Rom 6:16-22 | TNotes | STEP | 6:16 righteous living (Greek dikaiosunē , “righteousness”): In the first part of Romans, Paul uses this Greek word in a judicial sense, referring (1) to the activity of God to set people in a right relationship with himself or (2) to the righteous standing that believers enjoy as a result of Christ’s work (see, e.g., 1:17 ; 3:21-22 ; 4:3 , 5 ). Here, Paul uses the same word as it is often used in the Old Testament, meaning the right behavior that God demands from his people.

6:16 ^a righteous living (Greek dikaiosunē, “righteousness”): In the first part of Romans, Paul uses this Greek word in a judicial sense, referring (1) to the activity of God to set people in a right relationship with himself or (2) to the righteous standing that believers enjoy as a result of Christ’s work (see, e.g., 1:17 ^b; 3:21-22 ^c; 4:3 ^d, 5 ^e). Here, Paul uses the same word as it is often used in the Old Testament, meaning the right behavior that God demands from his people.
6:19 ^f 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.
6:20 ^g free from the obligation to do right (literally free from righteousness): Paul means either that unbelievers feel no obligation to obey God or that they are unable to do so. But the freedom that they boast of actually makes them slaves to sin.
6:21 ^h eternal doom (literally death): Throughout chs 5–8 ⁱ, Paul uses death to describe the eternal consequences of sin (5:12 ^j, 14 ^k, 15 ^l, 17 ^m, 21 ⁿ; 6:16 ^o, 23 ^p; 7:5 ^q, 9-10 ^r, 13 ^s, 24 ^t; 8:2 ^u, 6 ^v, 13 ^w). The language goes back to God’s warning to Adam and Eve (Gen 2:17 ^x). This death is not primarily physical death; it denotes separation from the fellowship of God that, if not reversed through faith in Christ, will last forever.