Beginning
Chapter 4[a]
Abraham Justified by Faith. 1 What then can we say that Abraham found, our ancestor according to the flesh?(A) 2 [b]Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God. 3 (B)For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[c] 4 A worker’s wage is credited not as a gift, but as something due.(C) 5 But when one does not work, yet believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 So also David declares the blessedness of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven(D)
and whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not record.”
9 Does this blessedness[d] apply only to the circumcised, or to the uncircumcised as well? Now we assert that “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”(E) 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or not? He was not circumcised, but uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal on the righteousness received through faith while he was uncircumcised. Thus he was to be the father of all the uncircumcised who believe, so that to them [also] righteousness might be credited,(F) 12 as well as the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but also follow the path of faith that our father Abraham walked while still uncircumcised.
Inheritance Through Faith. 13 It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.(G) 14 For if those who adhere to the law are the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.(H) 15 For the law produces wrath;(I) but where there is no law, neither is there violation.[e] 16 For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us,(J) 17 as it is written, “I have made you father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist.(K) 18 He believed, hoping against hope,(L) that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “Thus shall your descendants be.” 19 (M)He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body as [already] dead (for he was almost a hundred years old) and the dead womb of Sarah. 20 He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief;[f] rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God 21 and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do.(N) 22 That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”(O) 23 But it was not for him alone that it was written that “it was credited to him”; 24 it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,(P) 25 who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification.(Q)
Chapter 5
Faith, Hope, and Love.[g] 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace[h] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,(R) 2 through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.(S) 3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope,(T) 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.(U) 6 For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die.[i] 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.(V) 9 How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.(W) 10 Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life.(X) 11 Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Humanity’s Sin Through Adam. 12 [j]Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world,(Y) and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned[k]— 13 for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law.(Z) 14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.(AA)
Grace and Life Through Christ. 15 But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many. 16 And the gift is not like the result of the one person’s sinning. For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation; but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal. 17 For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. 18 In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all.(AB) 19 For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.(AC) 20 The law entered in[l] so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more,(AD) 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.(AE)
IV. Justification and the Christian Life
Chapter 6
Freedom from Sin; Life in God. 1 [m]What then shall we say? Shall we persist in sin that grace may abound? Of course not!(AF) 2 How can we who died to sin yet live in it?(AG) 3 Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?(AH) 4 We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.(AI)
5 For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.(AJ) 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.(AK) 7 For a dead person has been absolved from sin. 8 If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.(AL) 9 We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.(AM) 10 As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.(AN) 11 Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.(AO)
12 [n]Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.(AP) 13 And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness.(AQ) 14 For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.(AR)
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not!(AS) 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves,(AT) you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?(AU) 17 But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted.[o] 18 Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature. For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness for lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. 20 (AV)For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.[p] 21 But what profit did you get then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.(AW) 22 But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,[q] and its end is eternal life.(AX) 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(AY)
Chapter 7
Freedom from the Law.[r] 1 Are you unaware, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over one as long as one lives? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her living husband; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law in respect to her husband.(AZ) 3 Consequently, while her husband is alive she will be called an adulteress if she consorts with another man. But if her husband dies she is free from that law, and she is not an adulteress if she consorts with another man.
4 In the same way, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, awakened by the law, worked in our members to bear fruit for death.(BA) 6 But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.(BB)
Acquaintance with Sin Through the Law. 7 [s]What then can we say? That the law is sin? Of course not![t] Yet I did not know sin except through the law, and I did not know what it is to covet except that the law said, “You shall not covet.”(BC) 8 But sin, finding an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law sin is dead.(BD) 9 I once lived outside the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive; 10 then I died, and the commandment that was for life turned out to be death for me.(BE) 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death.(BF) 12 So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.(BG)
Sin and Death.[u] 13 Did the good, then, become death for me? Of course not! Sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, worked death in me through the good, so that sin might become sinful beyond measure through the commandment.(BH) 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin.(BI) 15 What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.(BJ) 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. 20 Now if [I] do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. 22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23 (BK)but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.[v] 24 Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.(BL)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.