Romans 6:12 (LSB)

Passage

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

Nearby Context

Romans 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Romans 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

Romans 6:13 and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "reign", "mortal", "body", "obey", and "lusts". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "reign", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "Even so consider yourselves to be dead..." into verse 13's "and do not go on presenting your...", so "therefore" and "reign" belong inside that flow. In Romans context, the local focus is righteousness by faith, union with Christ, life in the Spirit, and God's covenant faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "therefore" and "reign" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.