightened, then, cavil at methods adapted to reach the immature and ignorant and vice versa.
III. Its substance.
1. A reminiscence. As ye have yielded your members servants--
(1) To uncleanness, a characteristic of heathen life in general (Rom_1:24). Uncleanness is sin against oneself: unchastity of life. All sin is uncleanness; some sins especially so (Rom_13:13). The greatest slave is he who serves sensual pleasures.
(2) To iniquity--unlawfulness--what is opposed to Gods law, and even the laws of human society (Luk_18:4). Uncleanness and iniquity include the whole circumference of sin (Mat_15:19).
(3) Unto iniquity--to the practice of iniquity as a result; to an always still greater progress and depth in iniquity. The practice is the necessary effect of the bondage. Sin allows none of its servants to remain idle.
2. An enforcement of duty. Even so now--as heartily and thoroughly, and in consideration of the past yield your members--
(1) Servants to righteousness. Still servants, but to righteousness instead of sin. Christ gives His disciples a yoke, but it is an easy one. Servitude to righteousness means truest liberty.
(2) Unto holiness--so as to practise and grow in it. Holiness is that which is in accordance with Gods will, and embraces the whole man (1Th_5:23). It is a matter of growth. The faithful performance of one duty prepares for that of another. Victory over one sin strengthens us for victory over a second. The practice of righteousness confirms the principle of holiness. Gracious acts strengthen gracious habits, as labour adds to muscle. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Will ye be the servants of sin or the servants of God
?--To determine your choice consider--
I. The contrast.
1. Sin conducts you from iniquity to iniquity.
2. God will lead you in the path of holiness.
II. The immediate consequences.
1. The fruit of sin is shame.
2. Of faith is holiness.
III. The final result.
1. The wages of sin is death.
2. The gift of God eternal life. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Forsake the service of sin; enter the service of righteousness
Then you escape--
1. Out of disgraceful impurity into true holiness (Rom_6:19-21).
2. Out of dishonourable servitude into true freedom (Rom_6:20-22).
3. Out of death and condemnation into eternal life (Rom_6:21-23). (W. Hauck.)
Two ways and two ends
I. The one was bitter servitude; the other sweet liberty.
II. The one has disgraceful notoriety; the other praiseworthy modesty.
III. The one has eternal death; the other eternal life. Note what Jesus says of these two ways and their ending (Mat_7:13). (W. Ziethe.)
The slavery of sin unlawful--a ground of hope to the sinner
Luthers domestic, Elizabeth, in a fit of displeasure, left his service without notice. She subsequently fell into sin and became dangerously ill. Luther visited her, and, taking his seat by her bedside, she said, I have given my soul to Satan. Why, rejoined Luther, thats of no consequence. What else? I have, continued she, done many wicked things; but this is what most oppresses me, that I have deliberately sold my poor soul to the devil, and how can such a crime ever find mercy? Elizabeth, listen to me, rejoined the man of God. Suppose, while you lived in my house, you had sold and transferred all my children to a stranger, would the sale or transfer have been lawful and binding? Oh no, said the deeply humbled girl, for I had no right to do that. Very well, you had still less right to give your soul to the arch enemy; it no more belongs to you than my children do. It is the exclusive property of the Lord Jesus Christ; He made it, and when lost also redeemed it; it is His, with all its powers and faculties, and you cant giveaway and sell what is not yours; if you have attempted it, the whole transaction was unlawful, and entirely void. Now, do you go to the Lord, confess your guilt with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and entreat Him to pardon you, and take back again what is wholly His own. And as for the sin of attempting to alienate His rightful properly, throw that back upon the devil, for that, and that alone is his. The girl obeyed, was converted, and died full of hope.
Changed uses
Among the spoils taken when Alexander conquered and captured Darius was a richly jewelled cabinet or casket in which the Persian king kept his perfumes and sweet ointments. It was carried to Alexander, who at once turned it to another and nobler use, and added a syllable to its name. He placed in it his copy of the Iliad, saying, This shall no longer be called myrrh box, but Homer box. What the myrrh box became by passing under Alexanders hands illustrates what the soul becomes by passing under the hands of its Divine Inspirer. By unseen influences (as certainly as by the miracle touch) God adds to the graces of a chosen vessel the gift of spiritual power and expression. He makes it empty that He may fill it with greater riches.
For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
The servants of sin
1. There is no condition so sad as that of a slave; and no slavery so hard as that of sin. There was once a tyrant who ordered one of his subjects to make an iron chain of a certain length. The man brought the work, and the tyrant bade him make it longer still. And he continued to add link to link, till at length the cruel taskmaster ordered his servants to bind the worker with his own chain, and cast him into the fire. That hardest of tyrants, the devil, treats his slaves in like manner. At first the chain of sin is light, and could easily be cast off. But day by day Satan bids his victims add another link. The servant of sin grows more hardened, daring, reckless in his evil way. He adds sin to sin, and then the end comes.
2. Very often the slaves of sin do not know that they are slaves. They talk about their freedom from restraint, they tell us they are their own masters, that the godly are slaves. Once I visited a madhouse. Some had one delusion, some another. One thought he was a king, another the heir to a fortune. But one thing they all believed, that they were in their right minds.
3. The servants of sin bear about the marks of their master. I have seen gangs of convicts working on Dartmoor. You could not mistake them for anything else if they were dressed in the best of clothing. The word convict is stamped upon every grey face, as plainly as the Government mark is stamped upon their clothing. The servants of sin have their marks also. Look at the shifty eyes, and downward glance of the knave and the false man; the flushed brow and cruel eyes of the angry man; the weak lips and trembling hand of the drunkard.
4. The servants of sin have their so-called enjoyments, these are the baits with which the tyrant gets them into his power. For a time the way of transgressors is made easy and pleasant. The broad road is shaded, and edged with fair fruits and flowers. A saint of old once saw a man leading a herd of swine, which followed him willingly. When the saint marvelled, the man showed him that they followed him for the sake of the sweet food in his hand, and knew not whither they were going. So the servants of sin follow Satan for the sake of the sweet things which he offers, and know not that they are going to their death, even the living death of a lost soul. (J. H. W. Buxton, M. A.)
