Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

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

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.^{(H) 6} For we know that our old self^(I) was crucified with him^(J) so that the body ruled by sin^(K) might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin^(L)— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.^(M)

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

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin^(S) but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign^(T) 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,^(U) 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.^{(V) 14} For sin shall no longer be your master,^(W) because you are not under the law,^(X) but under grace.^(Y)

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?^(Z) 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 obey^(AA)—whether you are slaves to sin,^(AB) which leads to death,^(AC) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God^(AD) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,^(AE) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching^(AF) that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin^(AG) and have become slaves to righteousness.^(AH)

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life^(AI) 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^(AJ) leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin,^(AK) you were free from the control of righteousness.^{(AL) 21} What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!^{(AM) 22} But now that you have been set free from sin^(AN) and have become slaves of God,^(AO) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.^{(AP) 23} For the wages of sin is death,^(AQ) but the gift of God is eternal life^(AR) in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(AS)—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.^{(AT) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(AU) 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 law^(AV) through the body of Christ,^(AW) that you might belong to another,^(AX) 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,^[c](AY) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(AZ) were at work in us,^(BA) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(BB) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(BC) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(BD)

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(BE) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(BF) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(BG) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[d](BH) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(BI) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(BJ) 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 life^(BK) actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(BL) deceived me,^(BM) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(BN)

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 good^(BO) to bring about my death,^(BP) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(BQ) sold^(BR) as a slave to sin.^{(BS) 15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{(BT) 16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{(BU) 17} As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{(BV) 18} For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[e](BW) 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.^{(BX) 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.^(BY)

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

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^(CG) but in my sinful nature^[f] a slave to the law of sin.^(CH)