Romans 6:15 asks a question that Paul expects some readers to be asking: if we are saved by grace and not by keeping the law, does it matter how we live? Paul answers with an emphatic no, and he explains why in the verses around it. The verse is written by the apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome, a church he had not yet visited but knew about and wanted to instruct.
What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!
Romans 6:15 (WEB)
What Romans 6:15 Means
The question “Shall we sin?” is the kind of challenge a person might raise after hearing that grace is free and that the law no longer binds them. Paul is anticipating a shallow conclusion: if God’s favor does not depend on rule-keeping, then rule-breaking should cost nothing. He rejects that logic completely with the words “May it never be,” a strong expression of horror that appears several times in his letters.
The phrase “not under law, but under grace” describes a change in standing, not a license for behavior. Being under grace means God has accepted you through Christ, and that acceptance is a gift you receive, not something you earn. What the verse does not say is that grace makes sin irrelevant. Paul’s point is that a person who has truly received grace is no longer a slave to sin and should not go back to it.
The Context of Romans 6:15
Romans was written by Paul around the middle of the first century, most likely from Corinth, and addressed to a mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers in the capital city of the empire. Many of these readers would have heard Paul’s teaching that faith in Christ, not the works of the law, makes a person right with God. That teaching invited a natural objection, and chapter 6 is Paul’s answer to it.
Just before verse 15, in verses 12 to 14, Paul tells his readers not to let sin reign in their bodies and to offer themselves to God as people raised from death. Verse 14 states the principle that sin will not have dominion over them because they are under grace. Verses 16 to 18 then explain that every person serves someone, and that those freed from sin have become servants of righteousness. Read this way, verse 15 is a hinge: it raises the objection that the surrounding argument has just set up, and it prepares the image of slavery Paul uses next.
Key Phrases in Romans 6:15
Romans 6:14
For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
(WEB)
This verse comes just before Romans 6:15 and states the principle that sin will not have dominion over those under grace. Reading it first shows that Paul’s question grows directly out of his claim about freedom from sin’s rule.
Galatians 5:13
For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
(WEB)
Paul makes a similar point in Galatians, reminding believers that freedom is not an opportunity for the flesh but a call to serve one another in love. It shows the same concern in a different letter, that grace should produce a changed life.
A Short Prayer From Romans 6:15
Lord, thank you that I am not saved by my own record but by your grace in Christ. Keep me from treating that grace as permission to live carelessly. Show me the places where sin still tries to rule my body, my thoughts, and my choices, and give me the courage to offer myself to you instead. Let my life show that I belong to the One who set me free. Amen.
