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so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
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Slaves to Righteousness
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
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Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
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I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
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When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
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So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
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in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
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But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
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Israel’s Unbelief
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
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but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
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Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
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Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
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Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
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But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)
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For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
