Romans 4; Romans 5; Romans 6; Romans 7
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather,
discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was
justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. 3 What
does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him
as righteousness." 4 Now when a man works, his wages are
not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However,
to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith
is credited as righteousness. 6David says the same thing when he
speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart
from works: 7 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose
sin the Lord will never count against him." 9 Is this
blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have
been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under
what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before?
It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of
circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was
still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not
been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And
he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who
also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he
was circumcised. 13It was not through law that Abraham and his
offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through
the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who
live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because
law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore,
the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to
all Abraham's offspring--not only to those who are of the law but also to those
who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As
it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our
father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the
dead and calls things that are not as though they were. 18 Against
all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,
just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19 Without
weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as
dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also
dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the
promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being
fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This
is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." 23 The
words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, 24 but
also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him
who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered
over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through
whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but
we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character,
hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has
poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given
us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still
powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will
anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly
dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since
we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from
God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's
enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not
only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore,
just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in
this way death came to all men, because all sinned--13 for before
the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when
there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, 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, who was a pattern of the one to come. 15 But
the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the
one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of
the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!16 Again, the gift
of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one
sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought
justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man,
death 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 life
through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18 Consequently, just as
the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of
one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For
just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so
also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made
righteous. 20 The law was added so that the trespass might
increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so
that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through
righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we
live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who
were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We
were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this
in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his
resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified
with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has
been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe
that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was
raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over
him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but
the life he lives, he lives to God.11 In the same way, count
yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore
do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil
desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as
instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who
have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him
as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your
master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 15 What
then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no
means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to
someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether
you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to
righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used
to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which
you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and
have become slaves to righteousness. 19 I put this in human
terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer
the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing
wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to
holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from
the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at
that time from the things you are now ashamed of ? Those things result in
death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and
have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the
result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who
know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he
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 of marriage. 3 So then, if she marries another man
while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her
husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even
though she marries another man. 4So, my brothers, you also died to
the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him
who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For
when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by
the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But
now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that
we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written
code. 7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly
not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I
would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do
not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded
by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart
from law, sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from 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 actually
brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by
the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to
death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is
holy, righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then,
become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as
sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the
commandment sin might become utterly sinful. 14 We know that
the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I
do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate
I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that
the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do
it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good
lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is
good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the
good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on
doing. 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. 21 So
I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with
me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but
I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law
of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What
a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks
be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a
slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
