Romans 6:22

now i.e. as things are, by Divine mercy.

to God The real Master of the justified. The figures, "Obedience," "Righteousness," "Rule of Doctrine," &c., are now laid aside, that He to whom they refer may at last appear in the Divine simplicity of His ownership over the soul.

ye have your fruit The verb, by position, is emphatic. "You now have, what you then lacked, namely fruit;-your" fruit, a real and happy profit and result from your new principle."

unto holiness unto sanctification; see on Romans 6:19. The "fruit" amounted to, consisted in, a steady courseof self-denial and conflict against sin.

everlasting life i.e. in this context, the bliss of the life to come; the "sight of the Lord" which is attained only by the path of "sanctification" (Hebrews 12:14); being, as it is, the issue and crown of the process. Here, as in many other cases, note the varying reference of a single phrase. "Eternal life" is sometimes viewed as present (John 3:36; John 5:24;) sometimes, and more often, as future (e.g. John 4:36). In the first case it is the grace of regeneration, in the second, the developement of this in the glory to come.