Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 6

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

¹ 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.

Chapter 7

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

¹ Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(a)—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.^{(b) 3} So then, if she has sexual relations with 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.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(d) 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. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a](g) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(h) were at work in us,⁽ⁱ⁾ so that we bore fruit for death.^{(j) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(k) 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

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(m) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!⁽ⁿ⁾ Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(o) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."^{[b](p) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(r) 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^(s) actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(t) deceived me,^(u) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(v)

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

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(y) sold^(z) as a slave to sin.^{(aa) 15} I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{(ab) 16} And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{(ac) 17} As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{(ad) 18} For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c](ae) 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.^{(af) 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.^(ag)

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

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law,^(ao) but in my sinful nature^[d] a slave to the law of sin.^(ap)

Chapter 8

Life Through the Spirit

¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation^(a) for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{(b) 2} because through Christ Jesus^(c) the law of the Spirit who gives life^(d) has set you^[a] free^(e) from the law of sin^(f) and death. ³ For what the law was powerless^(g) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b](h) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh⁽ⁱ⁾ to be a sin offering.^[c](j) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement^(k) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^(l)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;^(m) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.^{(n) 6} The mind governed by the flesh is death,^(o) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life^(p) and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^(q) it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh^(r) cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^(s) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^(t) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^(u) they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you,^(v) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^(w) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^(x) because of^[e] 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.^{(y) 13} For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^(z) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^(aa) you will live.^(ab)

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God^(ac) are the children of God.^{(ad) 15} The Spirit^(ae) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;^(af) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, "Abba,^[g] Father."^{(ag) 16} The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit^(ah) that we are God's children.^{(ai) 17} Now if we are children, then we are heirs^(aj)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings^(ak) in order that we may also share in his glory.^(al)

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.^{(am) 19} For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God^(an) 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,^(ao) in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay^(ap) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.^(aq)

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning^(ar) 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,^(as) groan^(at) inwardly as we wait eagerly^(au) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^{(av) 24} For in this hope we were saved.^(aw) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^(ax) Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.^(ay)