Romans 6:10

6:10 he died once to break the power of sin: Because we died with Jesus (6:4-5), we have also died to sin (6:2). Jesus was never under sin’s power in the way that we are, because he had no sin nature from Adam and he never succumbed to temptation (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). However, when he became human, he entered the arena where sin holds sway, and he was truly vulnerable to sin.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 6:10. ὃ, in that) This has more force than ὃ, in that.—τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, to sin) The dative of disadvantage, as in Rom 6:11. Sin had been cast upon Christ, but Christ abolished it by His death for us; He truly died.—ἐφάπαξ) This has a stronger meaning in this passage than ἅπαξ. So Heb 7:27, and ἅπαξ, 1Pe 3:18.—ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ) He lives to God, a glorious life derived from God, Rom 6:4 [raised up—by the glory of the Father] full of divine vigour, lasting for ever. For God is the God of the living.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_6:10. Proof of the θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύει.[1426]

ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε] ὃ is in any case the accusative of the object. But whether Paul conceived it as: for as to what concerns His death (see Vigerus, ed. Herm. p. 34; Frotscher and Breitenbach, a[1427] Xen. Hier. 6, 12; Matthiae, p. 1063), or what, i.e. the death which He died (so Rückert, Fritzsche, de Wette, Philippi; see Bernhardy, p. 106 f.; comp on Gal_2:20) cannot be determined, since both renderings suit the correct interpretation of what follows. Yet the latter, analogous to the expression θάνατον θανεῖν, is to be preferred as the more simple, and as uniform with Gal_2:20.

τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθ.] the relation of the dative is to be determined from νεκροὺς τῇ ἁμ. in Rom_6:11; therefore it can be nothing else than what is contained in ἀπεθάν. τῇ ἁμ. in Rom_6:2 (comp Hofmann), namely: he is dead to sin (dative of reference), i.e. His dying concerned sin; and indeed so that the latter (namely the sin of the world, conceived as power) has now, after He has suffered death on account of it, become without influence upon Him and has no more power over Him; He submitted Himself to its power in His death, but through that death He has died to its power.[1430] So also have we (Rom_6:11) to esteem ourselves as dead to sin (νεκροὺς τῇ ἁμ.), as rescued from its grasp through our ethical death with Christ, in such measure that we are released from and rid of the influence of this power antagonistic to God. The close accordance of this view of τῇ ἁμ. ἀπέθ. with the context (according to Rom_6:11; Rom_6:2) is decisive against the ex planations of the dative deviating from it, such as: ad expianda peccata (Pareus, Piscator, Grotius, Michaelis, and others including Olshausen); or: ad expianda tollendaque peccata (Koppe, Flatt, Reiche, Fritzsche, Philippi); or: in order to destroy the power of sin (Chrysostom, Beza, Calvin, Bengel, and others, including Ewald and Umbreit). Rückert, Köllner, and de Wette wish to abide by an indefinite reference of the death of Jesus to sin as the remote object; but this simply explains nothing, and leaves only a formal parallelism remaining.

ἐφάπαξ] for once, with emphasis, excluding repetition, once for all. Comp Heb_7:27; Heb_9:12; Heb_10:10; Lucian, Dem. euc. 21.

ζῇ τ. Θεῷ] vivit Deo, namely so, that now in His estate of exaltation, after He has through His death died to the power of sin, His life belongs to God, i. e. stands to God in the relation of being dependent on, and of being determined by, Him. The contrast to the preceding yields the excluding sense. Christs earthly life, namely, was also a ζῆν τῷ Θεῷ, but was at the same time exposed to the death-power of human sin, which is now no longer the case, inasmuch as His life rescued from death is wholly determined by the fellowship with God. This latter portion of the verse belongs also to the proof of Rom_6:9, since it is in fact just the (exclusive) belonging to God of Christs life, that makes it certain that death reigns no longer over Him; as ζῶν τῷ Θεῷ he can no longer be παθητός (Act_26:23), which He previously was, until in obedience to God ἐξ ἀσθενείας He was crucified (2Co_13:4).

[1426] Not a parenthetical intervening clause (Hofmann), which is appropriate neither to the essential importance of the sentence in the train of thought, nor to the application which it receives in ver. 11.

[1427] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[1430] Rich. Schmidt, Paul. Christol. p. 55, justly insists that Christ for His own person died to sin, but further on (p. 59), ends in finding an ideal, not a real relation. But He died really to sin, inasmuch as He took upon Himself, in the death of the cross, the curse of the law; after which human sin had now no longer any power over Him. Compare on ver. 3.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 6:10 . This is expanded in Rom 6:10 . ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε , τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ · the ὃ is ‘cognate’ accus. Winer, p. 209. “The death that He died, He died to sin once for all.” The dative τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ must be grammatically the same here as in Rom 6:2 ; Rom 6:11 , but the interpretation required seems different. While He lived, Christ had undoubtedly relations to sin, though sin was foreign to His will and conscience (2Co 5:21 ); but after He died these relations ceased; sin could never make Him its victim again as at the Cross. Similarly while we lived ( i.e. , before we died with Christ), we also had relations to sin; and these relations likewise, different as they were from His, must cease with that death. The difference in the reference of the dative is no doubt an objection to this interpretation, and accordingly the attempt has been made to give the same meaning to dying to sin in Christ’s case as in ours, and indeed to make our dying to sin the effect and reproduction of His. “The language of the Apostle seems to imply that there was something in the mind of Christ in dying for us that was the moral equivalent [italics ours] to that death to sin which takes place in us when we believe in Him, something in its very nature fitted to produce hte change in us.” Somerville, St. Paul’s Conception of Christ , p. 100 f. He died, in short, rather than sin laid down His life rather than violate the will of God; in this sense, which is an ethical one, and points to an experience which can be reproduced in others under His influence, He died to sin. “His death on the Cross was the final triumph of His holiness, over all those desires of the flesh that furnish to man unregenerate the motive power of His life.” But though this gives an ethical meaning to the words in both cases, it does not give exactly the same ethical meaning; a certain disparity remains. It is more in the line of all Paul’s thoughts to say with Holtzmann ( N. T. Theol. , ii., 118), that Christ by dying paid to sin that tribute to which in virtue of a Divine sentence ( κρίμα , Rom 5:16 ) it could lay claim, and that those therefore who share His death are like Himself absolved from all claims of sin for the future. For ἐφάπαξ , see Heb 7:27 ; Heb 9:12 ; Heb 10:10 . The very idea of death is that of a summary, decisive. never-to-be-repeated end. ὃ δὲ ζῇ κ . τ . λ . “The lite that He lives He lives to God”.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 10. The first proposition of Rom 6:10 unfolds the reason why death was allowed to reign over Him for a moment; the second explains the reason why this cannot be repeated.

The two pronouns ὅ, that which, may be taken either as a determining expression: in that so far as, or as the direct object of the two verbs: that which He died, that which he lived. For in Greek it is allowable to say: to die a death, to live a life; comp. Gal 2:20. This parallel and the sense itself appears to us to decide in favor of the second construction. The first would seem to indicate a power of partial rather than temporary death, which is not natural in the context.

The short-lived power of death over Jesus is explained by the regimen τῇ ἁμαρτιᾳ, to sin. The relation which Jesus sustained to sin was the soul cause of His subjection to death. As in this piece death unto sin denotes an absolute breaking with it (Rom 6:2), it might be attempted here to give the meaning: Jesus struggled victoriously against sin during His whole life, not granting it for a moment the right of existing in His person. But the adverb ἐφάπαξ, once, forbids us to extend the application of the term dying unto sin to His whole life. Besides, the commentators who, like Meyer and Hofmann, adopt this meaning, limit the expression to the moment of death: with the end of His life His struggle with sin ended; from that moment sin (in the form of temptation) exercised no more power over His person. This meaning would certainly account to some extent for the ἐφάπαξ, once. But it forces us to take the word die in two wholly different senses in the same sentence, and it is not easy to get a clear idea of this dying unto sin ascribed to Jesus. Does it refer to his struggle against temptation? The phrase dying unto sin is unsuitable. One dies to a real, not a possible fact. Are we to think of the struggle against sin outside of Him? But this struggle continues to this very hour. Is it a personal breaking with evil which is meant? He did nothing else during His whole life. The only possible meaning, therefore, seems to me to be that adopted by Grot. and Olsh.: He died to expiate sin, a sense connected quite naturally with that given by Chrys., Calv., etc.: and to destroy it. There was a moment in His existence in which He bore its penalty, and thereby established its defeat. But this moment was short, and remains single and alone. Such is the force of the term ἐφάπαξ, once for all. It was a transient necessity which He consented to encounter; but such a crisis will not be renewed. The debt once paid is so completely and forever; comp. Heb 7:27; Heb 9:12; Heb 9:26; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:10; 1Pe 3:18. The dative τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, unto sin, thus signifies: unto the service of sin, that is to say, to accomplish all that was demanded by the entrance and destruction of this fact among mankind. It is obvious from the once for all that the death of Jesus occupies a place by itself in His work, and should not be regarded merely as the culminating point of His holy life.

