Romans 6:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Apostle rightly said, "you became obedient from the heart." That is, you were not subjected to compulsion or violence, but freely, by your own disposition, you withdrew from sin. This contains both praise and rebuke.

If you came willingly and suffered no compulsion, what excuse or defense can you have when you return again to your former state?

Then, so that you may know that all this did not depend only on their disposition, but also on God's grace, after saying, "you became obedient from the heart," the Apostle added, "to that form of teaching to which you were delivered."

Obedience from the heart shows free will. The word "delivered" hints at God's help. What is this form of teaching? To live rightly and watchfully.

What the law and the prophets proclaimed to the Jews concerning Christ, the Gentiles confess in the heart. Therefore thanks be to God, because, having formerly been slaves of sin, we believed in Christ from the heart. Thus we serve God, not according to the law of Moses, but according to the law of nature.

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 this weakness, even the ascetic labors of righteousness seem to be a kind of slavery. A man must compel himself even to these, straining his will. But at least compare one slavery with the other, so as to appraise them worthily.

"When you were slaves of sin, you were, of course, free from righteousness. What fruit did you have then? Such deeds as you yourselves are now ashamed of, 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, eternal life" (Rom 6:22).

In reality, there is complete freedom of the will, and a sincere choice of the heart, and in general of man's higher spiritual power.

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

"I imagine your shame when you become slaves of sin. And at what price? That you may die again. For if Christ dies no more, who will destroy this death? Therefore one will have to endure punishment forever and be tormented."

"But this is not what awaits those who obey God. Their reward will be righteousness and the good things that spring from it. God has not only freed us from former evils, but has brought us into the angelic life and made level for us the path to the most perfect life."

"Consequently," says His Grace Theophan, "there rests upon us an urgent duty to think on and zealously pursue only 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).

This is the greatest good for you, with which no other can be compared. God bestowed this good on you. He brought the preaching of the Gospel to you and caused you, when you heard it, to surrender yourselves to it with your whole soul.

You cannot fail to recognize in this a great benefaction of God, and I recognize it too. Let us therefore cry out: thanks be to God.

Yet the Apostle's aim is not to awaken thanksgiving, but through awakening thanksgiving to dispose them to value the good whose reception arouses gratitude.

The good is so great that one cannot refrain from thanking the Giver for it. But if it is so great, then it must also be guarded with the greatest vigilance.

St. Chrysostom says: "As one who has snatched a captive from the hands of a cruel tormentor advises him not to return to that tormentor, reminding him of his terrible cruelty, so Paul also depicts with great force the sufferings endured from sin, beginning with thanksgiving to God."

"No human power was needed," he says, "to free us from all evils. But thanks be to God, Who both willed and was able to deliver us."

"And the Apostle beautifully said, 'you obeyed from the heart.' Not by compulsion, not by force, but voluntarily, by your own disposition, you turned away from sin."

"This contains both praise and, at the same time, reproach. If you came voluntarily, without any compulsion, what excuse or justification will you have if you return to what came before?"

"And so that you may know that all this depended not only on their disposition but also on God's grace, the Apostle, after saying, 'you obeyed from the heart,' added, 'that form of teaching to which you were delivered.'"

"Obedience from the heart shows free will. But the word 'delivered' presupposes God's help. What, then, is the form of teaching? To live decently and in good order."