What Does Romans 6:14 Mean?
For falling short shall not master you, for you are not under the instruction, but under favor.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.THE KEY
The verse does not erase the reality of missing; it removes its right to be your lord.
THE MEANING
Missing no longer holds lordship over you. You stand under favor rather than under the law; the verse names a change in what governs your life. Missing can be present without being your master.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that every failure proves you are still owned by it.
THE ROOT
κυριεύσει
kyrieusei
GROWS FROM
κυρι- (kyri-), from κύριος (kyrios)
Lord, master; to exercise lordship
“master” in this verse is kyrieusei. The verb translated “dominion” is built on the word for lord: it pictures missing as claiming mastery. The verse denies that claim, so a failure does not get to rule you.
ALSO GROWS
kyrios: lord, master
κύριος
The verb for having dominion grows from the word for lord, revealing the authority missing is denied.
kyriotēs: lordship, dominion
κυριότης
This related noun makes the question concrete: whose lordship holds authority over you?
ἁμαρτία
hamartia
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ- (hamart-), from ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō)
to miss, to fail to reach
“falling short” in this verse is hamartia. The Greek word belongs to the family of missing or failing to reach. This gives “sin” the texture of something that can happen without making it your identity or your ruler.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: to miss, to err
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb shares the same stem, linking “sin” with the act of missing that the verse says will not master you.
hamartōlos: sinner, one who misses
ἁμαρτωλός
The related word can name a person through this same family of missing; Romans 6:14 breaks the idea that missing must define who rules that person.
χάρις
charis
GROWS FROM
χαρ-
char-
favor, gracious regard
Charis names favor freely extended. By placing you under favor, the verse names a new ground of authority beneath your life, where missing no longer holds lordship.
ALSO GROWS
charizomai: to show favor, freely grant, forgive
χαρίζομαι
The related verb carries favor into action, connecting the favor beneath you with what is freely granted and released.
charisma: a gift, something freely granted
χάρισμα
This branch shows favor taking form as a gift, rather than a standing you earn by never missing.
THE PATTERN
The power that seeks mastery over a person can be displaced by a different governing authority.
If you do well, will you not be lifted up? And if you do not do well, falling short crouches at the door. Its reaching is toward you, and you shall rule over it.Set my steps firm in your word, and let no crookedness rule over me.So that, as falling short has reigned in death, so also favor might reign through alignment into the life of the ages, by Jesus the Anointed One, our Lord.THE THREAD
Therefore do not let falling short rule in your dying body, so that you would hear and respond to its cravings.The same Greek word, ἁμαρτία (hamartia, missing), appears here and in verse 14. Verse 12 names the body as the place where missing might reign; verse 14 says it will not hold that rule over you.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us