This crisis once past, Jesus no longer owes anything to sin, and His life may manifest itself without hindrance as an instrument of the life of God.

To live to God, is to live solely to manifest and serve Him, without having to submit any more to certain obligations imposed by a contrary principle. The meaning of this expression is, as Meyer says, exclusive: to God only. The glorified Jesus lives and acts for no other object than to manifest in the heart of men by the Holy Spirit the life of God which has become His life, life eternal; comp. Joh 17:2: “As Thou hast given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me.” Thus it is that He serves and glorifies God.

As Christ, then, once entered upon this life and glorious activity, does not depart from it to return back again, so the believer, once dead to sin and alive to God in Christ, cannot return to his old life of sin. Rom 6:11 explicitly draws this conclusion, held in suspense since Rom 6:8, and prepared for in Rom 6:9-10.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_6:10

For in that he died, he died unto sin once, etc. He can never die again, for in dying he died once for all. By the one offering of himself, he has for ever perfected them that are sanctified. The apostle, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, while arguing to show the necessity of the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin, argues also to show that such was the efficacy of that sacrifice, it need not, and cannot be repeated. Heb_7:27; Heb_9:12; Heb_10:10; 1Pe_3:18.

In that he died, ὁ ἀπέθανε; ὁ may be taken absolutely quod attinet ad id, quod, as to that he died, so far as concerns his dying; compare Gal_2:20; or the relative may be taken as the object, the death he died. See Winer, 3., §24. 4. 2. He died unto sin, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν, so far as the words are concerned, admits of different interpretations. It may mean, he died for the destruction of sin; or, he died for its expiation, i.e., on account of sin; or, in accordance with the force of the same words in Rom_6:2, and the analogous expression, νεκροὺς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, dead to sin, Rom_6:11, he died as to sin, was by death freed from sin. In this last sense, although the words are the same, the idea is very different in the two cases. The believer dies to sin in one sense, Christ in another. In both cases the idea of separation is expressed; but in the case of the believer, it is separation from personal, indwelling sin; in that of Christ, it is separation from the burden of his peoples sin, which he bore upon the cross. The context and the argument favor this last interpretation. Death has no more dominion over Christ, for he died to sin; by the one sacrifice of himself, he freed himself from the burden of sin which he had voluntarily assumed. The law is perfectly satisfied; it has no further penalty to inflict. Of course the same truth or doctrine is expressed, if the other expositions of the phrase be preferred. It is only a question as to the form in which the same general truth is presented. Christs death was for the destruction of sin, for its expiation; and it was a deliverance from it, i.e., from the burden of its imputed guilt. He came the first time with sin; he is to come the second time without sin (without that burden), unto salvation. In that he liveth, he liveth unto God. This is said in contrast to what precedes. He died unto sin, he lives unto God. So must the believer. Death must be followed by life; the one is in order to the other. It is of course not implied that our Lords life on earth was not a living unto God, i.e., a living having God for its end and object. The antithetical expression is used simply to indicate the analogy between Christ and his people. They must be freed from sin, and be devoted to God, because their Lord and Savior, in whose death and life they share, died unto sin, and lives unto God. Many of the Fathers, and some later interpreters, take τῷ Θεῷ as equivalent to τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ Θεοῦ, by the power of God. But this is unsuited to the connection. It is not the source of Christs life, but the nature of it, as perpetual and holy, that the apostle would bring into view. Olshausen says τῷ Θεῷ means for God, i.e., for righteousness, as opposed to sin, in the first clause: He died for the destruction of sin, he lives for the promotion of righteousness. But this is unnecessary, and inconsistent with the context.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With God.

Once for all.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For in that he died, he died unto--that is, in obedience to the claims of

sin once--for all.

but in that he liveth, he liveth unto--in obedience to the claims of God.

