Romans 6:17

that ye were i.e. obviously, "that whereas you were, &c."

servants of sin Such, without exception, was the former state and position of the justified. They were ruled by the principles, and under the claim, of sin; the will alienated from God, the person liable to doom.

ye have obeyed Better, ye obeyed; at the time of faith. See note on obedience, Romans 6:16.

from the heart The words are added as indicating the grand requisite of reality, and as implying the heartinessof the consequent life of holy "bond-service" (see Romans 10:9-10); perhaps too in allusion and contrast to any idea of a forciblesubjection which might be suggested by the phrase "ye were delivered over" just below. See next note.

that form of doctrine which was delivered you This rendering of the Gr. cannot stand. The margin E. V. is correct: the form of doctrine into which yon were delivered. Here we have to ask, (1) what is the "form of doctrine"?The word rendered "form," (same word as ch. Romans 5:14, but there certainly with different reference), usually means, in St Paul, something guidingor formativewhether fact, principle, or person; (e.g. Philippians 3:17; and 1 Corinthians 10:6, where literally "figures, types, of us"). The phrase here would thus mean, "the principle, the ruleof doctrine;" i.e. that rule of life which the "doctrine" in question, viz. the apostolic teaching, furnishes. Such a reference of the word "form" is specially apt here, since the moral results of faith are now in view. The reference of the phrase to shades and varieties of Christian teachingis certainly wrong; for such a reference would be out of place here, where the subject is the antithesis of the main truthsof sin and salvation. The phrase thus = "The guiding principles learnt from the preaching of the Gospel." (2) What is the meaning of "into, or unto, which ye were delivered, or handed over"?The allusion is to that metaphor of slaverywhich runs through the context. The Christian has been taken, by Divine mercy, from the hands of one Master to be put into the handsof another. The transference is, in one aspect, voluntary, ("yield yourselves," "from the heart,") but in another aspect it is the sovereign act of grace. (See Colossians 1:13 for similar imagery). The new Master is here the Ruling-Principle of the Gospel, just as, in Romans 6:16, it was Obedience to that Gospel.