Does Romans 6:7 suggest that a person is acquitted from their sin at death?

Question

I understand that the word translated into English as "died" in Romans 6:7 comes from the Greek 'apothanōn' and the word translated as “freed” is from the Greek ‘dedikaiwtai’. I also understand that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) and because we all sin, we all die, physically.

Various translations of Romans 6:7 render the Scripture this way:

KJV: For he that is dead is freed from sin

NIV: Anyone who has died has been freed from sin

ESV: For one who has died has been set free from sin

NLT: For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin

But then I read Romans 6:7 in the New World Translation which gives a different slant:

NWT: For he who has died has been acquitted from his sin

To be set free is not the same thing as to be acquitted. An acquittal suggests a total pardon, that whatever it was the law had found you guilty of is erased.

Is there any textual basis for translating ‘dedikaiwtai’ as "acquitted" in Romans 6:7?

EDIT: In my opening paragraph I quoted Romans 6:23: "the wages of sin is death." A wage is something earned, deserved. That is why we all die, without exception. Death ends any opportunity to either continue to sin or to repent.

My question focuses on the legal term translated in English as "acquitted" which suggests the guilty party no longer has any case to answer to, that the slate has been wiped clean with no come-back.

Can we please focus on this? The Moderators are going to step in to end all these comments, as fascinating and important as they are.

Answer 1

The Greek word in Rom 6:7 is δεδικαίωται which is the perfect indicative verb from the root verb δικαιόω = make righteous, defend the cause of, plead for the righteousness (innocence) of, acquit, justify (Strongs).

Thus, one of the meanings of δεδικαίωται might be, "has been acquitted", but equally, "has been freed", or, "has been vindicated", or, "has been made righteous". The exact meaning/translation is determined by the context.

The answer to this question is actually in the previous verse:

Rom 6:6 - We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

Thus, in Rom 6, Paul is discussing the POWER of sin over our natures. When we die, the power of sin is broken! The sin problem involves two aspects: the guilt of sin and the power of sin. Simply forgiving a person only removes the guilt, and the person is free to sin again. The other aspect of salvation (discussed in more detail in Rom 7) is the power of sin over us - we like to sin and that power must be broken.

We see this in many places in the Bible because we are sinners because of what we have DONE and because of what we ARE. Notice 1 John 1:8, 10 -

• V8 - If we say we have no sin [noun = state of being], we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
• V10 - If we say we have not sinned [verb - what we have done], we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.

David understood this when he wrote in Ps 51:5

Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Notice that David agrees that he was sinful at conception before he had done anything wrong. Paul is very clear about this too - see his list about the human condition in Rom 3:10-18. We are all sinful and sinners, and sinful before we sinned. See Matt 12:34, 35, Ps 58:3, James 1:14, 2 Peter 2:18, etc.

By contrast with our fallen humanity, Jesus was, "that holy one" (Luke 1:35), "in Him was no sin" (1 John 3:5, 2 Cor 5:21), "holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens" (Heb 7:26).

CONCLUSION

Thus, Paul in Rom 6:7 is discussing the rather obvious fact that our fallen natures cannot entice us (James 1:14) to sin when we are dead. Thus, it should be translated:

For anyone who has died has been freed [ie, from the power of] from sin.

Answer 2

Is there any textual basis for translating 'dedikaiwtai' as "acquitted" in Romans 6:7?

Yes, I believe so...

As Dottard has previously stated:

The Greek word in Rom 6:7 is δεδικαίωται which is the perfect indicative verb from the root verb δικαιόω = make righteous, defend the cause of, plead for the righteousness (innocence) of, acquit, justify (Strongs).

But notice the word "free" isn't a part of this definition, but the word acquit is.

In Thayer's Greek Lexicon's entry for STRONGS NT 1344: δικαιόω, there is a section that relates both concepts of acquittal and freedom.

3.τινα, to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be, (cf. ὁμοιόω to declare to be like, liken, i. e. compare; ὁσιόω, Wis. 6:11; ἀξιόω, which never means to make worthy, but to judge worthy, to declare worthy, to treat as worthy; see also κοινόω, 2 b.);
.
a. with the negative idea predominant, to declare guiltless one accused or who may be accused, acquitted of a charge or reproach, (Deuteronomy 25:1; Sir. 13:22 (21), etc.; an unjust judge is said δικαιοῦν τόν ἀσεβῆ in Exodus 23:7; Isaiah 5:23): ἑαυτόν, Luke 10:29; passive οὐ δεδικαίωμαι, namely, with God, 1 Corinthians 4:4; pregnantly with ἀπό τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν added, to be declared innocent and therefore to be absolved from the charge of sins (cf. Buttmann, 322 (277)), Acts 13:38 (39) (so ἀπό ἁμαρτίας, Sir. 26:29; simply, to be absolved, namely, from the payment of a vow, Sir. 18:22 (21)); hence, figuratively, by a usage not met with elsewhere, to be freed, ἀπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας, from its dominion, Romans 6:7, where cf. Fritzsche or ((less fully) Meyer).

