Chapter 7

Believers United to Christ

1 Or do you not know, abrethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?

2 For athe married woman is bound by law to her 1husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law 2concerning the husband.

3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were amade to die bto the Law cthrough the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

5 For while we were ain the flesh, the sinful passions, which were baroused by the Law, were at work cin 1the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

6 But now we have been areleased from the Law, having bdied to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in cnewness of dthe 1Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

7 aWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? bMay it never be! On the contrary, cI would not have come to know sin except 1through the Law; for I would not have known about 2coveting if the Law had not said, “dYou shall not 2covet.”

8 But sin, ataking opportunity bthrough the commandment, produced in me 1coveting of every kind; for capart 2from the Law sin is dead.

9 I was once alive apart 1from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;

10 and this commandment, which was 1ato result in life, proved 2to result in death for me;

11 for sin, ataking an opportunity bthrough the commandment, cdeceived me and through it killed me.

12 aSo then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? aMay it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

The Conflict of Two Natures

14 For we know that the Law is aspiritual, but I am aof flesh, bsold 1cinto bondage to sin.

15 For what I am doing, aI do not understand; for I am not practicing bwhat I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with athe Law, confessing that the Law is good.

17 So now, ano longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my aflesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

19 For athe good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, aI am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find then athe 1principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God 1in athe inner man,

23 but I see aa different law in 1the members of my body, waging war against the blaw of my mind and making me a prisoner 2of cthe law of sin which is in my members.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from 1athe body of this bdeath?

25 aThanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh bthe law of sin.

Chapter 8

Deliverance from Bondage

1 Therefore there is now no acondemnation for those who are bin cChrist Jesus.

2 For athe law of the Spirit of life 1in bChrist Jesus chas set you free from the law of sin and of death.

3 For awhat the Law could not do, 1bweak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in cthe likeness of 2sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

4 so that the arequirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who bdo not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on athe things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, bthe things of the Spirit.

6 aFor the mind set on the flesh is bdeath, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

7 because the mind set on the flesh is ahostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

8 and those who are ain the flesh cannot please God.

9 However, you are not ain the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God bdwells in you. But cif anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

10 aIf Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is 1alive because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of Him who araised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, bHe who raised cChrist Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 1through His Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

13 for aif you are living according to the flesh, you 1must die; but if by the Spirit you are bputting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 For all who are abeing led by the Spirit of God, these are bsons of God.

15 For you ahave not received a spirit of slavery 1leading to fear again, but you bhave received 2a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “cAbba! Father!”

16 The Spirit Himself atestifies with our spirit that we are bchildren of God,

17 and if children, aheirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, bif indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time aare not worthy to be compared with the bglory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the aanxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for bthe revealing of the csons of God.

20 For the creation awas subjected to bfutility, not willingly, but cbecause of Him who subjected it, 1in hope

21 that athe creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation agroans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

23 aAnd not only this, but also we ourselves, having bthe first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves cgroan within ourselves, dwaiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, ethe redemption of our body.

24 For ain hope we have been saved, but bhope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

25 But aif we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for awe do not know how to pray as we should, but bthe Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

27 and aHe who searches the hearts knows what bthe mind of the Spirit is, because He cintercedes for the 1saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that 1God causes aall things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are bcalled according to His purpose.

29 For those whom He aforeknew, He also bpredestined to become cconformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the dfirstborn among many brethren;

30 and these whom He apredestined, He also bcalled; and these whom He called, He also cjustified; and these whom He justified, He also dglorified.

31 aWhat then shall we say to these things? bIf God is for us, who is against us?

32 He who adid not spare His own Son, but bdelivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

33 Who will bring a charge against aGod’s elect? bGod is the one who justifies;

34 who is the one who acondemns? Christ Jesus is He who bdied, yes, rather who was 1craised, who is dat the right hand of God, who also eintercedes for us.

35 Who will separate us from athe love of 1Christ? Will btribulation, or distress, or cpersecution, or cfamine, or cnakedness, or cperil, or sword?

36 Just as it is written,

“aFor Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly aconquer through bHim who loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither adeath, nor life, nor bangels, nor principalities, nor athings present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from athe love of God, which is bin Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 9

Solicitude for Israel

1 aI am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

3 For aI could 1wish that I myself were baccursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen caccording to the flesh,

4 who are aIsraelites, to whom belongs bthe adoption as sons, and cthe glory and dthe covenants and ethe giving of the Law and fthe temple service and gthe promises,

5 whose are athe fathers, and bfrom whom is 1the Christ according to the flesh, cwho is over all, dGod eblessed 2forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though athe word of God has failed. bFor they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;

7 nor are they all children abecause they are Abraham’s 1descendants, but: “2bthrough Isaac your 1descendants will be named.”

8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are achildren of God, but the bchildren of the promise are regarded as 1descendants.

9 For this is the word of promise: “aAt this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

10 aAnd not only this, but there was bRebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that aGod’s purpose according to His choice would 1stand, not 2because of works but 2because of Him who calls,

12 it was said to her, “aThe older will serve the younger.”

13 Just as it is written, “aJacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 aWhat shall we say then? bThere is no injustice with God, is there? cMay it never be!

15 For He says to Moses, “aI will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who aruns, but on bGod who has mercy.

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “aFor this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed 1throughout the whole earth.”

18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He ahardens whom He desires.

19 aYou will say to me then, “bWhy does He still find fault? For cwho resists His will?”

20 On the contrary, who are you, aO man, who banswers back to God? cThe thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?

21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel 1for honorable use and another 2for common use?

22 1What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much apatience vessels of wrath bprepared for destruction?

23 And He did so to make known athe riches of His glory upon bvessels of mercy, which He cprepared beforehand for glory,

24 even us, whom He also acalled, bnot from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

25 As He says also in Hosea,

“aI will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’

And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’ ”

26 “aAnd it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘you are not My people,’

There they shall be called sons of bthe living God.”

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “aThough the number of the sons of Israel be blike the sand of the sea, it is cthe remnant that will be saved;

28 afor the Lord will execute His word on the earth, 1thoroughly and 2quickly.”

29 And just as Isaiah foretold,

“aUnless bthe Lord of 1Sabaoth had left to us a 2posterity,

cWe would have become like Sodom, and would have 3resembled Gomorrah.”

30 aWhat shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even bthe righteousness which is 1by faith;

31 but Israel, apursuing a law of righteousness, did not barrive at that law.

32 Why? Because they did not pursue it 1by faith, but as though it were 1by works. They stumbled over athe stumbling stone,

33 just as it is written,

“aBehold, I lay in Zion ba stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,

cAnd he who believes in Him dwill not be 1disappointed.”