Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Let not SIN therefore (as though it were still your Master) reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it (sin) in the lusts thereof - i:e., the lusts of the body, as the Greek makes evident х eis (G1519) to (G3588) hupakouein (G5219) autee (G846) en (G1722) tais (G3588) epithumiais (G1939) autou (G846)]. But another reading has rather the better support, and is probably the correct one-`that ye should obey the lusts therefore,' [omitting autu. It is found in 'Aleph (') A B C *, and some few cursives, in the Vulgate, the Peshito Syriac, the two Egyptian, and some other versions, will several fathers, adopted by Lachman, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, and approved by DeWette, Meyer, etc. The received reading is supported by C *** (a corrector of about the 9th century), K L, several cursives, the Philoxenian Syriac, and one or two later versions, and most of the Greek fathers. There is some, though inferior authority, for omitting tais (G3588) epithumiais (G1939), and some, though less still, for stopping at hupakouein (G5219) - omitting autou (G846).] The sense, however, is the same. The "body" is here viewed as the instrument by which all the sins of the heart become facts of the outward life, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites; and it is called "our mortal body" - not so much to cheer us with the thought of how soon we shall have done with it (as some), still less to warn us how short-lived are the pleasures of sin (as others), but-probably to remind us how unsuitable is the reign of sin in those who are "alive from the dead." But the reign here meant is the unchecked dominion of sin within us. Its outward acts are next referred to.