Freedom from righteousness
Standing altogether outside it, having no relation to it, destitute of it, entirely unaffected by it; strangers therefore to its happy and gainful service. Possessing a freedom which is a bane and a bondage. A planets freedom from the law which preserves it in its orbit; a childs freedom from the restraints of a happy home. This freedom pleases the flesh, but ruins the man; it is not mercifully given, but madly taken; it is Satans miserable choice, Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Note the latent irony of the text; Ye were free; but what kind of freedom? A freedom akin to that of hell. Freedom from righteousness a mans greatest misery; freedom in righteousness his greatest mercy. (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Liberty and restraint
You hear every day greater numbers of foolish people speaking about liberty, as if it were such an honourable thing; so far from being that, it is, on the whole, and in the broadest sense, dishonourable, and an attribute of the lower creatures. No human being, however great or powerful, was ever so free as a fish. There is always something that he must or must not do; while the fish may do whatever he likes. All the kingdoms of the world put together are not half so large as the sea, and all the railroads and wheels that ever were or will be invented, are not so easy as fins. You will find, on fairly thinking of it, that it is his restraint which is honourable to man, not his liberty; and, what is more, it is restraint which is honourable even in the lower animals. A butterfly is more free than a bee, but you honour the bee more just because it is subject to certain laws which fit it for orderly function in bee society. And throughout the world, of the two abstract things, liberty and restraint, restraint is always the more honourable. It is true, indeed, that in these and all other matters you never can reason finally from the abstraction, for both liberty and restraint are good when they are nobly chosen, and both are bad when they are badly chosen; but of the two, I repeat, it is restraint which characterises the higher creature, and betters the lower creature; and from the ministering of the archangel to the labour of the insect, from the poising of the planets to the gravitation of a grain of dust--the power and glory of all creatures and all matter consist in their obedience, not in their freedom. The sun has no liberty, a dead leaf has much. The dust of which you are formed has no liberty. Its liberty will come--with its corruption. (J. Ruskin.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19. I speak after the manner of men. Use…
19. I speak after the manner of men. Use figures taken from human relations, those of master and slave. At that time slavery existed everywhere. Because of the infirmity of your flesh. Because of infirmity of understanding due to the flesh. For as. As they had been servants of sin in its various forms, uncleanness, and iniquity unto iniquity (working out iniquity), so now being freed from that service, let them serve righteousness unto holiness, with the result of showing forth holy lives.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v22 Rom_6:23.—Eternal life is not like wages due for service…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_6:23.—Eternal life is not like wages due for service to God, as death is wages due for service to sin. Eternal life is a donative or free gift of God.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_6:22-23
Four stages in the Christian’s life.—The essentials of the Christian’s course are marked out for us in this short passage. We here get, as it were, a bird’s-eye view of all that is needful from the time of conversion to the period of entrance upon the blessing of everlasting life. We begin with the great deliverance, we pass on to the great change, we see the Christian growing in meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light, and then when the earthly trials and conflicts are over we see him passing a disciplined soul across the narrow stream of death into the unfading beauties of that life which is everlasting. The soul that passes through the experiences here laid down has nothing to fear, and is blessed indeed. Let us seek to understand its teaching. Four points claim our attention: the gracious deliverance, the glorious change, the blessed result, the happy termination.
I. The gracious deliverance.—It was a gracious deliverance when Noah and his sons were saved by means of the ark. Lot was rescued from the burning cities; the children of Israel were brought forth from the land of Egyptian bondage; the man-slayer found asylum in the city of refuge from the avenger of blood; David escaped the javelin thrown by the frenzied Saul; Daniel came forth from the lions’ den uninjured; and the three Hebrew children marched in triumph from the furnace without having upon them so much as the smell of fire. But still more gracious is that deliverance when the soul is made free from sin. It is a deliverance from the accusation of sin. When we sin we depart knowingly from the rule of duty, and that departure becomes a voice of reproof and of accusation. Every sin which a man commits becomes to that man an accuser, unless he has become hardened, and then hereafter those stifled voices of his sins will speak in trumpet tones to the unutterable dismay of his spirit. Terrible is it for the man with a tender conscience and a sensitive nature to hear within the accusing voice of his past sins. And great rejoicing is heard in every house and in every street of the town of Mansoul when the man is set free from sin. It is a deliverance from the penalty of sin. “The wages of sin is death.” “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” Death physical, intellectual, and moral is the penalty of sin. Sin has a killing power. It touches, withers, and destroys the nobler parts of man’s nature, so that the man by sin is dead while he lives. Gracious deliverance it is to be set free from sin’s penalty, to be raised from death to life. It is a deliverance from the tyranny of sin. Sin is a tyrant that grips and holds his victims with an iron hand, and keeps them grinding with remorseless cruelty at the wheel of oppression. Many of sin’s victims see the tyranny and long to be set free. They see the awful ruin to which they are being led, but cannot escape. They cannot escape except by the power of divine grace. It is thus alone that they can be set free from sin. It is a gracious deliverance, for it had a gracious origin. “By grace are ye saved.” For it is by a gracious Author,—the gracious method of the gospel plan of salvation. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Oh that men would believe in Jesus Christ!
