Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? aShall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who bdied to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that cas many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus dwere baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were eburied with Him through baptism into death, that fjust as Christ was raised from the dead by gthe glory of the Father, heven so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 iFor if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that jour old man was crucified with Him, that kthe body of sin might be 1done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For lhe who has died has been 2freed from sin. 8 Now mif we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that nChrist, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, oHe died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, pHe lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, 3reckon yourselves to be qdead indeed to sin, but ralive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 sTherefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your tmembers as 4instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but upresent yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as 4instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For vsin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

15 What then? Shall we sin wbecause we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that xto whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart ythat form of doctrine to which you were 5delivered. 18 And zhaving been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness 6for holiness.

20 For when you were aslaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 bWhat fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For cthe end of those things is death. 22 But now dhaving been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit 7to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For ethe wages of sin is death, but fthe 8gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law 1has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For athe woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then bif, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become cdead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should dbear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ewere at work in our members fto bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve gin the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, hI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, i“You shall not covet.” 8 But jsin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For kapart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, lwhich was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore mthe law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, nsold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. oFor what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that pin me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I qdelight in the law of God according to rthe inward man. 23 But sI see another law in tmy members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ufrom this body of death? 25 vI thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Free from Indwelling Sin

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, awho 1do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For bthe law of cthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from dthe law of sin and death. 3 For ewhat the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, fGod did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who gdo not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For hthose who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, ithe things of the Spirit. 6 For jto be 2carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because kthe 3carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, lnor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of mHim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, nHe who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 4through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Sonship Through the Spirit

12 oTherefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For pif you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you qput to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For ras many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For syou did not receive the spirit of bondage again tto fear, but you received the uSpirit of adoption by whom we cry out, v“Abba, 5Father.” 16 wThe Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then xheirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, yif indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

From Suffering to Glory

18 For I consider that zthe sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For athe earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For bthe creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of 6corruption into the glorious cliberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation dgroans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have ethe firstfruits of the Spirit, feven we ourselves groan gwithin ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the hredemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but ihope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For jwe do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but kthe Spirit Himself makes intercession 7for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now lHe who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints maccording to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those nwho are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom oHe foreknew, pHe also predestined qto be conformed to the image of His Son, rthat He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also scalled; whom He called, these He also tjustified; and whom He justified, these He also uglorified.

God’s Everlasting Love

31 What then shall we say to these things? vIf God is for us, who can be against us? 32 wHe who did not spare His own …