What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

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Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

What shall we say, then?(A) Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?(B)

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16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

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16 Live as free people,(A) but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil;(B) live as God’s slaves.(C)

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13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

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Life by the Spirit

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.(A) But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a];(B) rather, serve one another(C) humbly in love.

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Footnotes

  1. Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

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Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?(A) By no means!

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Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

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Or do you show contempt for the riches(A) of his kindness,(B) forbearance(C) and patience,(D) not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?(E)

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But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

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But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly,(A) what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)(B) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?(C) Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory,(D) why am I still condemned as a sinner?”(E) Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”?(F) Their condemnation is just!

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20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

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20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.(A) But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,(B) 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death,(C) so also grace(D) might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life(E) through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

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31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

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For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

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For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[a] long ago have secretly slipped in among you.(A) They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation

18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

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18 For they mouth empty, boastful words(A) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping(B) from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”(C)

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