Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

7 My brothers, I am saying this to you people who know the law. Do you not know that the law is master over a person only while he lives?

² A married woman belongs to her husband by law as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law that made her belong to her husband.

³ So if she belongs to another man while her husband is living, she commits adultery. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then if she belongs to another man, she does not commit adultery.

⁴ In the same way my brothers, you died when Christ died. And you are free from the law. Now you belong to another person. You belong to the one who has been raised from death. Because of that, we are able to do what God wants us to do.

⁵ One time we lived in the way our bodies wanted to live. The law made us think about doing wrong things. And we did things that made us die.

⁶ But now we have been made free from the law. We died, and so we are no longer slaves to the one who was our master. Now we are slaves to God in our new life. This new life is ruled by the Spirit. We do not work for the old written law.