6:9a–b
since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again: The clause since Christ was raised from the dead is the basis by which Paul said that He cannot die again. Some languages must translate it in a different way. For example:
Christ was raised from the dead, and so will never die again
6:9a
For we know: The Greek is literally “knowing.” Some scholars call it causal (“because (we) know”) and other scholars say it introduces an explanation or clarification. Some English versions translate in a way that allows both interpretations, as the Berean Standard Bible does.
Christ was raised from the dead: This clause refers to God making Jesus alive again. See how you translated a similar clause in 6:4 (“was raised from the dead”).
6:9b
He cannot die again: In English the semi-colon (;) at the end of this clause indicates that there is a connection to the words that come next. But it does not say which kind of connection. Here it implies a grounds-conclusion relationship. For example:
will never die again, so
cannot…again: The words cannot…again means “not at any time.”
6:9c
death no longer has dominion over Him: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as has dominion refers to having great authority over someone. This clause indicates that while Jesus lived on this earth, death ruled over him, meaning that he would one day die. It also indicates that now death has no effect on him. Death does not rule over him or influence him. Jesus does as he himself chooses, without worrying about death or being afraid of it. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
death no longer rules him
-or-
Death has no power over him any more. (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
dying has no authority over him any more
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
