Romans 7 Cross References - WNT

¹ Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law? ² A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her. ³ This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress. ⁴ So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God. ⁵ For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death. ⁶ But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual. ⁷ What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "THOU SHALT NOT COVET." ⁸ Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead. ⁹ Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died; ¹⁰ and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death. ¹¹ For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death. ¹² So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good. ¹³ Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown. ¹⁴ For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin. ¹⁵ For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do. ¹⁶ But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law, ¹⁷ and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them. ¹⁸ For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do. ²⁰ But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it. ²¹ I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me. ²² For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God; ²³ but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin. ²⁴ (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.

¹³ And I desire you to know, brethren, that I have many a time intended to come to you--though until now I have been disappointed--in order that among you also I might gather some fruit from my labours, as I have already done among the rest of the Gentile nations.

¹⁷ And since you claim the name of Jew, and find rest and satisfaction in the Law, and make your boast in God, ¹⁸ and know the supreme will, and can test things that differ--being a man who receives instruction from the Law--

³ And do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

¹⁴ For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace.

⁶ But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.

³ For I could pray to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my human kinsfolk--for such the Israelites are.

¹ Brethren, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to God, on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation.

⁸ Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?

²¹ Tell me--you who want to continue to be subject to Law--will you not listen to the Law?

⁴ A married woman is not mistress of her own person: her husband has certain rights. In the same way a married man is not master of his own person: his wife has certain rights.

³⁹ A woman is bound to her husband during the whole period that he lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to marry whom she will, provided that he is a Christian.

³² But I tell you that every man who puts away his wife except on the ground of unfaithfulness causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries her when so divorced commits adultery.

⁶ but from the beginning of the creation the rule was, 'MALE AND FEMALE DID GOD MAKE THEM. ⁷ FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER, AND SHALL CLING TO HIS WIFE, ⁸ AND THE TWO SHALL BE ONE'; so that they are two no longer, but 'ONE.' ⁹ What, therefore, God has joined together let not man separate." ¹⁰ Indoors the disciples began questioning Jesus again on the same subject. ¹¹ He replied, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman, commits adultery against the first wife; ¹² and if a woman puts away her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

³ and was teaching them when the Scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been found committing adultery. They made her stand in the centre of the court, and they put the case to Him. ⁴ "Rabbi," they said, "this woman has been found in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now, in the Law, Moses has ordered us to stone such women to death. But what do you say?"

¹¹ But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of Christ, they want to marry, ¹² and they incur disapproval for having broken their original vow. ¹³ And at the same time they also learn to be idle as they go round from house to house; and they are not only idle, but are gossips also and busybodies, speaking of things that ought not to be spoken of. ¹⁴ I would therefore have the younger women marry, bear children, rule in domestic matters, and furnish the Adversary with no excuse for slander.

²⁶ During the meal Jesus took a Passover biscuit, blessed it and broke it. He then gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take this and eat it: it is my body."

²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; and the bridegroom's friend who stands by his side and listens to him, rejoices heartily on account of the bridegroom's happiness. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

⁵¹ I am the living bread come down out of Heaven. If a man eats this bread, he shall live for ever. Moreover the bread which I will give is my flesh given for the life of the world."

⁸ By this is God glorified--by your bearing abundant fruit and thus being true disciples of mine.

² No, indeed; how shall we who have died to sin, live in it any longer?

²² But now that you have been set free from the tyranny of Sin, and have become the bondservants of God, you have your reward in being made holy, and you have the Life of the Ages as the final result.

² for the Spirit's Law-- telling of Life in Christ Jesus--has set me free from the Law that deals only with sin and death.

¹⁶ The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ?

² I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband.

¹⁹ for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me; and the life which I now live in the body I live through faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up to death on my behalf.

¹³ Christ has purchased our freedom from the curse of the Law by becoming accursed for us--because "CURSED IS EVERY ONE WHO IS HANGED UPON A TREE."

¹⁸ But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law.

²² The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence; ²³ good faith, meekness, self-restraint.

¹⁵ by setting aside the Law with its commandments, expressed, as they were, in definite decrees. His design was to unite the two sections of humanity in Himself so as to form one new man,

²³ because a husband is the Head of his wife as Christ also is the Head of the Church, being indeed the Saviour of this His Body. ²⁴ And just as the Church submits to Christ, so also married women should be entirely submissive to their husbands. ²⁵ Married men, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up to death for her; ²⁶ in order to make her holy, cleansing her with the baptismal water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle or any other defect, but to be holy and unblemished.

¹¹ being filled with these fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ-- to the glory and praise of God.

¹⁷ Not that I crave for gifts from you, but I do want to see abundant fruit bring you honour.

⁶ For it has reached you, and remains with you, just as it has also spread through the whole world, yielding fruit there and increasing, as it has done among you from the day when first you heard it and came really to know the grace of God,

¹⁰ so that your lives may be worthy of the Lord and perfectly pleasing to Him, while you exhibit the results of right action of every sort and grow into a fuller knowledge of God.

