Romans 6:17-18 - Exposition

But thanks be to God, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine whereunto ye were delivered . (Not, as in the Authorized Version, which was delivered you ) . Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness . There is no contradiction between what is here said and the fear previously implied lest the persons addressed might still serve sin. He refers them back to the time of their baptism, when he conceives them both to have understood their obligation (cf. Romans 6:3 ), and also to have been heartily sincere. The fear was lest they might have relaxed since, perhaps through infection with antinomian teaching. By the "form of doctrine" or "of instruction" ( τύπον διδαχῆς ) is not at all likely to be meant (as some have supposed) any distinctive type of Christian teaching, such as the Pauline (so Meyer). Usually elsewhere, where St. Paul uses the word τύπος , it is of persons being examples or patterns to others ( 1 Corinthians 10:6 ; Philippians 3:17 ; 1 Thessalonians 1:7 ; 2 Thessalonians 3:9 ; 1 Timothy 4:12 ; Titus 2:7 ). Somewhat similarly, in Romans 5:14 , Adam is τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος ; and in 1 Corinthians 10:6 the things which happened to the Israelites in the wilderness were τύποι to us. These are all the instances of the use of the word in St. Paul's Epistles. Here, therefore, it may be best to understand it (so as to retain the idea of pattern) as the general Christian code into which converts had been indoctrinated, regarded as a norma agendi " Norma ilia et regula, ad quam se conformat servus, tautum ei per doctrinam ostenditur; urgeri eum non opus est " (Bengel on διδαχῆς ).