³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.^(A)

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^(A) By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^(B)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(C) which leads to death,^(D) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God^(E) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^(F) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^(G) that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin^(H) and have become slaves to righteousness.^(I)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”^{(A) 20} If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing^(B) our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ^(C) and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.^{(D) 21} It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.^{(E) 22} Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”^[a](F) and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”