Bible Strands
Romans 6:21
What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Roman believers, who were once enslaved to sin, at the pivot point of his argument between their old condition (v. 20) and their new one (v. 22).
The words — καρπὸν (karpon), "fruit," is the hinge term: it appears in v. 22 with a positive outcome, making the negative use here a deliberate contrast. The interrogative τίνα (tina), "what," is accusative, demanding a concrete answer rather than a general one.
The thread — Romans 7:5 uses the same fruit language ("bearing fruit in your members to death") for the pre-conversion life, and Romans 6:23 restates the conclusion as "the wages of sin is death."
Why it lands — The verse is a question that forces a specific inventory: name the actual things you did, not a vague category. It removes the comfort of abstraction by tying the old life to a named, shameful product.
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
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Cross-references
- Romans 1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
- Romans 7:5 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.
- Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
- Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
- Jeremiah 8:12 Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse, says the LORD.
- Jeremiah 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Romans 8:6 The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,