¹⁶ Circumcise^(A) your hearts,^(B) therefore, and do not be stiff-necked^(C) any longer.

⁶ The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,^(A) so that you may love^(B) him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

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)

²² For in my inner being^(A) I delight in God’s law;^{(B) 23} but I see another law at work in me, waging war^(C) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^(D) at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^{(E) 25} Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^(F)

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

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(I) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^(J)

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you,^(A) brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,^(B) holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform^(C) to the pattern of this world,^(D) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.^(E) Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is^(F)—his good, pleasing^(G) and perfect will.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin,^(A) we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.^{(B) 9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins^(C) and purify us from all unrighteousness.^{(D) 10} If we claim we have not sinned,^(E) we make him out to be a liar^(F) and his word is not in us.^(G)

2 My dear children,^(H) I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate^(I) with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,^(J) and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.^(K)