Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 ^(A)What shall we say then? Are we to ^(B)continue in sin so that grace may increase? ^2 (C)May it never be! How shall we who ^(D)died to sin still live in it? ³ Or do you not know that all of us who were ^(E)baptized into ^(F)Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were ^(G)buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was ^(H)raised from the dead through the ^(I)glory of the Father, so we too might walk in ^(J)newness of life. ⁵ For ^(K)if we have become ^[a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be ^[b]in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our ^(L)old man was ^(M)crucified with Him, in order that our ^(N)body of sin might be ^[c]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for ^(O)he who has died has been ^[d]justified from sin.

⁸ Now ^(P)if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been ^(Q)raised from the dead, ^[e]is never to die again; ^(R)death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be ^(S)dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹² Therefore do not let sin ^(T)reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on ^(U)presenting your members to sin as ^[f]instruments of unrighteousness, but ^(V)present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as ^[g]instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For ^(W)sin shall not ^(X)be master over you, for ^(Y)you are not under law but ^(Z)under grace.

Slaves of Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? ^(AA)Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? ^(AB)May it never be! ¹⁶ Do you not ^(AC)know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as ^(AD)slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of ^(AE)sin ^[h]leading to death, or of obedience ^[i]leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(AF)thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that ^(AG)pattern of teaching to which you were ^(AH)given over, ¹⁸ and having been ^(AI)freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ^19 (AJ)I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^(AK)as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ^[j]leading to further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, ^[k]leading to sanctification.

²⁰ For ^(AL)when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what ^[l](AM)benefit were you then having ^[m]from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is ^(AN)death. ²² But now having been ^(AO)freed from sin and ^(AP)enslaved to God, you have your ^[n](AQ)benefit, ^[o]leading to sanctification, and ^(AR)the end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of ^(AS)sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^(AT)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released from the Law

7 Or do you not know, ^(AU)brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? ² For ^(AV)the married woman has been bound by law to her ^[p]husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ^[q]concerning the husband. ³ So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

⁴ So, my brothers, you also were ^(AW)made to die ^(AX)to the Law ^(AY)through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were ^(AZ)in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were ^(BA)aroused by the Law, were at work ^(BB)in our members to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we have been ^(BC)released from the Law, having ^(BD)died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in ^(BE)newness of ^[r](BF)the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

^7 (BG)What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? ^(BH)May it never be! Rather, ^(BI)I would not have come to know sin except ^[s]through the Law. For I would not have known about ^[t]coveting if the Law had not said, “^(BJ)You shall not ^[u]covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(BK)taking opportunity ^(BL)through the commandment, worked out in me ^[v]coveting of every kind. For ^(BM)apart ^[w]from the Law sin is dead. ⁹ Now I was once alive apart ^[x]from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; ¹⁰ and this commandment, which was ^[y](BN)to lead to life, was found ^[z]to lead to death for me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(BO)taking an opportunity ^(BP)through the commandment, ^(BQ)deceived me and through it killed me. ^12 (BR)So, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The Conflict of Two Natures

¹³ Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? ^(BS)May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would ^[aa]become utterly sinful.

¹⁴ For we know that the Law is ^(BT)spiritual, but I am ^(BU)fleshly, ^(BV)having been sold ^[ab](BW)into bondage under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am working out, ^(BX)I do not understand; for I am not practicing ^(BY)what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with ^(BZ)the Law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now, ^(CA)no longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my ^(CB)flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. ¹⁹ For ^(CC)the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, ^(CD)I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

²¹ I find then ^(CE)the ^[ac]principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. ²² For I joyfully concur with the law of God ^[ad]in ^(CF)the inner man, ²³ but I see ^(CG)a different law in my members, waging war against the ^(CH)law of my mind and making me a captive ^[ae]to ^(CI)the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^[af](CJ)the body of this ^(CK)death? ^25 [ag](CL)Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh ^(CM)the law of sin.