No Return to the Law

^11 (A)Now when ^[a]Peter had come to Antioch, I ^[b]withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; ¹² for before certain men came from James, ^(B)he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing ^[c]those who were of the circumcision. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not straightforward about ^(C)the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter ^(D)before them all, ^(E)“If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, ^[d]why do you compel Gentiles to live as ^[e]Jews? ^15 (F)We who are Jews by nature, and not ^(G)sinners of the Gentiles, ^16 (H)knowing that a man is not ^[f]justified by the works of the law but ^(I)by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not ^(J)by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

¹⁷ “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found ^(K)sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. ¹⁹ For I ^(L)through the law ^(M)died to the law that I might ^(N)live to God. ²⁰ I have been ^(O)crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh ^(P)I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(Q)who loved me and gave Himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God; for ^(R)if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died ^[g]in vain.”

² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the ^(A)earth. ^3 (B)For you died, ^(C)and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then ^(B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(D)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(E)were at work in our members ^(F)to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(I)“You shall not covet.” ⁸ But ^(J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(K)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, ^(L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹² Therefore ^(M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(N)sold under sin.

² Certainly not! How shall we who ^(A)died to sin live any longer in it?

⁶ knowing this, that ^(A)our old man was crucified with Him, that ^(B)the body of sin might be ^[a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For ^(C)he who has died has been ^[b]freed from sin. ⁸ Now ^(D)if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,