God--There never, indeed, was a time when Christ did not "live unto God." But in the days of His flesh He did so under the continual burden of sin "laid on Him" (Isa 53:6; Co2 5:21); whereas, now that He has "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," He "liveth unto God," the acquitted and accepted Surety, unchallenged and unclouded by the claims of sin.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. He died unto sin once] On this clause Rosenmuller speaks thus: "Τῃ ἁμαρτιᾳ απεθανεν εφαπαξ· propter peccatum mortuus est semel, et quidem misera morte. Τῃ ἁμαρτιᾳ, i.e. ὑπερ της ἁμαρτιας, ad expianda peccata; res ipsa docet aliter homines αποθνησκειν τῃ ἁμαρτιᾳ, aliter Christum: amat Paulus parallelismum, in quo interpretando multa cautione opus est." "He died unto sin once: i.e. he died on account of sin, and truly a miserable death. Τῃ ἁμαρτιᾳ, is the same as ὑπερ της ἁμαρτιας, for the expiation of sin. Common sense teaches us that men die to sin in one sense; Christ in another: St. Paul loves parallelisms, in the interpretation of which there is need of much caution." From the whole scope of the apostle's discourse it is plain that he considers the death of Christ as a death or sacrifice for sin; a sin-offering: in this sense no man has ever died for sin, or ever can die.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. He died once to sin, etc. What he had said — that we, according to the example of Christ, are for ever freed from the yoke of death, he now applies to his present purpose, and that is this — that we are no more subject to the tyranny of sin, and this he proves from the designed object of Christ’s death; for he died that he might destroy sin.

But we must observe what is suitable to Christ in this form of expression; for he is not said to die to sin, so as to cease from it, as the words must be taken when applied to us, but that he underwent death on account of sin, that having made himself ἀντίλυτρον, a ransom, he might annihilate the power and dominion of sin. And he says that he died once, not only because he has by having obtained eternal redemption by one offering, and by having made an expiation for sin by his blood, sanctified the faithful for ever; but also in order that a mutual likeness may exist between us. For though spiritual death makes continual advances in us, we are yet said properly to die only once, that is, when Christ, reconciling us by his blood to the Father, regenerates us at the same time by the power of his Spirit.

But that he lives, etc. Whether you add with or in God, it comes to the same meaning; for he shows that Christ lives a life subject to no mortality in the immortal and incorruptible kingdom of God; a type of which ought to appear in the regeneration of the godly. We must here remember the particle of likeness, so; for he says not that we shall now live in heaven, as Christ lives there; but he makes the new life, which after regeneration we live on earth, similar to his celestial life. When he says that we ought to die to sin, according to his example, we are not to suppose it to be the same kind of death; for we die to sin, when sin dies in us, but it was otherwise with Christ; by dying it was that he conquered sin. But he had just said before, that we believe that we shall have life in common with him, he fully shows by the word believing that he speaks of the grace of Christ: for if he only reminded us of a duty, his mode of speaking would have been this, “Since we die with Christ, we ought also to live with him.” But the word believing denotes that he treats here of doctrine which is based on the promises; as though he had said, that the faithful ought to feel assured that they are through the kindness of Christ dead as to the flesh, and that the same Christ will preserve them in newness of life to the end. But the future time of the verb live, refers not to the last resurrection, but simply denotes the continued course of a new life, as long as we peregrinate on the earth.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) But it is not possible that the life of Christ should fail. Death has lost all its power over Him. The death which He died, He died to sin. It was the last sacrifice which He made to sin, and one that freed Him from its dominion for ever. He died to it once for all, and His death did not need to be, and could not be, repeated. On the other hand, His life is assured, because it is wholly dependent upon God.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. in that he died] Lit. that which He died; His dying, in all that it involved. So below, that which He liveth.

unto sin] i.e., as the previous argument shewed, “with reference to the claim of sin;” to meet and cancel it; and therefore so as now to be out of reach of its doom.

once] once for all, “once and for ever.” The word here is not necessary to the argument, but it enforces, by contrast, the continuousness of His life. It also, though less pointedly, suggests the completeness of the atonement, and so the greatness of its results. (On the latter reference see Heb_7:27; Heb_9:12; Heb_10:10; where “once,” “once for all,” is the same word as that here, in the Gr.).