II. A glorious change.—It was a glorious change when Joseph passed from the prison cell to be the second ruler in Egypt. David passed from the sheepcote to the splendour of Israel’s throne; Mordecai was taken to the king’s gate, and placed on the king’s horse, and clothed in royal apparel, and the proclamation was heard, “Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.” But not so glorious as when the slaves of sin become the servants of God. It is a noble service. By what rules shall we measure the nobility of a service? Shall we speak of the greatness of the being who is served, the extent of his dominions, and the number and exalted character of his servants? Thus this service transcends, eclipses, any other form of service. We cannot grasp the greatness of this Being, and must content ourselves with the proceeding of the French preacher who, when called upon to preach on the occasion of the monarch’s death, exclaimed amid breathless silence, “God alone is great.” Vast are the numbers of His servants. The winds and the waves obey His will. The wild beasts of the forest, the cattle on the thousand hills, the myriad songsters of earth’s groves, the birds of beautiful plumage, are His servants. But higher still, for men and angels are His servants; and men the noblest and sublimest earth can boast. Men of giant intellect, of heroic natures, of wondrous spirituality, are God’s servants. We see them passing the great highway of time, and as the goodly procession passes along our souls are thrilled with conflicting emotions of gladness and of intense admiration, and we ask, Is it possible that we are to be permitted to follow in this glorious train? We may here claim all men and all women as the servants of God; but remember that He has three kinds of servants—some are slaves, and serve on the principle of fear; others are hirelings, and serve for the sake of the wages; but the best are sons, and serve under the influence of love. It is the loving service that is the noblest, that is the most satisfactory, and that is the most abiding. What is the service you render? The service of love is the only one which God will graciously accept. May God baptise with the spirit of love!
III. The blessed result.—“Ye have your fruit unto holiness”; or, “Ye have your fruit unto sanctification.” God places trees in His garden not for mere ornament but for use. God does not despise the ornamental; but God’s ornamental things are useful things as well. God is a painter the wondrous combination of whose colours no human painter has ever faintly shadowed forth, an architect whose mighty structures dwarf the proudest temples and palaces of earth, a musician whose lofty strains make the loftiest of human harmonies seem poor and feeble. If we desire to see beauty, let us go, not to the art galleries of men, but to the art galleries of God—not art galleries, but nature galleries, for God’s rich nature is transcendent in beauty. A Christian should be an ornamental tree and a fruit-bearing tree. Are not the most fruitful trees the most beautiful? What can equal the delicate tinting and the rich colouring of the spring blossoming of the fruitful tree? What beauty is there in the Christian who bears fruit unto sanctification! We take it that a truly sanctified man is both a beautiful man and a useful man. The children of this world may scoff at the saint; but there is, after all, a deep inward respect for those who live godly, righteous, and sober lives The sanctified ones are the salt of the earth. The sanctified ones are the truly useful and the truly ornamental ones of the world. A Church all of whose members bring forth fruit unto sanctification is a Church which will attract by its loveliness. A kingdom the greater part of whose subjects bring forth fruit unto sanctification is a kingdom whose foundations are strong and whose perpetual glory is secured. Bring forth fruit unto sanctification; begin it in the way of duty, and by-and-by duty will become a pleasure. Learning to read is unpleasant to the child; but in after-time the reading of good books becomes not only the necessity but the pleasure of intellectual existence. In the beginning of the divine life we are but as children learning to read; but in after-time we find the greatest delight in keeping the commandments of God. Bring forth fruit unto your own sanctification, for your own good as well as for the glory of God.
IV. The happy termination.—“The end everlasting life.” We are permitted and enjoined by the example of the word of God to keep the end in view. And what an end! It is an end without an end, paradoxical as the statement appears. This end is the beginning of everlasting life, the beginning of the noblest life without termination. Perfect life is the adaptation of the being to its surroundings, and the adaptation of those surroundings to the being; and such is everlasting life. We shall be fitted for celestial surroundings, and those surroundings we shall find prepared to conduce to our highest felicity. Life here is imperfect, inadequate, and incomplete; life yonder will be perfect, adequate, and complete. Let us take the term “everlasting” not merely as referring to the perpetuity of our future existence, but to the completeness of that existence in all its aspects. No life here is everlasting, because it is incomplete and imperfect. But life beyond is everlasting in the broadest sense of that word. Let us keep the end in view, in order to inspire with hope and patience in the present. Let us persevere in the noble pathway of bringing forth “fruit unto sanctification.”
Rom_6:22. Tenses of Christian life.—That twenty-second verse is the conclusion—the real conclusion—of this chapter. The twenty-third verse is merely explanatory. The twenty-second verse brings visibly before us the conclusion of that struggle that Paul has been tracing more or less throughout this sixth chapter: the two services—the old service and the new—the transition from the old to the new, the outcome of that change of masters, and the outlook that we now have. These are all embodied in this twenty-second verse—an exchange in the past, present experience, and a blessed outlook. You have here the three tenses of a Christian man’s life—the past, the present, and the future: something he looks back to is past and gone, something that he now has as present experience, and something he looks forward to as final result.
I. The exchange of masters.—We have, then, in this past tense a blessed change, an exchange of masters, a transition from one service to another. But when I speak of the old service as a service, I feel that I do not express it strongly enough; for that old service was a bondage. And yet I am almost afraid to describe the new service by that term, because we connect with the word “bondage” sentiments that are not at all agreeable. Yet the words used in this chapter of that old service and of the new one are precisely the same. We were the slaves of sin; and we are—the same word is applied—the slaves of God. There is a freedom that is slavery. My text makes it perfectly plain that every Christian man whose experience is here described has passed from a bondage, “being made free from sin.” We must have passed from bondage into freedom—passed from the bondage of sin into the freedom that grace gives. The first thing in our freedom, then, was deliverance from our sin and guilt; but that would not have been enough for you and me. When God speaks of freedom, He does it completely. He removes the guilt, but He breaks also its power; He takes away the love of sin, and He gives you the grace to enable you to struggle with the sin—not merely to struggle with it, but to overcome it.
II. The new service.—But, then, by that very freedom He has bound you. He has led you into what I should call, perhaps, a new “bondage”; only, as I said before, that word has an evil association; and yet it is true. By His grace and deliverance He has made me eternally His bondsman. He has set me free from the power of sin, restored my freedom, that I might serve Him. Having been made free from sin, I entered God’s service; I gave up my own supremacy, and yielded to the supremacy of God.
