Romans 6:15-16
What is written? (ESV)
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
What does it say?
So then are we to sin because we are not under law [of Moses] but under grace [New Covenant]? Not at all! Rather, you should know that whoever you willfully obey, it is to them that you enslaved. So either you are a slave to sin leading to death, or a slave of obedience leading to righteousness.
What is its immediate context?
Paul is making the broader point of the richness and fullness of God’s grace toward sinful man (chap 5) before turning to man’s response (and responsibility) for salvation. He states the absurdity of continuing “in sin” (vs 1) because they killed off their old self through baptism (vs 3), and uses the very real master/slave (“human terms” as Paul puts it in vs 19) relationship to illustrate.
How Romans 6:15-16 is applied across Bible answers
Can our free moral agency be lost?
Man is a slave to whoever/whatever he allows to be his master. There are two choices: being a slave to sin, leading to [spiritual] death, or being a slave to obedience [the Gospel], leading to righteousness [eternal life].
