Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say, then?^(A) Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?^{(B) 2} By no means! We are those who have died to sin;^(C) how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized^(D) into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death^(E) in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead^(F) through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.^(G)

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.^{(H) 6} For we know that our old self^(I) was crucified with him^(J) so that the body ruled by sin^(K) might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin^(L)— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.^(M)

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.^{(N) 9} For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,^(O) he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.^{(P) 10} The death he died, he died to sin^(Q) once for all;^(R) but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin^(S) but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign^(T) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,^(U) but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.^{(V) 14} For sin shall no longer be your master,^(W) because you are not under the law,^(X) but under grace.^(Y)

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^(Z) By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^(AA)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(AB) which leads to death,^(AC) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God^(AD) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^(AE) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^(AF) that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin^(AG) and have become slaves to righteousness.^(AH)

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life^(AI) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness^(AJ) leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin,^(AK) you were free from the control of righteousness.^{(AL) 21} What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!^{(AM) 22} But now that you have been set free from sin^(AN) and have become slaves of God,^(AO) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.^{(AP) 23} For the wages of sin is death,^(AQ) but the gift of God is eternal life^(AR) in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(AS)—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.^{(AT) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(AU) 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^(AV) through the body of Christ,^(AW) that you might belong to another,^(AX) 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,^[c](AY) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(AZ) were at work in us,^(BA) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(BB) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(BC) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(BD)

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(BE) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(BF) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(BG) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[d](BH) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(BI) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(BJ) 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^(BK) actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(BL) deceived me,^(BM) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(BN)

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^(BO) to bring about my death,^(BP) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(BQ) sold^(BR) as a slave to sin.^{(BS) 15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{(BT) 16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{(BU) 17} As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{(BV) 18} For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[e](BW) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^{(BX) 20} Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^(BY)

²¹ So I find this law at work:^(BZ) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being^(CA) I delight in God’s law;^{(CB) 23} but I see another law at work in me, waging war^(CC) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^(CD) at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^{(CE) 25} Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^(CF)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^(CG) but in my sinful nature^[f] a slave to the law of sin.^(CH)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(CI) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{(CJ) 2} because through Christ Jesus^(CK) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(CL) has set you^[g] free^(CM) from the law of sin^(CN) and death. ³ For what the law was powerless^(CO) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[h](CP) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^(CQ) to be a sin offering.^[i](CR) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement^(CS) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^(CT)

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

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^(DA) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^(DB) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^(DC) they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you,^(DD) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[j] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^(DE) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^(DF) because of^[k] 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.^{(DG) 13} For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^(DH) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^(DI) you will live.^(DJ)

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God^(DK) are the children of God.^{(DL) 15} The Spirit^(DM) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;^(DN) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[l] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[m] Father.”^{(DO) 16} The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit^(DP) that we are God’s children.^{(DQ) 17} Now if we are children, then we are heirs^(DR)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings^(DS) in order that we may also share in his glory.^(DT)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.^{(DU) 19} For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God^(DV) to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,^(DW) in hope ²¹ that^[n] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay^(DX) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.^(DY)

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning^(DZ) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^(EA) groan^(EB) inwardly as we wait eagerly^(EC) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^{(ED) 24} For in this hope we were saved.^(EE) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^(EF) Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.^(EG)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit^(EH) himself intercedes for us^(EI) through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts^(EJ) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes^(EK) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good^(EL) of those who love him, who^[o] have been called^(EM) according to his purpose.^{(EN) 29} For those God foreknew^(EO) he also predestined^(EP) to be conformed to the image of his Son,^(EQ) that he might be the firstborn^(ER) among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined,^(ES) he also called;^(ET) those he called, he also justified;^(EU) those he justified, he also glorified.^(EV)

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things?^(EW) If God is for us,^(EX) who can be against us?^{(EY) 32} He who did not spare his own Son,^(EZ) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge^(FA) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns?^(FB) No one. Christ Jesus who died^(FC)—more than that, who was raised to life^(FD)—is at the right hand of God^(FE) and is also interceding for us.^{(FF) 35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?^(FG) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?^{(FH) 36} As it is written:

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors^(FJ) through him who loved us.^{(FK) 38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[q] neither the present nor the future,^(FL) nor any powers,^{(FM) 39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God^(FN) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.^(FO)