III. Fruit, a test of character.—“Ye have your fruit unto holiness.” Having had this deliverance from sin, having entered into this new service, what is the present outcome of it? It is fruit, and it is fruit that you have, and it is a fruit that looks forward to a particular result. Great many of us are tempted to look upon the Christian life as made up of negations. It is a positive life—something you can actually lay your hand upon and say, Now here is that which I have got through my connection with Christ, through what He has done for me, through my service rendered to Him. Here I can see what I have as a definite, clear, distinct result something that can be shown. A Christian man’s life must result in a real, positive character. “Ye have your fruit unto holiness.” It does not say that you are holy; it does not say you have already attained, or that you are already perfect. It does not say that the fruit is complete, that it is ripe, that it is ready to be plucked. No; but it is fruit growing and growing—to what? Unto sanctification, unto holiness. The present tense of the Christian life, then, is a consecrated life—a life of devotion to Christ, of determination to be His and His only.
IV. Eternal growth and development.—And now for the future tense: “the end everlasting life.” It is something that is far away, something that is to come by-and-by; but for the present we may contemplate it, and make it a power to guide us in our journey. I think of it as bringing deliverance from all that hinders. I sometimes think of it positively. Here we have but a limited amount of physical strength, but that other world will introduce us to a life where there are no checks or limitations or hindrances, but a perpetual growth of power to serve God, of faculty to be used for Him. Eternal life, everlasting life,—not a life of luxurious ease, not a life of mere enjoyment or pleasure or psalm-singing; but a life of active, devoted service—service which God is teaching us to render here, and which I believe He will teach us in yet fuller measure to render on the other side.—Prof. Robertson, D.D.
Rom_6:23. A high conception of manhood.—The nature of the gift which a man confers on his fellow may be taken as the estimate which the former entertains of the recipient’s character. In a gift there should be fitness. The gift should be suitable both to the circumstances of the giver and to the character and position of the recipient. Who would think of discoursing sweet music to the deaf? Should we give a choice painting to the blind? Would it be suitable to present a work on philosophy to one who can only read with difficulty? Here is a gift which transcends all others. Next in importance and in value to the unspeakable gift is the grant of eternal life. How vast the boon our contracted minds cannot fully comprehend. The value, preciousness, and vastness of the gift of eternal life will require an eternal life to unfold and completely to understand. Most feel the value of life, and are ready to subscribe to the truth of the old remark, “Skin for skin; yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” Some value intellectual life. What a boon if the balance of reason could be restored to the insane! What a gift if the mental power of a Plato or a Paul could be conferred on the man who yearns to tread the high pathway of genius! Above all gifts, if we could only rightly appreciate it, is the blessing of eternal life, which begins in the present state and is being developed in the illimitable future. The greatness and preciousness of this gift speak to us of the greatness and benevolence of the Giver. Surely the gift speaks to us likewise of the greatness of man. In one sense man is little and insignificant, but in another sense he is made only a little lower than the angels. Surely the creature is not to be belittled and despised on whom the Eternal bestows the blessing of eternal life. The possible inheritor of so great a blessing is noble and kingly. Yes, the Bible ennobles manhood. It is the one book, the one vital agency, for the elevation of the race. Man is made, not for the fleeting hour, but for the coming eternity. Man is great because God regards him as capable of the gift of eternal life.
I. Man is great, for this gift implies a moral nature.—As we read of the gift of eternal life we are lifted out of the marshy and sterile plain of materialism. We cannot understand the philosophers of the materialistic school. Why should a man pretend to be a lover of wisdom, to dwell in the realm of refined ideas, who is only a perishable mass of materialism? Man is little if he is only an animal, though he may be an animal that thinks—a philosopher. Man is great if he is a creature endowed with a nature that yearns after the Infinite, that soars upward to the Eternal, that loves and worships. The gift of eternal life would be both useless and impossible to a creature who is only one step raised above the beast that never thinks and never loves. The gift of eternal life can only be profitable and delightful to the creature whose nature is lightened up and glorified by a spark of divine fire. A moral nature is needful where a spiritual boon is to be received and appreciated.
II. Man is great, for this gift implies an enduring nature.—Men have felt the preciousness of the blessing of spiritual life even as a gift for the present phase of existence. If there were to be no hereafter, many men and women would still ask for the sustaining and cheering influences of the gift of eternal life. But if in this life we only have hope, then our God-given blessing is stripped of its transcendent charm. Yes, we look to the future. We have the confident expectation of infinite blessedness in the bright and beautiful beyond. We rise above our sorrows, we laugh at our calamities, we even sing in prison, and have transports of joy when bound to the stake, because we feed on the outcoming joys of a completed eternal life. Certainly the phantasm of some felicity which a man is to inherit hereafter as the reward of his services here can give no rest and comfort to a man toiling and suffering. A phantasm cannot sustain, but a certainty can support. We look forward in hope, in confident expectation. We are paid on the way. We have joys in the earth pilgrimage; but oh what joys await when the pilgrim’s journey is over and he passes inside the pearly gates!
III. Man is great, for this gift implies an abiding personality.—Individualism is the doctrine of the Bible. Can the gift of eternal life be conferred on a community? It is said that corporations have no souls. In this sense a community has no soul. A mob cannot receive the blessing of eternal life. It is a spiritual blessing, and in its reception the individual soul must be engaged. The moral personality must receive the blessing—must enjoy it, and develop it, and put it to wise and holy uses in the present sphere. In the future the blessing must be perpetuated and enjoyed by the individual recipient of the boon. So that the personality of the man is an abiding and a permanent quality. He aspires after rest, but it is a personal and an abiding repose in the presence of the infinite light and goodness. Here, then, we have not the creed of the Nirvana. While we long for the sweet composure of the being which may be realised in a brighter and calmer sphere, we shrink from the Buddhist doctrine of the absorption of the individual in the unity of being. Love will delight in the diffusion of happiness, in the wide expansion of blessings; but will the destruction of personalities, the concretion of souls into one great whole, contribute to greater happiness? Each soul glowing with the love light will contribute to the general splendour. The redeemed will be a glorious unity, but a glorious plurality. There will be many harpers. Each will rejoice in his own instrument, but he will rejoice to contribute to the general harmony. The music of heaven would not be rendered more perfect by all the harpers being absorbed in the unity of one harper, however skilful the performer.
