“he looks at past things from a distance”

“He could not express what he wanted more forcefully than by appealing to their conscience and, as it were, by confessing shame in their person.”

"over which things you are now ashamed."

Or more idiomatically:

"the things of which you are now ashamed."

"to be fruitless" or "to be without fruit."

“But now, you have your fruit, which leads to sanctification…”

Or more idiomatic:

“But now you are producing fruit that results in sanctification…”

“For the end of those things is death.”

“because of which things you are now ashamed”

“then” / “at that time” / “at that point”

shame,” “disgrace,” or “a sense of dishonor.”

to be ashamed with respect to / because of something

on account of which

directional, intensifying, or affective force

on,” “upon,” “over,” or “in relation to.”

1. With different cases 🔹 With GENITIVE (ἐπί + gen.)

Often means:

“on the basis of” “concerning” “in the time of”

Example sense:

“in the days of…” / “on the authority of…” 🔹 With DATIVE (ἐπί + dat.)

Often means:

“on,” “upon” (location) “at / in connection with” “because of / regarding” (very common in moral or emotional contexts)

Example:

“still,” “yet,” “further,” or “even now.”

“because of these things, which you are now ashamed of”

“to act and to bear/produce the consequences of those actions.”

on account of which

“you will not be ashamed of such imitation” or more naturally, “you will not feel shame in such imitation.”

“lest you be ashamed because of our friendship” or “do not be ashamed of our friendship.”

to be ashamed of something,

“on account of which things” or “because of which (things)”

“of those,” “of those things,” “of those people,” “belonging to those.”

“For the end of those things is death.”

“What things are you ashamed of?” or more naturally, “What are you now ashamed of?”

“For you did not even divide the mode of your slavery between righteousness and sin, but rather you were entirely surrendering yourselves to wickedness.”

Deo servire vera libertas est“To serve God is true freedom.”

“But virtue is the mark of true freedom.” “But virtue is noble and worthy of a free person.”

to hand over, deliver, entrust, give up, or transmit

“By ‘you were handed over’ (παρεδόθητε), he hints at the help of God.”

obedience, compliance, responsive submission

“You obeyed God by embracing the pattern of teaching you were instructed to profess.”

“as far as it concerns,” “with regard to,” “as for,” “in respect to”

you obeyed

“into which you were delivered / placed”

to obey, to submit in responsive hearing, as a continuing disposition

teaching

into which you were delivered

“the pattern/form of teaching into which you were handed over”

they repented

“to be obedient” / “to keep obeying” / “to live in obedience”

you obeyed

“the fervor of an apostolic heart” “the burning zeal of an apostolic breast” “the ardent passion of an apostolic spirit”

“as it were in the likeness of a certain pattern, into which we are, as it were, inserted, so that we may be conformed to its form.”

to which” / “into which” / “toward which”

into which you were handed over

slaves of sin

into the pattern of teaching into which you were handed over”

“to the pattern of teaching into which you were handed over”

“to which form of teaching you were entrusted”

But thanks be to God that

force coercion

from out of the heart

“‘From the heart’: for you were neither compelled nor forced, but willingly and with eagerness you turned away.”

“He does not give thanks to God because they served sin, but because those who had served sin afterward obeyed the gospel.”

that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart…

“they will be made righteous” or “they will be constituted as righteous.” appointed make establish constitute

“the age to come” or “the future age”

righteousness, justice, rightness, being right according to a standard, right behavior, forensice righteous, being declared righteous, covenant faithfulness, a life governed by God's righteous order, a status, a way of life, righteousness as a ruling power in conduct,

“to be a slave of obedience” or “to be one who belongs to obedience as a slave.”

unto righteousness” / “leading to righteousness” / “resulting in righteousness.”

end, goal, completion

δοῦλος ὑπακοῆς; a slave of obedience

unto death

“whether slaves of sin…”

reinforces personal responsibility highlights ongoing obedience keeps the image of master–slave relationship active in the reader’s mind

So the logic becomes:

You present yourselves as slaves → therefore you are slaves of the one you obey

So instead of:

“his slaves” (flat, abstract)

Paul gives:

“slaves of the one whom you obey” (dynamic, vivid, relational)

to present themselves as slaves” or “to offer themselves as slaves.”

