John 8:34

Ἀμὴν�. With great solemnity He points them to a bondage far worse than political servitude. see on John 1:51.

πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τ. ἁμ. Everyone who continueth to do sin is the bond-servant of sin. Christ does not say that a single act (ὁ ποιήσας) of sin enslaves; it is a life of sin that makes a man a slave and the child of the devil (1 John 3:8). Ποιεῖν τὴν ἁμαρτ. is the opposite of ποιεῖν τὴν� (John 3:21) and of π. τὴν δικαιοσύνην (1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7). ‘Servant’ is a good rendering of δοῦλος where nothing degrading is implied (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1, &c.), but is too weak, where, as here, the degradation is the main point. Moreover, the connexion with δεδουλεύκαμεν must be preserved; ‘have been in bondage’ or ‘in slavery,’ and ‘bond-servants’ or ‘slaves,’ must be our renderings.

Some have thought that we have here an echo of Romans 6:16, which S. John may have seen. But may not both passages be original? The idea that vice is slavery—tot dominorum quot vitiorum—is common in all literature: frequent in the classics. 2 Peter 2:19 is probably an echo of this passage or of Romans 6:16. Comp. Matthew 6:24.