IV. Man is great, for this gift implies incompleteness.—Man is great by reason of what he wants as well as by reason of what he possesses. What does man want? The poet sings:—
“Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.”
But the poet may only sing of material wants; for man wants that which alone can render his nature complete. How great is man who cannot rest until he finds repose in the arms of infinite love! How great is man whose lower life is not adequate, and who can only find satisfaction in the blessing of eternal life! Men crave for rest, and this divine yearning declares man’s vastness. Man longs and yearns; ofttimes he cannot interpret these dark soul movings. Deep calleth unto the deep in the dark and wondrous ocean of his moral nature, and he cannot translate the sound nor give speech to the confused utterance. He wants, he needs, eternal life. The loving Eternal sees man’s need, and graciously offers the boon in a proffered Christ.
V. Man is great, for this gift supposes a large nature.—A cargo must be proportioned to the size of the vessel. A teacher should deal with his scholar according to the scholar’s capacity. A gift must be suitable to the receiver. How wondrously constituted is that being who can receive and enjoy the blessing of eternal life! In some high moments of spirit rapture the soul experiences a great strain, which is not felt on account of the greatness of the joy. When the vision has passed, when the trance has gone, the soul is exhausted. But the soul will be ever expanding; and the more of heavenly delight it receives, the more it will be capable of receiving. Wondrous thought! that man can receive a divine Guest, can walk divine heights of blessedness, delight in the presence of the eternal Light, and finally taste the bliss of the glorified. But shall we speak of the greatness of man and have no word to exalt the greatness of the divine benevolence? “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Almost every word proclaims the greatness of the divine benevolence. This is seen by:
1. The fact of a gift. The hardness and depravity of human nature are evidenced by the circumstance that divine blessings are received as things taken for granted. We soon complain if anything is wanted. We are slow to raise the song of praise when blessings are bestowed. Here is a gift undeserved and unsought, a gift originating in the divine love; and yet how small is our appreciation of the divine benevolence!
2. The nature of the gift. Alas! we are so materialistic that we cannot receive with any great degree of rapture the moral; we are so earthly and so earthbound that we do not heartily welcome the heavenly; and yet, if we only knew it, the gift of eternal life is every way adapted to our natures. The gift of eternal life in its full realisation means the gift of abiding peace, of ever-flowing and uninterrupted joy—of sweet fellowship in the infinite goodness, of high converse with the noblest and purest spirits. This in a measure on our wilderness pilgrimage. This without measure and in indescribable fulness and delight when we have laid aside the pilgrim’s staff, have washed our earth-stained and weary feet, are clothed in the clean raiment of the glorified, and sit down at the banqueting table of infinite Love.
3. The originating possibility of the gift. “Through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He originated the possibility of this gift in harmony with the purposes and laws of God’s moral government. “The wages of sin is death.” The penalty had been incurred. God’s benevolence purposed a gift. But how was that purpose to be accomplished? How was the design to be rendered a possibility? Jesus Christ originated the possibility. God the Father had a mental, an emotional origination of the plan of human salvation. Jesus Christ had a practical origination. He was the self-sacrificing originator of the possibility of the great gift of eternal life to the human race. And shall we say that God’s love was less than Christ’s love? Is the emotional of less account than the practical? Do we not undervalue the emotional in the Saviour’s earthly life? Were not His sufferings greater from the emotional than from the physical side of His nature? God’s love was great; and while we speak let us remember that the emotional gave rise to the practical. The love of God gave His only begotten Son. Let us then adore the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let us magnify the divine benevolence. Let us try to understand what God does when He makes the glorious offer of the gift of eternal life to the criminals over whom hangs the sentence of death. He shows the gift shining with many lights, and they reveal vaster glories beyond. He proffers the gift; and while He proffers there gleams upon the soul the pure light of the gems of heaven. He invites to accept; and while the loving voice woos and entreats the white-robed harpers raise a chorus of welcome. Can we refuse? Is it possible that we do not appreciate the gift? Angels look down in vast astonishment; their hearts are moved with infinite pity as they behold criminals passing away from offered pardon to the place of execution. Death and eternal life. Which is it to be? What is the resolve of the noble creature man? But how ignoble by the Fall! Great in divine intention, great in possibility; but little, low, and mean by degeneracy. Let us accept the gift and realise the greatness of which we are capable.
God’s great gift.—The tendency of the gospel is to exalt God and to humble man. It points to everlasting misery as the prison-house to which man’s depravity and sin would lead him. And it is only by the grace of our heavenly Father that we can reach the celestial world. “The wages”—the due recompense—“of sin is death,” but eternal life is the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In speaking of this gift, notice:—
I. Its nature.—
1. It will afford immunity from all the sufferings and dangers of the present life. Suffering belongs to every station here. Uninterrupted prosperity and enjoyment would be inconsistent with a state of trial. But sufferings can have no place in the life of the redeemed in heaven. All tears shall be wiped away.
2. It will afford pre-eminent intellectual enjoyment. Here we know in part; then we shall know in full. Knowledge will there be unmixed with error.
3. It will afford entire social enjoyment. Here society is often a source of annoyance, disagreements, and pain. In heaven it will possess unmixed knowledge, be full of benevolence, will be holy and wise, and there will be no separation.
4. It will afford unspotted holiness. All who possess it will be holy before they are allowed to enter heaven. But there they will attain to the glory of holiness of which man can form no conception. All will be light—the image of God will be reflected from every human spirit; the Lord Jesus Christ will reign over the minds and hearts of all His people.
5. It will afford incessant activity and endless improvement. Although heaven is represented as a place of rest, it is likewise a state of unceasing activity. The angels are active.