What is interesting is that δικαιόω does not mean free except perhaps once in Romans 6:7 and only there by applying a figurative meaning.

In reality, δεδικαίωται doesn't literally mean free, but, in context, δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, essentially means "freed from sin" because the person is righteous/guiltless/innocent and has been pronounced to be so. Freedom here is but the necessary implication of the legal consequences of having been declared righteous.

Now we may be missing the point if we latch on to the meaning of "freed" without regard to the underlying meaning of "pronounced to be righteous." For example, it's easy to focus only on the phrase 'freed from sin' and derive the meaning that one (really anyone) who has died is free from sinning or is free from the temptation of The Sin as a practical implication of being dead.

While this idea may be, in a sense, true (since, in fact, a dead person doesn't commit very many acts to begin with), this interpretation has nothing to do with whether that same person has actually been declared righteous away from the Sin and the legal implication of that declaration. It thus fails to account specifically for what the text actually says. Being careful to keep in mind the underlying meaning of the word δεδικαίωται could prevent the advocacy of such an interpretation which is based on the concept of freedom without regard to the declaration of righteousness.

Does Romans 6:7 suggest that a person is acquitted from their sin at death?

I don't think so... First, Romans 6:7 doesn't grammatically refer to personal sins but figuratively to an antagonistic entity, "the Sin." The verse can be literally rendered as follows:

ὁ γὰρ ἀποθανὼν δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

For one having died has been declared righteous away from the Sin

Or

For he having died has been declared righteous away from the Sin

Typically this is translated, akin to the former option, in a proverbial sense as if discussing a basic fact about anyone who has died. Translating it the latter way would contextually make Jesus the individual who, having died, was declared righteous away from The Sin.

That said, the latter view should be preferred and the former discounted, for only Jesus was, having died, directly declared to be righteous - visually vindicated - publicly pronounced the righteous son of God before all.

Acts 17:30-31 30 "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead."

Romans 1:4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

So it is, in fact, through the resurrection that Jesus was declared righteous away from the Sin—vindicated away from all the sin that he bore in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), by being raised up from the domain of death. Because Jesus did never sin, the Sin could not claim him, and so death could not keep him. Jesus was vindicated and declared righteous and blameless through the resurrection because he was actually completely righteous and blameless (1 Peter 2:22, Phil 2:8-9, Heb 5:7, ).

22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
-1 Peter 2:22
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence
-Hebrews 5:7
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
-Philippians 2:8-9

Conclusion: Jesus is the Way

Interpreting verse 7 with Jesus as the subject flows much better than the alternative interpretation within the immediate and surrounding context which is all about Jesus's death and resurrection and how good an idea it is that we are united with his death because of his resurrection. It's not about the positive spiritual benefits people, in general, experience when they die. Only Jesus is the Way. The solution against Sin is not in ourselves.

Again, only Jesus Christ has been proven righteous after having died... Well, only Jesus Christ and those who, in a spiritual sense, have been united with him in his death.

Romans 6:5-6
5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin [the Sin].

For he, having died, has been declared righteous [by his ressurection] away from the Sin

Romans 6:8-10
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
10 For the death he died he died to sin [the Sin], once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

Answer 3

Justified δικαιόω does not mean Freed

Rom 6:7
(ESV) For one who has died has been set free from sin.
(ASV) for he that hath died is justified from sin.
(SBLG) ὁ γὰρ ἀποθανὼν δεδικαίωται ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

It is clear that almost all new versions use free for dikaiow interpret death here as the ordinary death. Justified or acquitted from sins, is the right translation. Because that's the whole context is, and the verse should not be seen as independent, but in coordination with its previous one sentence.

^{[Rom 6:2-9 RV] God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him by the likeness of his death, we shall be also by the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him.}

The arguments all give that the freedom is from the power of sin, with the analogy of being freed from the debt after death, or freedom from the power of his master are good. Alford comments:

The difficulty of this verse arises from the Apostle having in a short and pregnant sentence expressed a whole similitude, joining, as he elsewhere does in such cases, the subject of the first limb of the comparison with the predicate of the second. Fully expressed, it would stand thus: ‘For, as a man that is dead is acquitted and released from guilt and bondage (among men: no reference to God’s judgment of him): so a man that has died to sin is acquitted from the guilt of sin and released from its bondage.’ I express δεδικ. by this periphrasis in both cases, because I believe that all this is implied in it: ‘is acquitted,’ ‘has his quittance,’ from sin, so that Sin (personified) has no more claims on him, either as a creditor or as a master: cannot detain him for debt, nor sue him for service. A larger reference is thus given to δεδικ. than the purposes of the present argument, which is treating of the power, not the guilt of sin, required: but that it is so, lies in the nature of ἁμαρτία, the service of which is guilt, and the deliverance from whose service necessarily brings with it acquittal.

