Study Desk

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.

So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power.

At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,

But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.

But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes.

I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't.

I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.