II. Its freeness.—“The gift of God.”
1. It was not wrung from Him by importunity. It is a life which cannot be purchased.
2. It is not the reward of merit. Though sometimes called a reward, it is the reward of grace, not of merit. Man may merit hell, but he cannot merit heaven. Everything leading to this eternal life is also the gift of God: the promises of the Bible; the great change by which he has become entitled to it and qualified for its enjoyment; the Lord Jesus, by whose merit eternal life was purchased,—all these are the gifts of God.
III. Its medium.—“Through Jesus Christ.” To Him we are indebted for the hopes that animate, for the enjoyments we experience. For this end the Redeemer was given—to put men in possession of eternal life; for this purpose He laboured; and for this He suffered.
1. By His death Christ made atonement, and procured pardon—i.e., salvation from spiritual death.
2. Through Him men are delivered from moral death, and receive the principle of spiritual life.
3. Through Him we are adopted into the family of His Father.
4. Through Him, through His resurrection, we conquer material death, and obtain material bodily life.—Homilist.
Rom_6:23. Eternal life a priceless gift.—The gift of God is eternal life “in Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is the better gift which contains that wherein all others are defective,—the gift of a well of water, not lying outside of the man, at which he may slake his thirst now and then, but springing up in him; the gift, not of a refreshing influence, but of a Person from whom the influence comes, and in whom he may find that perpetually which only visits him occasionally; the gift of One who delivers the spirit from its own proper burden, who speaks to those that are heavy laden with their own selfishness, and bids them rest in Him the meek and lowly; the gift of One who does not exact joy and sympathy and love, but kindles them and bestows them. Here is the eternal life—the only eternal life of which St. Paul knows anything. The phantasm of some felicity which a man is to inherit hereafter as the reward of his services here could give no rest or comfort to a man toiling and suffering as he was. He wanted One upon whom he could cast his sorrows, fears, sins, every hour; One from whom he could always draw a strength and nourishment to sustain him against the continual sentence and pressure of death. If there was such a One with him then, he could believe that He would be with him always—that neither height nor depth, nor life nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, would separate him from His love. His life must be eternal life: it could not be a changeable, inconstant treasure, here to-day and gone to-morrow; but it must be a gift fresh every day—not a property which he could claim as having been made over once for all to him. It must be a gift of God, which he would enjoy while he trusted in God, which he lost whenever he fancied that he had earned it. It must be a gift, therefore, for all as well as for himself—one of which he could preach to all, one of which he could say to them, You have it, however little you may know that you have it. As surely as you carry sin within you, so surely is He within you who is the enemy of sin; as surely as you have death with you, so surely have you life with you; as surely as you may possess the one for wages, so surely may you accept the other for the gift of God.—Maurice.
Rom_6:23. Death and life.—By a striking ceremonial on Gerizim and Ebal (see Deuteronomy 27 and Jos_8:30-35) Joshua set before the Israelites life and death, the blessing and the curse. Similar contrast in text. Composed of two antithetical clauses: three words in the one contrasted with three in the other—sin and God, death and life, wages and gift.
I. Sin and God.—Both are masters engaging servants. The two occupy the whole domain of moral action. Only two masters and two kinds of service.
1. Sin as a master. One of the smallest words in the English language, but what it names is not little. Sin often regarded as a theological term, an abstraction, dark as a thunder-cloud, but as far away. Here not an ideal abstraction, but an actual master. Sinners are servants of sin, though not certain of making any engagement. Every born Briton bound to serve his country as long as in it. So every one who continues in sin tacitly engages to serve sin (see Rom_6:16). Though not a person, it has the power of a master. Proof of this: they believe in it, take pleasure in it, labour for it. Though they fancy themselves their own masters, they are being drawn or driven, sometimes against their better wishes, in a course opposite to God.
2. God the other master. His service a perfect contrast to the other. On the one hand all that is noble and pure, on the other all that is base and defiling: here a little tribulation, a little self-denial, and then everlasting felicity; there present pleasure and future misery, short-lived delight and everlasting sorrow: here eternal life; there eternal death.
II. Death and life.—Cause of death separation from God—sentence on first parents. As branch broken from the tree dies, so they cut off from the God of life died.
1. Spiritually. Proof from Scripture (Rom_8:6; 1Ti_5:6).
2. Death of the body another part of the death (Rom_5:12).
3. Here death contrasted with eternal life. Hence infer that eternal death especially meant: elsewhere described as “the second death” and “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.” Eternal life, in contrast with eternal death, like half of sky clear while the other half filled with thunder-clouds. True life animated by high purpose, ennobled by true goodness, brimful of joy—a life that lifts clean away from the power of vexations and cares. Such life in fellowship with Christ: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (see Rev_3:20). Such life not touched by death (Joh_11:25; Joh_14:19; Col_3:3-4).
III. Contrast: wages and gift.—
1. Death the wages of sin: due reward of deeds—not imposed by an arbitrary appointment of God: the law of the universe. Just that sinner be paid for his work, whether wages please him or not.
