Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^{(B) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(D) through the body of Christ,^(E) that you might belong to another,^(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(H) were at work in us,^(I) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(J) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(L)

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[b](P) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(R) 9} Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life^(S) actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(T) deceived me,^(U) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(V)

¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^(W) to bring about my death,^(X) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(A) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{(B) 2} because through Christ Jesus^(C) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(D) has set you^[a] free^(E) from the law of sin^(F) and death. ³ For what the law was powerless^(G) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b](H) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^(I) to be a sin offering.^[c](J) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement^(K) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^(L)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;^(M) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.^{(N) 6} The mind governed by the flesh is death,^(O) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life^(P) and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^(Q) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh^(R) cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^(S) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^(T) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^(U) they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you,^(V) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^(W) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^(X) because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.^{(Y) 13} For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^(Z) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^(AA) you will live.^(AB)