Believers United to Christ

7 Or do you not know, ^[a]brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction [to rule] over a person as long as he lives?

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, if it had not been for the Law, I would not have recognized sin. For I would not have known [for example] about coveting [what belongs to another, and would have had no sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, “You shall not covet.”^(A)

¹² So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

²⁴ with the result that the Law has become our tutor and our disciplinarian to guide us to Christ, so that we may be ^[a]justified [that is, declared free of the guilt of sin and its penalty, and placed in right standing with God] by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under [the control and authority of] a tutor and disciplinarian.

¹⁸ But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law.

¹⁹ Now the practices of the ^[a]sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), ^20 [b]idolatry, ^[c]sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], ²¹ envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.