¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(A)the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that ^(B)every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become ^[a]guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore ^(C)by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would be the ^(A)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For ^(B)if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because ^(C)the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^(D)according to grace, ^(E)so that the promise might be ^[a]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^(F)who is the father of us all

⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(A)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 ^(B)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(C)were at work in our members ^(D)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 ^(E)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, ^(F)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(G)“You shall not covet.” ⁸ But ^(H)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(I)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, ^(J)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 ^(K)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.