¹Now that we have God’s approval by faith, we have peace with God because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. ²Through Christ we can approach God^aand stand in his favor.^bSo we brag because of our confidence that we will receive glory from God. ³But that’s not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, ⁴endurance creates character, and character creates confidence. ⁵We’re not ashamed to have this confidence, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶Look at it this way: At the right time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for ungodly people. ⁷Finding someone who would die for a godly person is rare. Maybe someone would have the courage to die for a good person. ⁸Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God’s love for us.

⁹Since Christ’s blood has now given us God’s approval, we are even more certain that Christ will save us from God’s anger. ¹⁰If the death of his Son restored our relationship with God while we were still his enemies, we are even more certain that, because of this restored relationship, the life of his Son will save us. ¹¹In addition, our Lord Jesus Christ lets us continue to brag about God. After all, it is through Christ that we now have this restored relationship with God.

A Comparison between Adam and Christ

¹²Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. Sod death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned. ¹³Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws. ¹⁴Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. Adam is an image of the one who would come.

¹⁵There is no comparison between ⸤God’s⸥ gift and ⸤Adam’s⸥ failure. If humanity died as the result of one person’s failure, it is certainly true that God’s kindness^cand the gift given through the kindness of one person, Jesus Christ, have been showered on humanity.

¹⁶There is also no comparison between ⸤God’s⸥ gift and the one who sinned. The verdict which followed one person’s failure condemned everyone. But, even after many failures, the gift brought God’s approval. ¹⁷It is certain that death ruled because of one person’s failure. It’s even more certain that those who receive God’s overflowing kindness and the gift of his approval will rule in life because of one person, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸Therefore, everyone was condemned through one failure, and everyone received God’s life-giving approval through one verdict. ¹⁹Clearly, through one person’s disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person’s obedience humanity will receive God’s approval. ²⁰The laws in Moses’ Teachings were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God’s kindness increased even more. ²¹As sin ruled by bringing death, God’s kindness would rule by bringing us his approval. This results in our living forever because of Jesus Christ our Lord.

6TH CHAPTER

No Longer Slaves to Sin, but God’s Servants

¹What should we say then? Should we continue to sin so that God’s kindness^awill increase? ²That’s unthinkable! As far as sin is concerned, we have died. So how can we still live under sin’s influence?

³Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴When we were baptized into his death, we were placed into the tomb with him. As Christ was brought back from death to life by the glorious power of the Father, so we, too, should live a new kind of life. ⁵If we’ve become united with him in a death like his, certainly we will also be united with him when we come back to life as he did. ⁶We know that the person we used to be was crucified with him to put an end to sin in our bodies. Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin. ⁷The person who has died has been freed from sin.

⁸If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, who was brought back to life, will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. ¹⁰When he died, he died once and for all to sin’s power. But now he lives, and he lives for God. ¹¹So consider yourselves dead to sin’s power but living for God in the power Christ Jesus gives you.

¹²Therefore, never let sin rule your physical body so that you obey its desires. ¹³Never offer any part of your body to sin’s power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and are now alive. Offer all the parts of your body to God. Use them to do everything that God approves of. ¹⁴Certainly, sin shouldn’t have power over you because you’re not controlled by God’s laws, but by God’s favor.^b

¹⁵Then what is the implication? Should we sin because we are not controlled by God’s laws but by God’s favor? That’s unthinkable! ¹⁶Don’t you know that if you offer to be someone’s slave, you must obey that master? Either your master is sin, or your master is obedience. Letting sin be your master leads to death. Letting obedience be your master leads to God’s approval. ¹⁷You were slaves to sin. But I thank God that you have become wholeheartedly obedient to the teachings which you were given. ¹⁸Freed from sin, you were made slaves who do what God approves of.

¹⁹I’m speaking in a human way because of the weakness of your corrupt nature. Clearly, you once offered all the parts of your body as slaves to sexual perversion and disobedience. This led you to live disobedient lives. Now, in the same way, offer all the parts of your body as slaves that do what God approves of. This leads you to live holy lives. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from doing what God approves of.

²¹What did you gain by doing those things? You’re ashamed of what you used to do because it ended in death. ²²Now you have been freed from sin and have become God’s slaves. This results in a holy life and, finally, in everlasting life. ²³The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Footnotes

a 5:2 Some manuscripts read “we can approach God through faith.”
b 5:2 Or “grace.”
c 5:15 Or “grace.”
a 6:1 Or “grace.”
b 6:14 Or “grace.”