unto God] i.e. with respect to God; as having obtained (representatively for us) God’s acceptance, and having thus entered on an immortal permanence (representatively for us) of joy and power before Him. (The same phrase, but with different special reference, occurs Luk_20:38.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For in that he died,.... The death of Christ was settled and agreed to in the covenant and council of peace; it was spoken of by the prophets, and typified by sacrifices; Christ came into the world in order to die, and actually did die the death of the cross; in which the great love of God and Christ is expressed to us; and which is a fundamental article of the Christian faith: and when he died,

he died unto sin once: he died to that, which we by nature are dead in, and could never make atonement for; which he himself never lived in, and which men naturally love to in; and which had he not died for, we must have died for to all eternity; and he died not for any sin of his own, or of angels, nor for the sins of every man, but for the sins of his people; it may be rendered, he died in sin: in the likeness of sinful flesh, in which he was sent; having as a surety sin laid on him, and bore by him, and for which he was wounded, bruised, and died: or rather to sin; that is, to make atonement for it, procure the pardon of it, take it away, and utterly abolish it: and this he did "once"; this is observed, in reference to the repeated sacrifices of the old law, which could never expiate or remove sin; and to show, that Christ's dying once was enough, his sacrifice was fully satisfactory to the law and justice of God:

but in that he liveth: which must be understood, not of his life as God, but as man; and that not on earth, but in heaven; where he lives with God, at the right hand of God, and by him, by the power of God: and

he liveth unto God; to his glory, and to make intercession for us.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Ver. 10. He died unto sin] That is, to abolish sin, as Rom 8:2.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For in that he died to sin. But the sense must be for sins, or to destroy other men’s sins, he himself being incapable of sinning. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For when he died unto sin, i.e. to take away sin, he died but once; see Heb 9:28, and Rom 10:10,14; but when he rose again from the dead, he lived with God for ever an immortal, endless life. By this phrase is expressed that eternal and indissoluble union which the Son hath with the Father.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Died unto sin—The death of Christ was the very highest point of the antagonism of holiness against sin. The very highest image, therefore, of the contrariety of Christianity to sin is instanced in the identification of the Christian with the death of Christ. With Christ, in a lower sense, he dies unto sin; with Christ he liveth unto God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. "Died unto sin" certainly does not mean here, as some have taken it, died by reason of sin, or to atone for sin, but has the sense, elsewhere obvious in this chapter, of apoynhskein , followed by a dative, which was explained under ver. 2. Christ was, indeed, never subject to sin, or himself infected with it, as we are; but he "bore the sins of many;" "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." He submitted for us to the condition and penalty of human sin; but, when he died, he threw off its burden, and was done with it for ever. (cf. Heb_9:28, "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation The purpose of thus describing the permanent life to God of the risen Christ is, of course, to show that the new life of us who are accounted to have risen with Christ must in like manner be permanent and free from sin. "Quo docere vult hanc vitae novitatem tota vila esse Christianis persequendam, Nam si Christi imaginem in se repraesentare debent, hanc perpetuo durare necesse est. Non quod uno momento emoriatur caro in nobis, sicuti nuper diximus: sed quia retrocedere in ea mortificanda non liceat. Si enim in coenum nostrum revolvimur, Christum abnegamus; cujus nisi per vitae novitatem consortes esse non possumus, sicut ipse vitam incorruptibilem agit" (Calvin). The next verse expresses this clearly.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He died to sin - To atone for and abolish it. He liveth unto God - A glorious eternal life, such as we shall live also.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

sin Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

once Lit. once for all. Heb 10:10-12; Heb 10:14.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. “For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” This verse continues to tighten up the preceding argument, confirming more and more the triumphant assurance of the gracious possibility for us to be as free from sin as Christ is from death. These are paradoxical revelations. Yet we have but to believe and God will see to their verification.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. He died unto sin once. Once for all. It laid hands on him and slew him, but henceforth it has nought to do with him. He liveth unto God. Here on earth his godly life was troubled by the contradiction of sinners, but now he lives in holy union with God.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

For in regard to the death that he died to sin, he died once for all

The phrase "once for all" means to finish something completely. You can make this full meaning explicit in your translation. AT: "For when he died he broke the power of sin completely" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

In the same way, you also must consider

"For this reason consider"

consider yourselves

"think of yourselves as" or "see yourselves as"

dead to sin

Just as one cannot force a corpse to do anything, sin has no power to force believers to dishonor God. AT: "as if you were dead to the power of sin" (See: Metaphor)

dead to sin, but alive to God

"dead to the power of sin, but living to honor God"

alive to God in Christ Jesus

"living to honor God through the power Christ Jesus gives you"

translationWords

die

life

God

sin

Jesus

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

10. ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν, ‘a kind of cognate accus. after the second ἀπέθανεν,’ S.H. His death that He died was a death once for all to sin.

τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Cf. Rom 6:21, the sin that reigned by death: for the dative cf. Rom 6:2.

ὃ δὲ ζῇ, ‘the life that He lives is a life to GOD.’ It is clear that ‘the Death’ is not limited to the Death on the Cross. The whole life of Jesus was a death to sin, culminating in the final act of the Cross. So ‘the life’ here is not limited to the post-resurrection life: it is the life which He lived on earth, and still lives. Cf. the very remarkable phrase, 2Co 4:10, τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ followed by ἡ ζωὴ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. This meaning is well indicated by the strong ‘perfectivised’ ἀπέθανεν; cf. Moulton, p. 112.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] For (the proof of the foregoing) the death which He died (not ‘in that He died,’ as E. V., nor is ὅ for καθʼ ὅ, either here or in ref. Gal., but the accus. objective, governed by the verb. So also of ὃ δὲ ζῇ below), unto sin He died (De Wette well remarks that we must in expressing this verse abide by the indefinite reference to sin in which the death of Christ is placed; if we attempt to make it more definite, ‘for sin,’ or ‘to that state, in which He suffered the punishment of sin,’ we shall lose the point of comparison, which lies in ‘to sin,’ and ‘to God.’ If we are to expand the words ‘died to sin,’ we must say that our Lord at death passed into a state in which He had ‘no more to do with sin’—either as tempting Him (though in vain), or as requiring to be atoned for (this having been now effected), or as met by Him in daily contradiction which He endured from sinners) once for all (so that it is not to be repeated: see reff.); but the life which He liveth (see above) He liveth unto God (indefinite again, but easily filled up and explained: to God,—as being glorified by and with the Father, as entirely rid of conflict with sin and death, and having only God’s (properly so called) work to do,—as waiting till, in the purposes of the Father, all things are put under Him:—and to (for) God, as being the manifestation and brightness of the Father’s glory).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε. The whole clause forms a kind of cognate accus. after the second ἀπέθανεν (Win. § xxiv. 4, p. 209 E. T.); Euthym.-Zig. paraphrases τὸν θάνατον ὃν ἀπέθανε διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀπέθανε τὴν ἡμετέραν, where however τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ is not rightly represented by διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.

τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν. In what sense did Christ die to sin? The phrase seems to point back to ver. 7 above: Sin ceased to have any claim upon Him. But how could Sin have a claim upon Him ‘who had no acquaintance with sin’ (2Co 5:21)? The same verse which tells us this supplies the answer: τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ‘the Sinless One for our sake was treated as if He were sinful.’ The sin which hung about Him and wreaked its effects upon Him was not His but ours (cp. 1Pe 2:22, 1Pe 2:24). It was in His Death that this pressure of human sin culminated; but it was also in His Death that it came to an end, decisively and for ever.

ἐφάπαξ. The decisiveness of the Death of Christ is specially insisted upon in Ep. to Hebrews. This is the great point of contrast with the Levitical sacrifices: they did and it did not need to be repeated (cf. Heb 7:27; Heb 9:12, Heb 9:26, Heb 9:28; Heb 10:10; also 1Pe 3:18).

ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ. Christ died for (in relation to) Sin, and lives hence-forth for God. The old chain which by binding Him to sin made Him also liable to death, is broken. No other power κυριεύει αὐτοῦ but God.

This phrase ζῇ τῷ Θεῷ naturally suggests ‘the moral’ application to the believer.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In that He died [ο γαρ απεθανεν] . Lit.. what he died; the death which he died. Compare sin a sin, 1Jo 5:16; the life which I live, literally, what I live, Gal 2:20.

Once [εφαπαξ] . More literally, as Rev., in margin, once for all. Compare Heb 7:27; Heb 9:12; Heb 10:10.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.