Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(A)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(B)“You shall not covet.”

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(A)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^(B)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that ^(C)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I ^(D)delight in the law of God according to ^(E)the inward man. ²³ But ^(F)I see another law in ^(G)my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ^(H)from this body of death? ^25 (I)I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

^27 (A)But I discipline my body and ^(B)bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become ^(C)disqualified.

⁶ And He said to me, ^(A)“It^[a] is done! ^(B)I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. ^(C)I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. ⁷ He who overcomes ^[b]shall inherit all things, and ^(D)I will be his God and he shall be My son. ^8 (E)But the cowardly, ^[c]unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in ^(F)the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

²⁷ But ^(A)there shall by no means enter it anything ^[a]that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s ^(B)Book of Life.

Jesus Testifies to the Churches

¹² “And behold, I am coming quickly, and ^(A)My reward is with Me, ^(B)to give to every one according to his work. ^13 (C)I am the Alpha and the Omega, the ^[a]Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

^14 (D)Blessed are those who ^[b]do His commandments, that they may have the right ^(E)to the tree of life, ^(F)and may enter through the gates into the city. ^15 [c]But ^(G)outside are ^(H)dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(A)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(B)we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, ^(C)because it did not know Him. ² Beloved, ^(D)now we are children of God; and ^(E)it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, ^(F)we shall be like Him, for ^(G)we shall see Him as He is. ^3 (H)And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

^14 (A)Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, ^(B)without which no one will see the Lord:

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[a]general assembly and church of ^(A)the firstborn ^(B)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(C)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(D)made perfect,