Romans 6:1–7:25

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What 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? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptizedb into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into deathc in order that, just as Christ was raised from the deadd through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.e

5 For 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 selfg was crucified with himh so that the body ruled by sini might be done away with,a that we should no longer be slaves to sinj—7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.k

8 Now 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 sino once for all;p but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sinq but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reignr in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do 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

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

19 I am using an example from everyday lifeg 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 righteousnessh leading to holiness. 20 When 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 sinl 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 lifep inb Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sistersq—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For 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.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the lawt 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. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,a w the sinful passions aroused by the lawx 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 lawa 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

7 What 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.”b f 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. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring lifei actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,j deceived me,k and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.l

13 Did 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 goodm to bring about my death,n so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,o soldp 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.c u For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For 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

21 So I find this law at work:x Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner beingy I delight in God’s law;z 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging wara against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sinb at work within me. 24 What 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 natured a slave to the law of sin.f