Romans 6:16

Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Paul to the Roman believers, immediately after rejecting the idea that grace licenses sin (v. 15). He is pressing them to see that their daily obedience already determines their master.

The words — παριστάνω (paristanein), "to present oneself before," is a military and legal term for reporting to a superior and yielding to their command. It frames the choice as an active, deliberate enrollment, not a passive drift.

The thread — The same master-servant logic runs through John 8:34 (the one who sins is a slave to sin), Matthew 6:24 (no one serves two masters), and Joshua 24:15 (choose this day whom you will serve).

Why it lands — It removes the option of standing neutral: every act of obedience is an act of enrollment, and the reader must name which master they are currently serving.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Cross-references

John 8:34 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Joshua 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
Romans 6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.