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Romans 6:19

in Romans 6

I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification.

KJV

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

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This verse in Romans 6

Commentary

15 notes on this verse
"I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members to serve uncleanness, and iniquity unto iniquity, so now present your members to serve righteousness unto sanctification." By these words the Apostle strikes a certain shame into his hearers, so that they may at least render this much service to righteousness and sanctification as they had formerly paid to uncleanness and iniquity. What, then, is so human — that is, what is so light, what is so free of burden, and what could no weakness of the flesh whatever excuse?

This site's exposition

speaking in human terms

Paul speaks in human terms, fitted to the flesh's weakness. The demand matches the old service exactly, the same parts of the body once handed to impurity now handed to righteousness. The end named is holiness, and sanctification is God's work of making a believer holy in practice after He has declared him righteous.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES · Written before 384.

proposed

In recalling the weakness of the flesh, Paul wants to say that he is demanding less from us than the worship of God would normally require.… In order to remove from us any reason to be afraid of coming to faith, because that might seem …

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON GENESIS 3.6 · Written before 253.

proposed

But our members must be said to be circumcised if they are devoted to the service of God. But if they go beyond the laws divinely ordained for them, they must be considered uncircumcised.… For when our members served iniquity they were not circumcised, nor was the covenant of God in them. But when they began to serve righteousness unto sanctification, the promise which was made to Abraham is fulfilled in them.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Romans 12 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Since he had required great strictness of life, charging us to be dead to the world, and to have died unto wickedness, and to abide with no notion towards the workings of sin, and seemed to be saying something great and burdensome, and too much for human nature; through a desire to show that he is not making any exorbitant demand, nor even as much as might be expected of one who enjoyed so great a gift, but one quite moderate and light, he proves it from contraries, and says, "I speak after the manner of men," as much as to say, Going by human reasonings; by such as one usually meets with. For he signifies either this, or the moderateness of it, by the term applied, "after the manner of men." For elsewhere he uses the same word. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man," that is, moderate and small. "For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." And truly the masters are very different ones, but still it is an equal amount of servitude that I ask. For men ought to give a much larger one, and so much the larger as this is a greater and better mastership than the other. Nevertheless I make no greater demand "because of the infirmity," and that, he does not say of your free will or readiness of spirit, but "of your flesh," so making what he says the less severe. And yet on one side there is uncleanness, on the other holiness: on the one iniquity, and on the other righteousness. And who is so wretched, he says, and in such straits as not to spend as much earnestness upon the service of Christ, as upon that of sin and the devil? Hear then what follows, and you will see clearly that we do not even spend this little. […]

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Romans · Written before 1274.

proposed

After showing with a reason based on God's grace that we should not continue in sin but should serve God, the Apostle shows the same thing with a reason based on a condition of the former life. In regard to this he does three things: …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Romans · Written before 1107.

proposed

Then, wishing to say that the Romans should serve God just as they served sin, he remarks beforehand: "I speak after the manner of men," that is, I am presenting something lowly, unworthy of the subject, proportionate to your weakness. For it was fitting to …
8 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

As ye have presented your members servants to uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now present your members servants of righteousness unto holiness - Iniquity (whereof uncleanness is an eminent part) is here opposed to righteousness; and unto iniquity is the opposite of unto holiness.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Or serving righteousness, eis hagiasmon -- as an evidence of sanctification. The motives or arguments here used to show the necessity of sanctification. There is such an antipathy in our hearts by nature to holiness that it is no easy matter to bring them to submit to it: it is the Spirit's work, who persuades by such inducements as these set home upon the soul.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

It is the misery of a sinful state that the body is made a drudge to sin, than which there could not be a baser or a harder slavery, like that of the prodigal that was sent into the fields to feed swine. Sinners are voluntary in the service of sin.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Nay, your having been so formerly tends much to the magnifying of divine mercy and grace in the happy change. God be thanked that the former sinfulness is such a foil and such a spur to your present holiness." [2.] You have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

I speak after the manner of men,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

1Pe 1:2: --that is, "Looking back upon the heartiness with which ye served Sin, and the lengths ye went to be stimulated now to like zeal and like exuberance in the service of a better Master."

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I speak after the manner of men - This phrase is often used by the Greek writers to signify what was easy to be comprehended; what was ad captum vulgi, level with common understandings, delivered in a popular style; what was different from the high flights of the poets, and the studied sublime obscurity of the philosophers. Because of the infirmity of your flesh - As if he had said: I make use of metaphors and figures connected with well-known natural things; with your trades and situation in life; because of your inexperience in heavenly things, of which ye are only just beginning to know the nature and the names. Servants to uncleanness, etc. - These different expressions show how deeply immersed in and enslaved by sin these Gentiles were before their conversion to Christianity. Several of the particulars are given in the first chapter of this epistle.
I speak after the manner of men - I speak as people usually speak; or I draw an illustration from common life, in order to make myself better understood. Because of the infirmity of your flesh - The word “infirmity” means weakness, feebleness; and is opposed to vigor and strength.

The words behind it

34 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Romans 12:1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.179 worksTitus 2:12It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,20 works1 Corinthians 6:20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.18 worksRomans 6:13Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.11 works1 Peter 4:2–4Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.11 worksRomans 7:23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.11 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Colossians 3:5–7Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.10 worksEphesians 2:2–3in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.9 worksRomans 3:5But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.8 worksRomans 6:4We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.7 works2 Corinthians 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.7 works1 Corinthians 6:11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.6 worksPsalms 63:3Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You.6 worksRomans 6:16–17Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?5 worksIsaiah 55:13Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up; they will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”5 worksGalatians 3:15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.4 works1 Thessalonians 4:4each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,4 works1 Corinthians 15:32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”3 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 6:11

    And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 1:30

      It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

    • Colossians 3:5–7

      Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

    • Romans 6:17–19

      But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.

    • 1 Corinthians 1:2

      To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their…

    • Acts 22:16

      And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’

  • Through

    Romans 6:13

    Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of…

    it leads to

    • Romans 12:1

      Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

    • Romans 6:16

      Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to…

    • Colossians 3:5

      Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

Where this verse is studied

About Romans

The Crucifixion, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Crucifixion, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Romans: the study guide →Read Romans 6 →
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans; John Chrysostom, Homily on Romans 12; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 3.6; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Romans and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans.

Read on in Romans 6 →