2. Eternal life a gift. The word means the free gift of God. Given to all in offer (Joh_4:10; 1Jn_5:11); given not for service rendered, but before one has begun to serve. No need to wait for; no need to prepare. Only condition is willingness to receive. But since it is life, it means a new beginning; since it is eternal life, it must overmaster all other lives; since it is life to be enjoyed in the service of God, we must quit the service of sin (Rom_6:13).—G. Wallace, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 6
Rom_6:22. Frederick the Great and Count Schmettau.—During the Seven Years’ War Frederick the Great accompanied his soldiers on a mountain march. Count Schmettau was his lieutenant, and a very religious man. The king, impatient over the tedious route of the artillery on foot up the narrow mountain pass, indulged in jesting to drive away ennui—he liked a little to tease Schmettau. He knew of a confessor in Berlin whom the count would visit, and allowed a stream of jokes and derision to flow freely. “Your majesty is more witty and much more learned than I,” answered Schmettau, at last finding utterance. “More than this, you are my king. The spiritual contest is in every respect unequal; nevertheless, you cannot take away from me my faith, and as it now goes you would certainly injure me immeasurably, at the same time not make yourself insignificant.” The king remained standing in front of Schmettau; a flash of indignation came from his majesty’s eye. “What does that mean, monsieur? I injure you by taking your faith! What does that mean?” With immovable tranquillity answered the general, “Your majesty believes that in me you have a good officer, and I hope you are not mistaken. But could you take from me my faith, you would have in me a pitiful thing—a reed in the wind, not of the least account in council or in war.” The king was silent for a time, and after reflection, called out in a friendly manner, “Schmettau, what is your belief?” “I believe,” said Schmettau, “in a divine Providence, that the hairs of my head are all numbered, in a salvation from all my sins, and everlasting life after death.” “This you truly believe?” said the king; “this you believe is right with full assurance?” “Yes, truly, your majesty.” The king, moved, seized his hand, pressed it strongly, and said, “You are a happy man.” And never from that hour did he deride Schmettau’s religious opinions.
Rom_6:23. The wages of sin.—Mr. Marshall, author of the Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, having been for several years under distress of mind, consulted Dr. Goodwin, an eminent divine, giving him an account of the state of his soul, and particularising his sins, which lay heavy on his conscience. In reply he told him he had forgot to mention the greatest sin of all, the sin of unbelief, in not believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins and sanctifying his nature. On this he set himself to the studying and preaching of Christ, and attained to eminent holiness, great peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Mr. Marshall’s dying words were these: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv19–22 19. “For I speak after the manner of a…
DEPRAVITY SUPERSEDED BY SANCTIFICATION
19. “For I speak after the manner of a man on account of the weakness of your flesh.” While in these bodies, as Wesley well says, “we can only think, speak and act through organs of clay.” Sense and phraseology must be simplified and adapted to the people. For this reason, the Old Testament abounds in symbolism, and the New in parabolic and materialistic imagery and illustration. In heaven Paul hears language incomprehensible on earth, doubtless because of its pure spirituality (2 Corinthians 12).
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“For as ye presented your members slaves unto uncleanness and iniquity pursuant to iniquity.”
This is a vivid description of the wicked living animal lives, afflictive and even suicidal to themselves. God’s order reversed — the angel down in the mud and the hog on top! The brutal “uncleanness” peculiar to the wicked gives them a hell on earth — ten thousand aches, pains and sorrows known only to themselves. Thousands of people annually die in the hospitals of this city (New York) and are buried alone in the Potter’s Field, with no friend on earth to speak a word in the dying ear. Millions of people shorten their lives by brutality and sink into paupers’ graves. The wicked not only sin against themselves and humanity, but sin against God. Hence this double epithet: “uncleanness,” which is sin against themselves; and “iniquity” (Greek, lawlessness, i. e., transgression of God’s laws), sin against God. Here the Holy Ghost specifies the source of all this, i. e., eis anomian, “pursuant to iniquity” or “lawlessness.” This word means depravity. In, prefixed to a word, means not. Hence iniquity means the want of equity, i. e., justice. De, used as a word, has a negative meaning, i. e., deprivation. Hence you see iniquity and depravity are synonymous. In this verse we have the affirmation that both uncleanness and iniquity proceed from the common source of human depravity. This is the negative side of the argument. Now, in the prosecution of the affirmative, we find a radical tergiversation take place, eliminating depravity and superseding it by holiness to the Lord. “Thus now ye have presented your members slaves unto righteousness pursuant to sanctification.” This part of the verse describes the experience following the wonderful transformation of grace. I find here the very pure Greek construction appertaining to sanctification after the wonderful transition as to depravity in the former state when you were “slaves to uncleanness and iniquity.” Hence it follows as a logical sequence that the deep interior of the heart, where Satan has his throne and the rattlesnakes of inbred sin coil and rattle on all sides, is gloriously expurgated of all evil, Satan ousted, the snakes, reptiles and doleful creatures slain, their blood and bones enriching the soil, now turned over to King Immanuel, who transforms the entire situation into the blooming gardens and beautiful fields of Eden, through which the angels walk, and the songs of the seraphim are wafted on heavenly breezes, and there the Holy Ghost has enthroned Jesus to reign without a rival. The antithesis is profoundly significant, eis anomian and eis hagiasmon: “pursuant to iniquity” in case of the sinner, and “pursuant to sanctification” in case of the righteous. Here is the significant fact: the deep, subterranean region of the fallen spirit, occupied by inbred sin and impregnably fortified by the devil, is radically expurgated of all carnal debris, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and filled with the perfect love of God. Consequently the very temptations which formerly stirred the malevolent affections, i. e., anger, wrath, malice, envy, jealousy, prejudice, bigotry, egotism, pride, vanity and all of the selfish predilections, now arouse the very opposite, i. e., love, kindness, pity, sympathy, philanthropy, charity, forgiveness, and an earnest desire to do good for evil. All this follows as a logical sequence from the fact that the old malevolent affections are eradicated and gone, and the benevolent emotions have taken their place. Hence so long as you are truly sanctified, the very incentives which formerly to your sorrow, defeat and disgrace aroused evil, will now only awaken the corresponding good. This is truly a miracle of grace, paradoxical to aliens, but blessedly real to the truly sanctified.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv19–22 I speak after the manner of men because of…
