Beginning

Abraham’s Faith Counted as Righteousness

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has found? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.”^{[a] 4} Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited according to grace, but according to his due. ⁵ But to the one who does not work, but who believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks about the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁹ Therefore, is this blessing for those who are circumcised^[c], or also for those who are uncircumcised^[d]? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham for righteousness.”^{[e] 10} How then was it credited? While he^[f] was circumcised^[g] or uncircumcised^[h]? Not while circumcised^[i] but while uncircumcised^[j]! ¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal^[k] of the righteousness by faith which he had while uncircumcised^[l], so that he could be the father of all who believe although they are uncircumcised^[m], so that righteousness could be credited to them,^{[n] 12} and the father of those who are circumcised^[o] to those who are not only from the circumcision, but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised^[p].

The Promise to Abraham Secured through Faith

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants, that he would be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness by faith. ¹⁴ For if those of the law are heirs, faith is rendered void and the promise is nullified. ¹⁵ For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression. ¹⁶ Because of this, it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise may be secure to all the descendants, not only to those of the law, but also to those of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (just as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)^[q] before God, in whom he believed, the one who makes the dead alive and who calls the things that are not as though they are, ¹⁸ who against hope believed in hope, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was said, “so will your descendants be.”^{[r] 19} And not being weak in faith, he considered his own body as good as dead, ^[s] because he^[t] was approximately a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ And he did not waver in unbelief at the promise of God, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God ²¹ and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to do. ²² Therefore^[u] it was credited to him for righteousness. ²³ But it was not written for the sake of him alone that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but also for the sake of us to whom it is going to be credited, to those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was handed over on account of our trespasses, and was raised up in the interest of our justification.^[v]

Reconciliation with God through Faith in Christ

5 Therefore, because we^[w] have been declared righteous by faith, we have^[x] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only this, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we^[y] know that affliction produces patient endurance, ⁴ and patient endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶ For while^[z] we were still helpless, yet at the proper time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For only rarely will someone die on behalf of a righteous person (for on behalf of a good person possibly someone might even dare to die), ⁸ but God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while^[aa] we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Therefore, by much more, because we^[ab] have been declared righteous now by his blood, we will be saved through him from the wrath. ¹⁰ For if, while we^[ac] were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, by much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹ And not only this, but also we are boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Death Came through Adam but Life Comes through Christ

¹² Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. ¹³ For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not charged to one’s account when there^[ad] is no law. ¹⁴ But death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who is to come. ¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass^[ae], for if by the trespass of the one, the many died, by much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, multiply to the many. ¹⁶ And the gift is not as through the one who sinned, for on the one hand, judgment from the one sin led to condemnation, but the gift, from many trespasses, led to justification. ¹⁷ For if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ Consequently therefore, as through one trespass came condemnation to all people, so also through one righteous deed came justification of life to all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in as a side issue, in order that the trespass could increase, but where sin increased, grace was present in greater abundance, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Formerly Dead to Sin, Now Alive in Christ

6 What therefore shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, in order that grace may increase? ² May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life^[af]. ⁵ For if we have become identified with him in the likeness of his death, certainly also we will be identified with him in the likeness^[ag] of his resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified together with him, in order that the body of sin may be done away with, that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For the one who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, because he^[ah] has been raised from the dead, is going to die no more, death no longer being master over him. ¹⁰ For that death he died, he died to sin once and never again, but that life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So also you, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires, ¹³ and do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will not be master over you, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Set Free from Sin

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whomever you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whomever you obey, whether sin, leading to death, or obedience, leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. ¹⁹ (I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.) For just as you presented your members as slaves to immorality and lawlessness, leading to lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, leading to sanctification. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with respect to righteousness.

²¹ Therefore what sort of fruit did you have then, about which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now, having been set free from sin and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit leading to sanctification, and its end is eternal life. ²³ For the compensation due sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released from the Law through Death

7 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time as he lives? ² For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. ³ Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man while^[ai] her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she^[aj] belongs to another man. ⁴ So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, sinful desires were working through the law in our members, to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been released from the law, because we^[ak] have died to that by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter of the law.

Knowledge of Sin Comes through the Law

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”^{[al] 8} But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is dead. ⁹ And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when^[am] the commandment came, sin sprang to life ¹⁰ and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Internal Conflict with Sin

¹³ Therefore, did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be recognized as sin, producing death through what is good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into slavery to sin^[an]. ¹⁵ For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. ¹⁶ But if what I do not want to do, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. ¹⁹ For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. ²⁰ But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.

²¹ Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me.^{[ao] 22} For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, ²³ but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be^[ap] to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.