Romans 6:18

6:18 and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.

Romans 6:22

6:22 But now, freed ¹  from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit ²  leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.

Psalms 51:12

51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! ³ 

John 8:32

8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ⁴ 

John 8:2

8:2 Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach ⁵  them.

Colossians 3:17

3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Galatians 2:19

2:19 For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.

Galatians 5:1

Freedom of the Believer

5:1 For freedom ⁶  Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke ⁷  of slavery.

[6:22]  ¹ tn The two aorist participles translated “freed” and “enslaved” are causal in force; their full force is something like “But now, since you have become freed from sin and since you have become enslaved to God….”

[6:22]  ² tn Grk “fruit.”

[51:12]  ³ tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[8:32]  ⁴ tn Or “the truth will release you.” The translation “set you free” or “release you” (unlike the more traditional “make you free”) conveys more the idea that the hearers were currently in a state of slavery from which they needed to be freed. The following context supports precisely this idea.

[8:2]  ⁵ tn An ingressive sense for the imperfect fits well here following the aorist participle.

[5:1]  ⁶ tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.

[5:1]  ⁷ sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.