¹⁵ For ^(A)the law brings wrath, but ^(B)where there is no law ^(C)there is no transgression.

¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but ^(A)sin is not counted where there is no law.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are ^(A)under a curse; for it is written, ^(B)“Cursed be everyone who does not ^(C)abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and ^(A)the power of sin is the law.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever ^(A)the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, ^(B)so that every mouth may be stopped, and ^(C)the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰ For ^(D)by works of the law no human being^[a] will be justified in his sight, since ^(E)through the law comes knowledge of sin.

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. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(E)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(F)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(G)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So ^(H)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(I)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(J)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(K)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(L)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(M)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (N)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(O)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(P)I delight in the law of God, ^(Q)in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members ^(R)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^(S)this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

⁴ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; ^(A)sin is lawlessness.

²⁰ Now ^(A)the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, ^(B)grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, ^(C)as sin reigned in death, ^(D)grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁹ Why then the law? ^(A)It was added because of transgressions, ^(B)until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ^(C)put in place through angels ^(D)by an intermediary.