“to whom you obey” or “the one whom you obey.”

may it never be

righteousness, justice, right standing, right order

I am speaking in a human way

debating or considering what action to take (“Shall I/we do X?”).

“not to be under law, but under grace.”

because we are not under law but under grace

shall we continue in sin ?

“Let us sin / shall we sin (as a proposal?)” A deliberative subjunctive used in rhetorical argument, not a real command.

shall we sin?

“For the apostle wishes to comfort us, lest we grow weary in our zeal for doing good because we still perceive many imperfections in ourselves. For although we are troubled by the stings of sin, it nevertheless cannot bring us into subjection, because by the Spirit of God we are made stronger than it. Moreover, having been placed under grace, we have been freed from the strict exaction of the Law.”

“the one [interpretation] that can be maintained more plausibly than the others.”

it will not have dominion over us

“Sin will not force us unwillingly into serving it.”

“Grace does not merely forgive sins; it also enables us to refrain from sinning.”

“the sweetest consolation” or “the most comforting consolation.”

single, decisive action not necessarily “once only,” but “do this as a whole act”

So it carries the idea:

“Offer yourselves completely / decisively / at once”

as though (being) alive from the dead” or

“in your mortal body.”

quippe = “namely / as being indeed / in fact”= “as those who are indeed alive from the dead”

not:

“as if you were alive from the dead”

So λογίζεσθε is the bridge between objective truth and ethical action.

The structure in the Greek makes the second command feel like the goal or peak of the exhortation. The argument doesn’t just prohibit sin; it culminates in a positive, total self-offering.

So “climactic relation” here means:

the second imperative is the rhetorical and theological endpoint of the first.The present tense here typically emphasizes:

continuous or habitual action

The aorist imperative often emphasizes:

a definite, decisive act not a repeated or ongoing action, but a single commitment or transfer of allegiance

So Paul is not saying:

“keep on presenting yourselves”

but rather:

“make a decisive offering of yourselves to God.”

non-righteousness” / “absence of right order” δικαιοσύνη (righteousness) = right standing / right order before God, conformity to His will ἀδικία (unrighteousness) = deviation from that order, moral corruption, injustice /// 2 realms

“so as to obey its desire” or more freely: “in order to obey its passions/desires.”

“One must think of the life to come, and the labors, which are certainly not long-lasting, are not to be feared.”

“He calls it ‘mortal’ by way of contempt.”

“as people who have been brought from death to life.”

“Consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God.”

not power but righteousness

Since, then, a blessed life consists of these two things, and is known to all, and dear to all; what can we think to be the cause why, when they cannot have both, men choose, out of these two, to have all things that they will, rather than to will all things well, even although they do not have them? Is it the depravity itself of the human race, in such wise that, while they are not unaware that neither is he blessed who has not what he wills, nor he who has what he wills wrongly, but he who both has whatsoever good things he wills, and wills no evil ones, yet, when both are not granted of those two things in which the blessed life consists, that is rather chosen by which one is withdrawn the more from a blessed life (since he certainly is further from it who obtains things which he wickedly desired, than he who only does not obtain the things which he desired); whereas the good will ought rather to be chosen, and to be preferred, even if it do not obtain the things which it seeks? For he comes near to being a blessed man, who wills well whatsoever he wills, and wills things, which when he obtains, he will be blessed. And certainly not bad things, but good, make men blessed, when they do so make them. And of good things he already has something, and that, too, a something not to be lightly esteemed — namely, the very good will itself; who longs to rejoice in those good things of which human nature is capable, and not in the performance or the attainment of any evil; and who follows diligently, and attains as much as he can, with a prudent, temperate, courageous, and right mind, such good things as are possible in the present miserable life; so as to be good even in evils, and when all evils have been put an end to, and all good things fulfilled, then to be blessed.