¹⁶ nevertheless, knowing that ^(A)a person is not justified by works of ^[a]the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by ^(B)faith in Christ and not by works of ^[b]the Law; since ^(C)by works of ^[c]the Law no ^[d]flesh will be justified. ¹⁷ But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found ^(D)sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? ^[e](E)Far from it! ¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I ^(F)prove myself to be a wrongdoer. ¹⁹ For through ^[f]the Law I ^(G)died to ^[g]the Law, so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been ^(H)crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but ^(I)Christ lives in me; and ^[h]the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in ^(J)the Son of God, who ^(K)loved me and ^(L)gave Himself up for me. ²¹ I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(M)if righteousness comes through ^[i]the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

¹⁷ “Do not presume that I came to abolish the ^(A)Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

¹⁵ for ^(A)the Law brings about wrath, but ^(B)where there is no law, there also is no violation.

Believers United to Christ

7 Or do you not know, ^(A)brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the ^[a]Law), that the ^[b]Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? ² For ^(B)the married woman is bound by law to her ^[c]husband as long as he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ^[d]concerning the husband. ³ So then, if while her husband is alive she ^[e]gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she ^[f]gives herself to another man.

⁴ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were ^(C)put to death ^(D)in regard to the Law ^(E)through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

^19 (A)My children, with whom ^(B)I am again in labor until ^(C)Christ is formed in you—

¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(A)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(B)there is freedom. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled faces, ^(C)looking as in a mirror at the ^(D)glory of the Lord, are being ^(E)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^(F)the Lord, the Spirit.

¹⁴ For the love of Christ ^(A)controls us, having concluded this, that ^(B)one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer ^(C)live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one ^[a](D)by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is ^(E)in Christ, this person is ^(F)a new ^[b]creation; ^(G)the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.