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification . [But thanks be to God that these principles are not mere matters of speculation with you, but have been tested and applied by you in your actual experience, for whereas ye were once the slaves of sin, ye, of your own free will and heart's choice, changed your masters, and became, by your obedience to it, the servants or slaves of the principles set down in the Christian or gospel form of teaching whereunto (as is the custom when slaves are sold) ye were delivered for service. Now, I use this illustration of the transfer of slaves, which is taken from daily, secular affairs, not because it is a perfect and adequate representation of your change of relationship in passing from the world unto Christ, but because your fleshly nature clouds your understanding of spiritual ideas, and you therefore comprehend them better if clothed in an earthly or parabolic dress, even if the figure or illustration is defective. Christ is far from being a tyrannical master, and certainly cherishes no such feelings towards you as those which a slave-owner holds towards his slaves; yet the figure nevertheless aids you to comprehend the point which I am now discussing, for you can readily see that, as under the old slavery, you presented your members as servants to impurity and to lawlessness for the purpose of being lawless, so, under the new service, it behooves you to now present your members as servants to righteousness for the purpose of becoming sanctified, or holy.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv19, 22 sanctification. (See Scofield "Rev 22:11")
holiness
sanctification. (See Scofield "Rev 22:11")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v19 Servants of righteousness unto everlasting life:
Servants of righteousness unto everlasting life:
v. 19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
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v. 20. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
v. 21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
v. 22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
v. 23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Paul had used a very strong expression: "slavery of righteousness," to illustrate his meaning, a comparison taken from the common relations of men, to set forth the relation of the believers to God. And so he here apologizes: in a way, for using this human figure of the relation of slave to master to convey the great spiritual truth which he intends to impress upon his readers. It was necessary to speak thus plainly, in such homely phrases and figures, on account of the weakness of their flesh, not so much on account of their intellectual as on account of their moral weakness, the heathen Christians still tending somewhat toward laxity in morals, toward abuse of Christian liberty. And therefore Paul continues the application of his strong figure of speech: As they had yielded, offered, set forth, the members and organs of their bodies, bound in slavery to uncleanness, pollution of their own body, soul, and mind, and to iniquity, lawlessness, transgression of the divine Law in general. Such are the fruits of the natural state of man: evil in its various forms, a progression in lawless behavior, one sin being the cause and instigation of another. But their changed status now demands, and the apostle adds the urgency of his admonition: So now offer, set forth, your members as bound under righteousness unto holiness. The believers are not merely obligated to a life of righteousness, but they are in its bonded service. And the result is purity in heart and life, an inward conformity to the divine image, 1Th 4:7.
The apostle now gives further confirmation to his admonition: When you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. So far as righteousness was concerned, they were free; they were not concerned with righteousness, they were serving another master; they had nothing in common with righteousness, were absolutely unable and unfit to perform anything that would have been acceptable in the sight of God. And what was the result? What fruits were matured under those conditions? What was the product of the slavery of sin? The answer can be only one: Such things as now cause you to be ashamed as you remember your former conversation, for they were horrible vices, shameful delights, which will invariably plunge into death and destruction for both soul and body. Now, however, the situation is reversed: Having been emancipated, set free, from sin, and bound to the Lord, you have in your possession your fruit to sanctification, but the end eternal life. The entire situation presents the contrast to carnal-mindedness. In the case of the believers the evil master, sin, has been deposed; instead, there is the controlling influence of the Spirit’s power. And the product of the service of God thus entered into is holiness, all desires, thoughts, and actions being devoted to the performing of God’s will. And the end, the result of this service of righteousness, is eternal life, the fullness of life in the presence of God forever and ever. The apostle, therefore, concludes with an axiomatic statement: For the wages of sin is death; what sin, as the tyrannical ruler, pays its subjects, is their due and well-deserved reward. Sin cannot be allowed to go unrewarded, that is, unpunished. For a confirmed sinner to hope for pardon without atonement is to hope for the impossible, namely, that God will, in the end, prove unjust. But, by a contrast as great as that between heaven and hell: The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. There is not a word, not a hint of reward here: everlasting life is a free, an unmerited gift of grace and mercy. The punishment of hell is always merited, the bliss of heaven never. In Jesus Christ the possession of eternal life is assured, for He has made its attainment possible, and in and through Him we are placed in possession of this glorious gift. With this blessed goal before their eyes, the believers will also walk circumspectly on the paths of righteousness and withstand every effort of sin to regain the ascendancy, lest they lose the gift which has become theirs by faith and the hope which the heavenly calling holds before them in Christ Jesus.
Summary.The apostle admonishes the Christians no longer to serve sin, but to walk in righteousness, by reminding them of the fact that in Christ Jesus they have died unto sin and have become partakers of the new spiritual life, by which they have become servants unto righteousness and have before them the goal of everlasting life.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19, 22 I speak like a man
I speak like a man
Paul may have expected his readers to wonder why he was speaking of slavery and freedom. Here he is saying that he is using these ideas from their everyday experience to help them understand that people are controlled either by sin or by righteousness. AT: "I am speaking about this in human terms" or "I am using examples from everyday life"
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because of the weakness of your flesh
Often Paul uses the word "flesh" as the opposite of "spirit." AT: "because you do not fully understand spiritual things" (See: Metonymy)
presented the parts of your body as slaves to uncleanness and to evil
Here, "body parts" refers to the whole person. AT: "offered yourselves as slaves to everything that is evil and not pleasing to God" (See: Synecdoche)
present the parts of your body as slaves to righteousness for sanctification
Here "body parts" refers to the whole person. AT: "offer yourselves as slaves to what is right before God so that he might set you apart and give you the power to serve him" (See: Synecdoche)
you were free from righteousness
Here "free from righteousness" is a metaphor for not having to do what is righteous. The people were living as though they thought that they did not have to do what was right. AT: "it was as though you were free from righteousness" or "you behaved as though you did not have to do what was right" or (See: Metaphor and Irony)
At that time, what fruit then did you have of the things of which you are now ashamed?
"Fruit" here is a metaphor for "result" or "outcome." Paul is using a question to emphasize that sinning results in nothing good. AT: "Nothing good came from those things that now cause you shame" or "You gained nothing by doing those things that now cause you shame" (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
flesh
servant
clean
evil
righteous
sanctify
shame
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv19–21 6:19 Paul uses the Greek word sarx (human nature,…
6:19 Paul uses the Greek word sarx (human nature, or flesh) to refer to the frailty and proneness to sin that characterizes humans. Paul uses the illustration of slavery to show the relationship of the human nature to sin.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.