²² He has now, in His human body, reconciled to God by His death, to bring you, holy and faultless and irreproachable, into His presence;

¹⁴ The bond, with its requirements, which was in force against us and was hostile to us, He cancelled, and cleared it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross.

²⁰ If you have died with Christ and have escaped from the world's rudimentary notions, why, as though your life still belonged to the world, do you submit to such precepts as

¹⁰ It is through that divine will that we have been set free from sin, through the offering of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice once for all.

²⁴ The burden of our sins He Himself carried in His own body to the Cross and bore it there, so that we, having died so far as our sins are concerned, may live righteous lives. By His wounds yours have been healed.

⁷ Let us rejoice and triumph and give Him the glory; for the time for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready."

⁹ Then there came one of the seven angels who were carrying the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues. "Come with me," he said, "and I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife."

¹⁹ For out of the heart proceed wicked thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury, impiety of speech.

⁶ Whatever has been born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever has been born of the Spirit is spirit.

²⁶ This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature, but the men also,

²⁰ For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.

¹⁵ For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.

²⁰ Now Law was brought in later on, so that transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace has overflowed;

¹³ and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weapons for Sin to use. On the contrary surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be used as weapons to maintain the right.

¹⁹ your human infirmity leads me to employ these familiar figures--and just as you once surrendered your faculties into bondage to Impurity and ever-increasing disregard of Law, so you must now surrender them into bondage to Righteousness ever advancing towards perfect holiness.

²¹ At that time, then, what benefit did you get from conduct which you now regard with shame? Why, such things finally result in death.

²³ For the wages paid by Sin are death; but God's free gift is the Life of the Ages bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁷ What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "THOU SHALT NOT COVET." ⁸ Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead. ⁹ Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died; ¹⁰ and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death. ¹¹ For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death. ¹² So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good. ¹³ Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.

²³ but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

⁸ And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him.

⁵⁶ Now sin is the sting of death, and sin derives its power from the Law;

⁶ It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life. ⁷ If, however, the service that proclaims death--its code being engraved in writing upon stones--came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face--a vanishing brightness; ⁸ will not the service of the Spirit be far more glorious? ⁹ For if the service which pronounces doom had glory, far more glorious still is the service which tells of righteousness. ¹⁰ All who are depending upon their own obedience to the Law are under a curse, for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERY ONE WHO DOES NOT REMAIN FAITHFUL TO ALL THE PRECEPTS OF THE LAW, AND PRACTISE THEM."

¹⁶ This then is what I mean. Let your lives be guided by the Spirit, and then you will certainly not indulge the cravings of your lower natures. ¹⁷ For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.

¹⁹ Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery; ²⁰ enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings; ²¹ hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God.

²⁴ Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.

³ Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others.

¹¹ Therefore, do not forget that formerly you were Gentiles as to your bodily condition. You were called the Uncircumcision by those who style themselves the Circumcised--their circumcision being one which the knife has effected.

⁵ Therefore put to death your earthward inclinations--fornication, impurity, sensual passion, unholy desire, and all greed, for that is a form of idolatry.

³ For there was a time when we also were deficient in understanding, obstinate, deluded, the slaves of various cravings and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.

¹⁵ Then the passion conceives, and becomes the parent of sin; and sin, when fully matured, gives birth to death.

⁹ But if you are making distinctions between one man and another, you are guilty of sin, and are convicted by the Law as offenders. ¹⁰ A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all.

¹ What causes wars and contentions among you? Is it not the cravings which are ever at war within you for various pleasures?

⁴ Every one who is guilty of sin is also guilty of violating Law; for sin is the violation of Law.

⁹ I call God to witness--to whom I render priestly and spiritual service by telling the Good News about His Son-- how unceasingly I make mention of you in His presence,

²⁷ although he is a Gentile by birth, if he scrupulously obeys the Law, shall he not sit in judgement upon you who, possessing, as you do, a written Law and circumcision, are yet a Law-breaker? ²⁸ For the true Jew is not the man who is simply a Jew outwardly, and true circumcision is not that which is outward and bodily. ²⁹ But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.

⁴ Well, then, we by our baptism were buried with Him in death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead by the Father's glorious power, we also should live an entirely new life.

¹¹ In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus.

¹⁴ For Sin shall not be lord over you, since you are subjects not of Law, but of grace. ¹⁵ Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!

¹ Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?

⁴ So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.

² And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

⁶ It is He also who has made us competent to serve Him in connexion with a new Covenant, which is not a written code but a Spirit; for the written code inflicts death, but the Spirit gives Life.

¹⁷ So that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence.

²³ Before this faith came, we Jews were perpetual prisoners under the Law, living under restraints and limitations in preparation for the faith which was soon to be revealed. ²⁴ So that the Law has acted the part of a tutor-slave to lead us to Christ, in order that through faith we may be declared to be free from guilt. ²⁵ But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor-slave.

⁴ But, when the time was fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born subject to Law, ⁵ in order to purchase the freedom of all who were subject to Law, so that we might receive recognition as sons.

