Peace and Hope

5 Therefore, since we have been justifieda through faith,b we* have peacec with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,d  2through whom we have gained accesse by faith into this grace in which we now stand.f And we* boast in the hopeg of the glory of God.  3Not only so, but we* also glory in our sufferings,h because we know that suffering produces perseverance;i  4perseverance, character; and character, hope.  5And hopej does not put us to shame, because God’s lovek has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,l who has been given to us.

 6You see, at just the right time,m when we were still powerless,n Christ died for the ungodly.o  7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.p

 9Since we have now been justifiedq by his blood,r how much more shall we be saved from God’s wraths through him!  10For if, while we were God’s enemies,t we were reconciledu to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!v  11Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.w

 Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,a and death through sin,b and in this way death came to all people, because all sinnedc—

 13To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.d  14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam,e who is a pattern of the one to come.f

 15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man,g how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,h overflow to the many!  16Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  17For if, by the trespass of the one man, deathi reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in lifej through the one man, Jesus Christ!

 18Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people,k so also one righteous act resulted in justificationl and lifem for all.  19For just as through the disobedience of the one mann the many were made sinners,o so also through the obediencep of the one man the many will be made righteous.

 20The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.q But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,r  21so that, just as sin reigned in death,s so also gracet might reign through righteousness to bring eternal lifeu through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

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

 5If 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  6For we know that our old selfi was crucified with himj so that the body ruled by sink might be done away with,* that we should no longer be slaves to sinl—  7because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.m

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

 11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sins but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  12Therefore do not let sin reignt 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,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  14For sin shall no longer be your master,w because you are not under the law,x but under grace.y

 Slaves to Righteousness

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

 19I am using an example from everyday lifej 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 righteousnessk leading to holiness.  20When you were slaves to sin,l you were free from the control of righteousness.m  21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!n  22But now that you have been set free from sino and have become slaves of God,p the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.q  23For the wages of sin is death,r but the gift of God is eternal lifes in* Christ Jesus our Lord.

  Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sistersa—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.b  3So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.c 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 lawd through the body of Christ,e that you might belong to another,f to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  5For when we were controlled by our sinful nature,*g the sinful passions aroused by the lawh were at work in us,i so that we bore fruit for death.j  6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the lawk so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.l

 The Law and Sin

7What shall we say, then?a Is the law sinful? Certainly not!b Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.c For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”*d  8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,e produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.f  9Once 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 lifeg actually brought death.  11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,h deceived me,i and through the commandment put me to death.  12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.j

 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 goodk to bring about my death,l so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

 14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,m soldn as a slave to sin.o  15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.p  16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.q  17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.r  18I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.*s 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.t  20Now 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.u

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

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