Rom 6:16-18 | JFB | STEP | 16. that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey —with the view of obeying him. his servants ye are to whom ye obey —to whom ye yield that obedience. whether of Sin unto death —that is, "issuing in death," in the awful sense of , as the sinner's final condition. or of Obedience unto righteousness —that is, obedience resulting in a righteous character, as the enduring condition of the servant of new Obedience ( ).

Romans 6:16-18

16. that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey—with the view of obeying him.

his servants ye are to whom ye obey—to whom ye yield that obedience.

whether of Sin unto death—that is, "issuing in death," in the awful sense of Ro 8:6, as the sinner's final condition.

or of Obedience unto righteousness—that is, obedience resulting in a righteous character, as the enduring condition of the servant of new Obedience (1Jo 2:17; Joh 8:34; 2Pe 2:19; Mt 6:24).

17. But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of Sin—that is, that this is a state of things now past and gone.

but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you—rather, "whereunto ye were delivered" (Margin), or cast, as in a mould. The idea is, that the teaching to which they had heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them.

18. Being then—"And being"; it is the continuation and conclusion of the preceding sentence; not a new one.

made free from Sin, ye became the servants of—"servants to"

Righteousness—The case is one of emancipation from entire servitude to one Master to entire servitude to another, whose property we are (see on Ro 1:1). There is no middle state of personal independence; for which we were never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not that God should reign over us, we were in righteous judgment "sold under Sin"; now being through grace "made free from Sin," it is only to become "servants to Righteousness," which is our true freedom.