Romans 6–7

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6What shall we say, then?^y Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?^{z 2}By no means! We are those who have died to sin;^a how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized^b into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death^c in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead^d through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.^e

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.^{f 6}For we know that our old self^g was crucified with him^h so that the body ruled by sinⁱ might be done away with,^a that we should no longer be slaves to sin^j—⁷because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.^k

⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.^{l 9}For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,^m he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.^{n 10}The death he died, he died to sin^o once for all;^p but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin^q but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign^r in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,^s but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.^{t 14}For sin shall no longer be your master,^u because you are not under the law,^v but under grace.^w

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^x By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey^y—whether you are slaves to sin,^z which leads to death,^a or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God^b that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^c you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^d that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin^e and have become slaves to righteousness.^f

¹⁹I am using an example from everyday life^g because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness^h leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin,ⁱ you were free from the control of righteousness.^{j 21}What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!^{k 22}But now that you have been set free from sin^l and have become slaves of God,^m the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.^{n 23}For the wages of sin is death,^o but the gift of God is eternal life^p in^b Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7Do you not know, brothers and sisters^q—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ²For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^{r 3}So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^s But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^t through the body of Christ,^u that you might belong to another,^v to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^aw the sinful passions aroused by the law^x were at work in us,^y so that we bore fruit for death.^{z 6}But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^a so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^b

The Law and Sin

⁷What shall we say, then?^c Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^d Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^e For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{bf 8}But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^g produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{h 9}Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring lifeⁱ actually brought death. ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^j deceived me,^k and through the commandment put me to death. ¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^l

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^m to bring about my death,ⁿ so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^o sold^p as a slave to sin.^{q 15}I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{r 16}And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{s 17}As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{t 18}For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^cu For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^{v 20}Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^w

²¹So I find this law at work:^x Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being^y I delight in God’s law;^{z 23}but I see another law at work in me, waging war^a against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^b at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^{c 25}Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^d

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^e but in my sinful nature^d a slave to the law of sin.^f