Once again Paul adopts the form of a philosophical argument (see 2.1) and imagines the questions which his opponents would present to him. As mentioned in the introduction to this section, 6.1 refers back directly to 5.20. No new thoughts are introduced here that have not been discussed in the previous passage, and so further comments are unnecessary. (God’s grace is the meaning of Paul’s term “grace.”)

Where the technique of question and answer cannot be employed, one can transform the questions of verse 1 into a strong negative statement—for example, “We certainly should not continue to live sinning so that God will show his grace more and more” or “We should by no means continue to sin in our lives just so that God’s showing grace will be greater and greater.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .