Romans 6-7

New King James Version

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? ^(A)Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ²Certainly not! How shall we who ^(B)died to sin live any longer in it? ³Or do you not know that ^(C)as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus ^(D)were baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were ^(E)buried with Him through baptism into death, that ^(F)just as Christ was raised from the dead by ^(G)the glory of the Father, ^(H)even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵^(I)For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶knowing this, that ^(J)our old man was crucified with Him, that ^(K)the body of sin might be ^[a]done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷For ^(L)he who has died has been ^[b]freed from sin. ⁸Now ^(M)if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹knowing that ^(N)Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰For the death that He died, ^(O)He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, ^(P)He lives to God. ¹¹Likewise you also, ^[c]reckon yourselves to be ^(Q)dead indeed to sin, but ^(R)alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹²^(S)Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³And do not present your ^(T)members as ^[d]instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but ^(U)present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴For ^(V)sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin ^(W)because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶Do you not know that ^(X)to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart ^(Y)that form of doctrine to which you were ^[e]delivered. ¹⁸And ^(Z)having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness ^[f]for holiness.

²⁰For when you were ^(AA)slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹^(AB)What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For ^(AC)the end of those things is death. ²²But now ^(AD)having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit ^[g]to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. ²³For ^(AE)the wages of sin is death, but ^(AF)the ^[h]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[i]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ²For ^(AG)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³So then ^(AH)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(AI)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(AJ)bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(AK)were at work in our members ^(AL)to bear fruit to death. ⁶But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(AM)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(AN)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(AO)“You shall not covet.” ⁸But ^(AP)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(AQ)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰And the commandment, ^(AR)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹²Therefore ^(AS)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³Has 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. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(AT)sold under sin. ¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^(AU)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸For I know that ^(AV)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. ¹⁹For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

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