Good News Translation w/ Apocrypha GNTA
New International Version NIV
15 What, then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means!
15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
16 Surely you know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to obey someone, you are in fact the slaves of the master you obey - either of sin, which results in death, or of obedience, which results in being put right with God.
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Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God! For though at one time you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed with all your heart the truths found in the teaching you received.
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But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
18 You were set free from sin and became the slaves of righteousness.
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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 (I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.) At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes.
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I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.
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When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of? The result of those things is death!
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What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.
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But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 For sin pays its wage - death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
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For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.