⁹ But you are ^(A)a chosen race, ^(B)a royal ^(C)priesthood, ^(D)a holy nation, ^(E)a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you ^(F)out of darkness into ^(G)his marvelous light. ^10 (H)Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? ^(A)Are we to sin ^(B)because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves ^(C)to anyone as obedient slaves,^[a] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(D)thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the ^(E)standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, ^(F)having been set free from sin, ^(G)have become slaves of righteousness. ^19 (H)I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For ^(I)just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members ^(J)as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.