¹⁹ but ^(A)the cares of ^(B)the world and ^(C)the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

¹⁵ And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

^44 (A)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(B)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(C)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(D)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

²⁴ Therefore ^(A)God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to ^(B)the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

¹² Let not ^(A)sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

The Law and Sin

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(A)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(B)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(C)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(D)For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

¹⁴ But ^(A)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^(B)to gratify its desires.

Keep in Step with the Spirit

¹⁶ But I say, ^(A)walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^(B)the desires of the flesh.

²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus ^(A)have crucified the flesh with its ^(B)passions and desires.

³ among whom we all once lived in ^(A)the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and ^(B)were by nature ^(C)children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b]