Romans 6:14 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse promises that Sin will not rule because believers stand under grace rather than under law.

Read It With

Romans 6:1–14

Read Romans 6:14 with 6:1–14. This verse promises that Sin will not rule because believers stand under grace rather than under law. The complete unit establishes: Union with Christ transfers believers from Sin's dominion into embodied resurrection-shaped service.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Paul answers the objection that abundant grace encourages continued sin. Within that movement, this verse promises that Sin will not rule because believers stand under grace rather than under law.

Follow the Context

Grace cannot mean remaining under Sin because believers died with Christ.
Baptism joins Christ's death and resurrection-shaped life; the old self is crucified.
Believers reckon the new reality and present embodied members to God.

What This Verse Is Not Saying

Crucifying the old self does not authorize self-harm, bodily contempt, starvation, or personality erasure.

What Remains True

This verse promises that Sin will not rule because believers stand under grace rather than under law. This supports the unit's enduring claim: Union with Christ transfers believers from Sin's dominion into embodied resurrection-shaped service.

How It Can Shape Life

For Romans 6:14, preserve this contribution in practice: promises that Sin will not rule because believers stand under grace rather than under law. Present bodies for truth, consent, justice, care, and repair rather than shame or domination.

Teach It Back

Explain Romans 6:14 inside Romans 6:1–14, including its role, the surrounding movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the unit rejects.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Romans 6:1–14 — Baptized into Christ's Death, Believers Walk in New Life

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

Sacramental, covenantal, memorial, and participationist traditions differ over how baptism effects or signifies union; forensic, apocalyptic, and Orthodox readings emphasize related dimensions.

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: Romans 6:1–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, and base text for original-language discussion.

Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/Rom.txt, 6:1–14

Open the Romans Greek text file ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible - Romans with translators' and textual notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition

Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, material variants, and interpretive alternatives.

Exact location: NET Bible official Romans chapter print view, 6:1–14, translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes

Open NET Romans 6 notes

modern open commentary

Romans

Donny Ray Mathis II

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023

Supports: Complete evangelical Protestant whole-letter exposition, historical setting, argument flow, and theological synthesis.

Exact location: Mathis, 'Romans,' introduction and commentary section covering 6:1–14, with bibliography and endnotes

Open source ↗

modern catholic translation notes

The Letter to the Romans: introduction and chapter notes

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2010-2026 online edition

Supports: Catholic exegetical orientation, salvation-history frame, concise verse notes, and faith-new-life synthesis.

Exact location: USCCB, Romans introduction and chapter notes covering 6:1–14

Open source ↗

modern jewish annotated new testament

Romans introduction and annotations in The Jewish Annotated New Testament

Mark D. Nanos; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler

Oxford University Press, 2011

Supports: Jewish historical context, Paul-within-Judaism alternatives, diatribe restraint, and anti-supersessionist controls.

Exact location: Nanos, Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition print pp. 253-286, introduction and annotations on 6:1–14

Open source ↗

peer reviewed apocalyptic reading

Places of Power in Paul's Letter to the Romans

Beverly Roberts Gaventa

Interpretation 76.4, 2022

Supports: Abstract-level apocalyptic thesis about God's rescue of creatures from Sin and Death and renewed creaturely agency.

Exact location: Gaventa, 'Places of Power in Paul's Letter to the Romans,' Interpretation 76.4 (2022), public abstract only

Open source ↗

ecumenical theological study

Justification, Sanctification and the Eastern Orthodox Concept of Theosis

Henry Edwards

Consensus 14.1, 1988

Supports: Orthodox-oriented participation and transformation account used alongside forensic and covenantal language in Romans 5-8.

Exact location: Edwards, 'Justification, Sanctification and the Eastern Orthodox Concept of Theosis,' Consensus 14.1 (1988), complete open article

Open source ↗

modern ecumenical doctrinal dialogue

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, twentieth-anniversary edition

Lutheran World Federation; Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; World Methodist Council; Anglican Consultative Council; World Communion of Reformed Churches

Lutheran World Federation, 2019

Supports: Documented ecumenical convergence and differences concerning grace, faith, renewal, good works, assurance, and judgment.

Exact location: Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, 2019 edition, paragraphs 14-39 and attached denominational statements

Open source ↗

Lexical and grammatical evidence

STEP Bible Data

Tyndale House Cambridge

Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026

Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.

Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for Romans 6:1–14

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record