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

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnationg for those who are in Christ Jesus,h 2 because through Christ Jesusi the law of the Spirit who gives lifej has set youa freek from the law of sinl and death. 3 For what the law was powerlessm to do because it was weakened by the flesh,b n God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesho to be a sin offering.c p And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirementq of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.r

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;s but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.t 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death,u but the mind governed by the Spirit is lifev and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;w it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the fleshx cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the fleshy but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.z And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,a they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,b then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives lifed because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the deadc is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodiesd because ofe his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.e 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;f but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,g you will live.h

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of Godi are the children of God.j 15 The Spiritk you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;l rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.f And by him we cry, “Abba,g Father.”m 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spiritn that we are God’s children.o 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirsp—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferingsq in order that we may also share in his glory.r

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.s 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of Godt to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,u in hope 21 thath the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decayv and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.w

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaningx as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,y groanz inwardly as we wait eagerlya for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.b 24 For in this hope we were saved.c But hope that is seen is no hope at all.d Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.e

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spiritf himself intercedes for usg through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our heartsh knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedesi for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the goodj of those who love him, whoi have been calledk according to his purpose.l 29 For those God foreknewm he also predestinedn to be conformed to the image of his Son,o that he might be the firstbornp among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined,q he also called;r those he called, he also justified;s those he justified, he also glorified.t

More Than Conquerors

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things?u If God is for us,v who can be against us?w 32 He who did not spare his own Son,x but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any chargey against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns?z No one. Christ Jesus who dieda—more than that, who was raised to lifeb—is at the right hand of Godc and is also interceding for us.d 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?e Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?f 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”j g

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerorsh through him who loved us.i 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,k neither the present nor the future,j nor any powers,k 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of Godl that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.m

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,n my conscience confirmso it through the Holy Spirit—2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myselfp were cursedq and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,r those of my own race,s 4 the people of Israel.t Theirs is the adoption to sonship;u theirs the divine glory,v the covenants,w the receiving of the law,x the temple worshipy and the promises.z 5 Theirs are the patriarchs,a and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,b who is God over all,c forever praised!a d Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

6 It is not as though God’s worde had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.f 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”b g 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,h but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.i 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”c j

10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.k 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or badl—in order that God’s purposem in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”d n 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”e o

14 What then shall we say?p Is God unjust? Not at all!q 15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”f r

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.s 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”g t 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.u

19 One of you will say to me:v “Then why does God still blame us?w For who is able to resist his will?”x 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?y “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,z ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”h a 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?b

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patiencec the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?d 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glorye known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for gloryf—24 even us, whom he also called,g not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?h 25 As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;

and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”i i

26 and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,

‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”j j

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,k

only the remnant will be saved.l

28 For the Lord will carry out

his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”k m

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almightyn

had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.”l o

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What then shall we say?p That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;q 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,r have not attained their goal.s 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.t 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall,

and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”m u