However, this argument would have made sense if the actual word free was chosen instead of justified. This ἐλεύθερος (eleutheros) 'free/freedom' should have been the word choice, which is the default word as used here, for example:

Rom 6:18 ἐλευθερ. having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness δικαιο.
Rom 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Rom 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
Rom 7:3 Accordingly she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

• ἐλεύθερος Meaning (Mounce dictionary)
  free, released, liberated free, in a state of freedom, free from various kinds of ownership, confinement, and distress: prison confinement, political domination and oppression, physical sickness, release from the marriage contract in death, and God’s release of the sinner from sin. A free person is often contrasted to a slave; free, in a state of freedom, as opposed to slavery, 1Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; free, exempt, Mt. 17:26; 1Cor. 7:39; unrestricted, unfettered, 1Cor. 9:1; free from the dominion of sin, etc., Jn. 8:36; Rom. 6:20; free in the possession of Gospel privileges, 1Pet. 2:16

Conclusion:
The language would be too pregnant, as to be puzzling if a peculiar sense of analogical freedom from sin's power was implied. Not only that, the analogy of death freeing you from debt is a bad analogy, as it is purely coincidental forgiveness of debt, it is pitiful, not rewarding; it doesn't suit the purpose to advance the topic of Christ's atonement. The legal atonement on the other hand is a deliberate act of redemption from sin, it is real, vindicating and rewarding. It is better to interpret the death as ethical death in Christ, in line with the context. Some scholars would find the sentence too redundant and tautological, but that is how the author's of writing. Compare Galatians 2-3 for the repeated chain of thought in the similar words. The simplest interpretation should be preferred, which doesn't force us to employ a change in the meaning of words.

The dead sinner (or a debtor for the interpretation of power of sin as opposed to guilt) remain in guilt and in debt. His property or children can be salvaged to pay the debt. Physical death doesn't acquit the criminal of the crime, otherwise Gehenna punishment would be useless. A sinner after facing death penalty as justice isn't known as a saint. The verse talk about dying with respect to sin, which obviously includes repentance; this makes the ungodly justified, the unrighteous righteous.

The right translation should be - for he who has died (to sin) is justified from sin. Acquit is a synonym of justify, so acquit is also justified in translation. Synonyms for acquit : absolve, clear, exculpate, exonerate, vindicate; better than the vague and ambiguous freed.

Compare: 1 Peter 4:1

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (ESV)

Answer 4

I checked the definition in a Greek Interlinear and it appears 'aquitted' is a legitimate translation. See below:

Strong's g1344

• Lexical: δικαιόω
• Transliteration: dikaioó
• Part of Speech: Verb
• Phonetic Spelling: dik-ah-yo'-o
• Definition: to make righteous, defend the cause of, plead for the righteousness (innocence) of, acquit, justify; hence: to regard as righteous.
• Origin: From dikaios; to render (i.e. Show or regard as) just or innocent.
• Usage: free, justify(-ier), be righteous.
• Translated as (count): is justified (5), was justified (5), justifying (4), Having been justified (3), to be justified (3), will be justified (3), He justified (2), are being justified (1), being justified (1), declared as righteous (1), has been freed (1), have I been justified (1), justified (1), justifies (1), to justify (1), we may be justified (1), we might be justified (1), will justify (1), You may be justified (1), you were justified (1), you will be justified (1).

Answer 5

OP - To be set free is not the same thing as to be acquitted.

This nuance is irrelevant. The penalty/wages of sin is death. Once a person dies, their sin is removed. They have paid that which is required and nothing else can be paid - they are dead. And they will remain dead as there is nothing they can do to alter that reality, in this life or the next.

death no longer is master over him. Rom 6:9

This, 'death being master', applies to all men, including Jesus (obviously as he is the subject here).

Death IS our master because of the sin which requires death as the penalty. (Jesus, being resurrected to new life, death due to sin is no longer master over him) Once we have paid up, we are free from further penalty. So then we move to the new paradigm through Christ Jesus. What was hopeless has become full of hope.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Rom 6:14

Our sin penalty is now paid by Jesus' death being the 'Lamb without blemish' and we may now live.

So yes, death is the penalty and every person must pay it for they have deserved such a result according to the law. When they have paid it, they are free from any further payment and now effectively pronounced not guilty. However, they remain dead so that's unfortunate. This brings us to the Judgement and the Millennium etc. but that's another matter.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. John 11:25

Conclusion

the slate has been wiped clean with no come-back. OP

That's another way of saying that once one has died in this life, their debt owing due to sin is paid in full. There is only one 'penalty' of sin and that is death. The ledger is now balanced. There are consequences of sin, but they are not part of the ledger.

We must take the Rom 6:7 in context. Paul goes to great lengths to explain and we cannot take one verse alone and make sense of it in isolation.

the Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. Rom 7:1

Once death has occurred for an unbeliever, the debt is paid and the law no longer has any claim for disobedience. They are without fault - being dead and unable to sin again.

There is of course a great difference for a faithful believer - they will live even if they die in this age because their debt is paid by Jesus' blood and death and they can be part of the 1st resurrection to eternal life.