Romans 6:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If before baptism sin produced bodily death, and the wound required such healing that the Master of all accepted death and so destroyed the evil, then what will sin not produce when it has mastered you?

After so great a gift and freedom, you again and voluntarily bend under its yoke. Therefore do not strive toward this abyss. Do not surrender yourself voluntarily to sin.

During wars soldiers often surrender even against their will. But here no one will defeat you unless you yourself become a traitor.

Therefore, having fittingly inspired shame, the Apostle also frightens by recompenses. He points to the rewards for works of both kinds, namely righteousness and death, not bodily death, but a death far more terrible.

Indeed, if Christ will die no more, who will destroy this death? No one. Consequently, one must suffer punishment and torment eternally.

There will no longer be bodily death, as here, to give rest to the body and separate it from the soul. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Cor 15:26).

Therefore the punishment will be immortal. But this is not what awaits those who obey God. Their reward will be righteousness and the good things that spring from it.

You yourself know that a faithful servant pleases the will of his master, not his own. That servant is unfaithful who lives not by the will of his master, but by his own will and whims.

So also a Christian is not a true Christian, but a false and unfaithful servant of Christ, if he lives not by Christ's will, but by his own.

Therefore Christ the Lord says to such people: "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I say?" (Lk 6:46).

Die to your own will and to sin, that is, to your whims. Then you will be a servant of Christ. You will live for Him and work for Him.

The fruit of Christ's death and crucifixion is the removal of our sins. "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we, having been delivered from sins, might live for righteousness" (1 Pet 2:24).

Where, then, is this fruit in you, if you sin and live by unrighteousness? This is a sign that you still remain in sins and have not been freed from sins.

Then you receive no benefit from the sufferings and death of Christ, although they are an all-powerful healing. Repent and mortify your sinful whims, and then Christ's death will be for your benefit.

Christ was crucified for our sins. We also must crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts, if we wish to belong to Christ. "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Gal 5:24).

These are the signs and marks of Christ's servants: that they have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. Christ died for our sins. We too must renounce them, part from them, and die to them, so that we may come alive through Christ and with Christ.

Look around, then, Christian. Whose servant are you? For whom do you live? For whom do you work? Toward what end are you going? To what part do you belong, to Christ or to His adversary, the devil?

Whose will a man does, whom he pleases, and for whom he works, of that one he is the servant.

Then the Apostle makes a concession: "I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh." That is, let us admit human reasoning and apply it to the weakness of the flesh.

For the flesh regards even the struggles of righteousness as a kind of slavery, since a man must force himself to them as well, straining his will.

But at least compare one slavery with the other, so as to judge them according to their worth. "When you were slaves of sin, you were certainly free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then? The things of which you are now ashamed, for their end is death" (Rom 6:20-21).

And what fruit did you begin to have when you became slaves of God? "Your fruit is holiness, and the end is eternal life" (Rom 6:22).

Here there is only the appearance of slavery. In reality there is complete freedom of will, the sincere choice of the heart, and in general the choice of the higher spiritual power in man.

"Therefore do not rush into the abyss of sin. Do not surrender yourself voluntarily to sin," St. John Chrysostom exhorts. "In war a soldier sometimes must surrender against his will. But here no one will take you captive unless you make yourself a deserter."

"I imagine your shame when you become slaves of sin, and for what price? So that you may die again."

"For if Christ dies no more, who will destroy this death? Therefore one must suffer punishment and torment eternally. But this is not what awaits those who obey God. Their reward will be righteousness and the good things that spring from it."

"God not only freed us from former evils, but brought us into an angelic life and leveled the path for us toward a more perfect life."

"As a result," says Bishop Theophan, "there lies on us an unavoidable duty: to think only on and be zealous for whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise" (Phil 4:8; cf. Tit 2:12).

After the words "of sin leading to death," one would expect, "or of righteousness leading to life." But he said, "of obedience leading to righteousness."

Obedience, in contrast to disobedience, here stands for faithfulness to the will of God and His holy commandments. He contrasts sin with the good disposition of a heart resolved to dedicate everything to God and be devoted to Him in all things.

Such a disposition leads to righteousness, to a righteous state, to the state in which man ought to be by nature. This is the state of one who truly lives.

"To righteousness" is the same as "to true life."

St. Chrysostom says on this passage: "I no longer speak," the Apostle reasons, "of Gehenna and the grievous punishment to come. I imagine only your shame when you become slaves, slaves by your own will, slaves of sin, and for such a price, that you should die again. If before baptism sin produced bodily death, and the wound required such healing that the Master of all accepted death and thereby destroyed the evil, what will sin not produce when it has mastered you? For after such a gift and freedom, you again and voluntarily bend under its yoke. Therefore do not rush into this abyss. Do not surrender yourself voluntarily to sin. In war a soldier sometimes must surrender even against his will. But here no one will take you captive unless you make yourself a deserter. After these appeals to shame, the Apostle acts by fear of recompense and sets before us the rewards awaiting each: righteousness and death. This death is not bodily, but far more terrible. For if Christ dies no more, who will destroy this death? No one. Therefore one must suffer punishment and torment eternally. There will no longer be bodily death, which, as in this life, would give rest to the body and separate it from the soul. For the last enemy, death, will be destroyed (cf. 1 Cor 15:26). Therefore the punishment will be immortal. But this is not what awaits those who obey God. Their reward will be righteousness and the good things that spring from it."