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.But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered;
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For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law of marriage. So if she marries another man while her husband's still alive, she's called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law as not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also die to the law through the body of Christ in order that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work within our members, so we bore fruit for death. But now that we've been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness, the benefit of your reap the whole... No. But now, by dying to all what's bound us, we have been released from the law, so we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. …
… in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart." And that obedience is expressed by Paul as putting off and putting on. You became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Slaves of righteousness. Look down at verse 22, being freed from sin and a slave to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life. If you have been saved, you possess now eternal life. You possess now eternal life. This is an amazing thing for us to understand. In the language of Ephesians 4, you have put off the old self, put on the new self, and are renewed in the spirit of your mind. You don't think the way you used to think. You could parallel that with having a new heart and a new spirit. It's not just that God treats you differently. …
1. A description of wicked men; in which may be observed those qualifications of wicked men which have the nature of a cause, and those which have the nature of an effect. Those qualifications of wicked men here mentioned that have the nature of a cause, are their being contentious, and not obeying the truth, but obeying unrighteousness. By their being contentious, is meant their being contentious against the truth, their quarrelling with the gospel, their finding fault with its declarations and offers. Unbelievers find many things in the ways of God at which they stumble, and by which they are offended. They are always quarrelling and finding fault with one thing or another, whereby they are kept from believing the truth and yielding to it. Christ is to them a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence. They do not obey the truth, that is, they do not yield to it, they do not receive it with faith. That yielding to the truth and embracing it, which there is in saving faith, is called obeying, in Scripture. Rom. vi. 17. “But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” Heb. v. 9. “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Rom. i. 5. “By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.” But they obey unrighteousness instead of yielding to the gospel, they are under the power and dominion of sin, and are slaves to their lusts and corruptions. …