Romans 6:17-18

“ Now God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye obeyed from the heart that type of doctrine which was delivered you; then being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ”

Ver. 16 established the necessity of choosing between the two masters: sin which leads to death, and faith which produces righteousness. The apostle declares in Romans 6:17 and he gives God thanks for it that the Romans have already made their choice, and that the good one. The exclamation: thanks be to God, is not an oratorical form; it is a cry of gratitude from the depths of the apostle's heart for the marvellous work which God has wrought without him among those former Gentiles.

But can he give thanks because they were formerly servants of sin? There are two ways of understanding the form used here by St. Paul: either the thanksgiving is made to bear only on the second proposition, and the first is regarded as serving only to bring out by contrast the excellence of the change which has passed over his readers: “God be thanked that whereas formerly ye were servants..., ye have now obeyed”...Or it is held that the first proposition belongs also to the contents of the thanksgiving; for this view it is enough to emphasize strongly the imperfect were: “because ye were, that is to say, are no longer.” In this sense the analogous expressions are compared, 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:8 (see Meyer, Philippi). The second explanation is supported by the fact, that in the first meaning the contrast could not fail to be indicated by the particle μέν, as well as by the prominent position occupied at the beginning of the sentence by the verb ἦτε, ye were. But the use of the particle μέν is much rarer in the New Testament than in profane Greek. The place of the verb would undoubtedly be a more valid reason; in any case it explains how the apostle could follow up the expression: thanks be to God, immediately with the idea: servants of sin. But it is nevertheless true that the first meaning remains the simplest and most natural. Numerous examples of this mode of expression can be cited.

The imperfect ἦτε, ye were, brings out the duration of the past state; the aorist ὑπηκούσατε, ye obeyed, refers to the decisive fact by which they adhered to the gospel and broke with that former state.

The expression ἐκ καρδίας, from the heart, indicates their inward readiness, and the absence of all constraint. The gospel answered to a moral want within them.

The following proposition may be construed in three ways: 1. τῷ τύπῳ διδαχῆς εἰς ὃν παρεδόθητε, because ye obeyed the form of doctrine to which ye were given over (Chrys., Thol., De W., Mey., Philip., Winer); 2. εἰς τὸνV τύπον διδαχῆς ὃν παρεδόθητε, because ye gave obedience to (or: in relation to) the form of doctrine which was transmitted to you (ὃς παρεδόθη ὑμῖν); so Hofmann: 3. εἰς τὸν τύπον διδαχῆς εἰς ὃν παρεδόθητε (combining the meanings of the previous constructions). Of these three constructions the first alone is admissible, because to obey any one or anything is expressed in Greek by ὑπακούειν with the dative, and not with the preposition εἰς; the latter would denote quite a different thing (the aim of the obedience). Paul congratulates the Romans on the fact that they have adhered with faith, docility, and eagerness to the form of Christian doctrine which was brought to them by those who first communicated to them the knowledge of the gospel. Does this form of doctrine denote Christianity in general, or a more special form of Christian teaching? In the former case, would not Paul have simply said: “because from the heart ye obeyed Christ or the gospel?” The choice of so exceptional a term, and so unique as that which he thinks good to use here, leads us rather to think of a special and precisely-defined form of Christian teaching. The reference is to that gospel of Paul (Romans 2:16, Romans 16:25) which the first propagators of the gospel at Rome had preached there. Paul knew well from his own experience it was only in the pure spirituality of “his gospel” that the true power of Christian sanctification was to be found, and that every concession to the legal principle was at the same time a barrier interposed to the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence his heartfelt joy because of the form of doctrine which had marked with its profound impress the moral life of the Christians of Rome. Could he without charlatanism have expressed himself thus, if, as so many critics think, the doctrine received by those Roman Christians had been of a Judaizing nature, and in contradiction to his own?

All the terms are, as it were, deliberately chosen to express the receptive condition of the readers. And first the word τύπος, type, form (from τύπτειν, to strike), which denotes an image deeply engraved, and pitted to reproduce its impress; comp. Acts 23:25, where this word denotes the exact tenor of a missive, and the analogous term ὑποτύπωσις, 2 Timothy 1:13, used almost in the same meaning as here. Then the passive παραδοθῆναι, literally, to be given over, which strongly expresses the sort of moral subjection which results from the power of Christian truth once accepted. One is free to acquiesce in it or to reject it; but the Christ received becomes a master who instantly dispossesses the previous master.

If it is asked wherein exactly consisted this precise form of the truth of the gospel of which the apostle was here thinking, it seems to us that we find it best summed up in 1 Corinthians 1:30, where Christ is presented, first, as our righteousness, then as our sanctification, lastly, our final redemption. It may be said that the whole didactic part of our Epistle is embraced in these three terms: chap. 1-5 in the first (δικαιοσύνη, righteousness), chap. Romans 6:1 to Romans 8:11 in the second (ἁγιασμός, holiness), and the end of chap. 8 in the third (ἀπολύτρωσις, redemption).

Some critics regard Romans 6:18 as the conclusion of the argument; but instead of the particle δέ, now, it would require to have been οὖν, therefore, which is found indeed in two Mjj., led astray by this supposition. We are not yet at the conclusion. The assertion: ye were made subject to righteousness, belongs still to the premisses of the argument. Here in fact is the reasoning as a whole: In Romans 6:15 the objection: Will the believer wish to sin even once? From Romans 6:16 to Romans 6:18 the answer. Romans 6:16, the major: Man cannot be absolutely free; he cannot help choosing between two masters, sin or righteousness. Romans 6:17-18, the minor: Now when you decided for faith (Romans 6:17), you accepted subjection to righteousness (Romans 6:18). The conclusion follows of itself. Therefore your progress in goodness is henceforth a matter of necessity. Accordingly, the objection started is resolved: you could not sin even once without renouncing the new principle to which you have given yourselves. We thus see how Paul has succeeded in rediscovering a law even in grace, but a law inward and spiritual, like his whole gospel. It is Christ Himself who, after having freed us from sin by His death, by uniting us to His life as the Risen One, has made us subject to righteousness.

But the apostle, in his exposition of the relation between the believer and his new master, had used an expression which jarred on his own sense of propriety, and which he feels the need of excusing and explaining. It was the word servitude (slavery), applied to the believer's dependence on righteousness. Is then the practice of goodness a servitude? Is it not, on the contrary, the most glorious freedom? Most certainly, and to this thought the remark applies which begins Romans 6:19; after which, in the second part of the verse, the apostle concludes this development with a practical exhortation.