New Century Version NCV
New International Version NIV
18 You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to goodness.
18
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I use this example because this is hard for you to understand. In the past you offered the parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil; you lived only for evil. In the same way now you must give yourselves to be slaves of goodness. Then you will live only for God.
19
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 In the past you were slaves to sin, and goodness did not control you.
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When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 You did evil things, and now you are ashamed of them. Those things only bring 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 are free from sin and have become slaves of God. This brings you a life that is only for God, and this gives you life forever.
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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 When people sin, they earn what sin pays -- death. But God gives us a free gift -- life forever in 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 New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.