Romans 6:15-18 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

What then are we to infer? Shall we sin Go on in our transgressions; because we are not under the law Under the law of Moses, or any mere legal dispensation which forbids sin, but gives no strength against it; but under grace A dispensation perfectly the reverse, offering pardon to the most guilty, holiness to the most depraved, and strength to the most weak and helpless! God forbid That we should draw any inference so odious and destructive. Know ye not Is it necessary to inform you; that to whom ye yield Greek, παριστανετε, present yourselves servants to obey his commands, his servants ye are whom ye obey Not his whose name you may bear, without practically acknowledging his authority; but his to whom ye are in fact obedient, to whom you are subject, and whose will you do. “By the expression, ye present yourselves servants, the apostle taught the Romans, that grace does not destroy human liberty. It was still in their own power to choose whether they would present themselves slaves to sin, or servants to righteousness.” Whether of sin unto death Which will bring you to eternal death; or of obedience To God and his gospel; unto righteousness True and evangelical, and which will certainly be rewarded with eternal life. But God be thanked that ye were That is, although, or whereas, you were once the servants of sin A bondage this now passed and gone; ye have now obeyed Not in profession alone, but from the heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered to you Greek, εις ον παρεδοθητε τυπον διδαχης, literally, the model of doctrine into which, as into a mould, you were delivered; for the word τυπος, rendered form, among other things, signifies a mould, into which melted metals are poured to receive the form of the mould: and the apostle here represents the gospel doctrine as a mould, into which the Roman believers were delivered, in order to their being formed anew, and conformed to the gospel in all its doctrines, precepts, and promises: and he thanks God, that from the heart, that is, most willingly and sincerely, they had yielded to the forming efficacy of that doctrine, and were made new creatures both in principle and practice. The allusion is not only beautiful, but conveys a very instructive admonition: intimating, that our minds made all pliant and ductile, should be conformed to the nature and design of the gospel, as liquid metals take the figure of the mould into which they are cast. Being then made free from sin Set at liberty from its power and dominion; ye became servants of righteousness At once enabled and obliged to lead a life of true piety and exemplary goodness. The word ελευθερωθεντες, here rendered being made free, is the word by which the act of giving a slave his liberty was signified, called by the Romans emancipation.