Study Desk

But now we have been released from this aspect of the Torah, because we have died to that which had us in its clutches, so that we are serving in the new way provided by the Spirit and not in the old way of outwardly following the letter of the law.

So the Torah is holy; that is, the commandment is holy, just and good.

Then did something good become for me the source of death? Heaven forbid! Rather, it was sin working death in me through something good, so that sin might be clearly exposed as sin, so that sin through the commandment might come to be experienced as sinful beyond measure.

So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse "torah," that although I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me!

For what the Torah could not do by itself, because it lacked the power to make the old nature cooperate, God did by sending his own Son as a human being with a nature like our own sinful one [but without sin]. God did this in order to deal with sin, and in so doing he executed the punishment against sin in human nature,

so that the just requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us who do not run our lives according to what our old nature wants but according to what the Spirit wants.

So then, brothers, we don't owe a thing to our old nature that would require us to live according to our old nature.

because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers;

So who will bring a charge against God's chosen people? Certainly not God — he is the one who causes them to be considered righteous!

my grief is so great, the pain in my heart so constant,

and before they were born, before they had done anything at all, either good or bad (so that God's plan might remain a matter of his sovereign choice, not dependent on what they did, but on God, who does the calling),

So are we to say, "It is unjust for God to do this"? Heaven forbid!

For the Tanakh says to Pharaoh, "It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world."

So then, he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.

So, what are we to say? This: that Gentiles, even though they were not striving for righteousness, have obtained righteousness; but it is a righteousness grounded in trusting!

So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah.

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see, with their backs bent continually."

Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!