¹⁵ For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any importance; but only a renewed nature.

³ For we are the true circumcision--we who render to God a spiritual worship and make our boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in outward ceremonies:

¹⁰ and have clothed yourselves with the new self which is being remoulded into full knowledge so as to become like Him who created it.

²⁸ But I tell you that whoever looks at a woman and cherishes lustful thoughts has already in his heart become guilty with regard to her.

¹⁵ And to the people He said, "Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for no one's life consists in the superabundance of his possessions."

³³ No one's silver or gold or clothing have I coveted.

⁵ But if our unrighteousness sets God's righteousness in a clearer light, what shall we say? (Is God unrighteous--I speak in our everyday language-- when He inflicts punishment?

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our earthly forefather, has gained?

¹⁵ Are we therefore to sin because we are no longer under the authority of Law, but under grace? No, indeed!

⁵ For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.

⁸ Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.

¹¹ For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.

¹³ Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.

⁹ For the precepts, "THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," "THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER," "THOU SHALT NOT STEAL," "THOU SHALT NOT COVET," and all other precepts, are summed up in this one command, "THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS MUCH AS THOU LOVEST THYSELF."

³ But fornication and every kind of impurity, or covetousness, let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God's people.

⁵ that you be not overmastered by lustful cravings, like the Gentiles who have no knowledge of God;

¹⁵ Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If any one loves the world, there is no love in his heart for the Father. ¹⁶ For the things in the world--the cravings of the earthly nature, the cravings of the eyes, the show and pride of life--they all come, not from the Father, but from the world.

²² "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but as the case stands they are without excuse for their sin.

²⁴ If I had not done among them, as I have, such miracles as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin; but they have in fact seen and also hated both me and my Father.

¹⁷ and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.

¹⁴ But when a man is tempted, it is his own passions that carry him away and serve as a bait. ¹⁵ Then the passion conceives, and becomes the parent of sin; and sin, when fully matured, gives birth to death.

²¹ "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT MURDER', and whoever commits murder will be answerable to the magistrate. ²² But I say to you that every one who becomes angry with his brother shall be answerable to the magistrate; that whoever says to his brother 'Raca,' shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and that whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the Gehenna of Fire. ²³ If therefore when you are offering your gift upon the altar, you remember that your brother has a grievance against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar, and go and make friends with your brother first, and then return and proceed to offer your gift. ²⁵ Come to terms without delay with your opponent while you are yet with him on the way to the court; for fear he should obtain judgement from the magistrate against you, and the magistrate should give you in custody to the officer and you be thrown into prison. ²⁶ I solemnly tell you that you will certainly not be released till you have paid the very last farthing.

⁴ For God said, 'HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER'; and 'LET HIM WHO REVILES FATHER OR MOTHER BE CERTAINLY PUT TO DEATH'; ⁵ but you--this is what you say: 'If a man says to his father or mother, That is consecrated, whatever it is, which otherwise you should have received from me-- ⁶ he shall be absolved from honouring his father'; and so you have abrogated God's Word for the sake of your tradition.

²⁰ "All of these," said the young man, "I have carefully kept. What do I still lack?"

⁸ "You neglect God's Commandment: you hold fast to men's traditions." ⁹ "Praiseworthy indeed!" He added, "to set at nought God's Commandment in order to observe your own traditions! ¹⁰ For Moses said, 'HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER' and again, 'HE WHO CURSES FATHER OR MOTHER, LET HIM DIE THE DEATH.' ¹¹ But *you* say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, It is a Korban (that is, a thing devoted to God), whatever it is, which otherwise you would have received from me--' ¹² And so you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus nullifying God's precept by your tradition which you have handed down. And many things of that kind you do."

²⁵ Then an expounder of the Law stood up to test Him with a question. "Rabbi," he asked, "what shall I do to inherit the Life of the Ages?" ²⁶ "Go to the Law," said Jesus; "what is written there? how does it read?" ²⁷ "'THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD,'" he replied, "'WITH THY WHOLE HEART, THY WHOLE SOUL, THY WHOLE STRENGTH, AND THY WHOLE MIND; AND THY FELLOW MAN AS MUCH AS THYSELF.'" ²⁸ "A right answer," said Jesus; "do that, and you shall live." ²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said, "But what is meant by my 'fellow man'?"

²⁹ "'All these years,' replied the son, 'I have been slaving for you, and I have never at any time disobeyed any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, for me to enjoy myself with my friends;

⁹ And to some who relied on themselves as being righteous men, and looked down upon all others, He addressed this parable. ¹⁰ "Two men went up to the Temple to pray," He said; "one being a Pharisee and the other a tax-gatherer. ¹¹ The Pharisee, standing erect, prayed as follows by himself: "'O God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people--I am not a thief nor a cheat nor an adulterer, nor do I even resemble this tax-gatherer. ¹² I fast twice a week. I pay the tithe on all my gains.'

²¹ "All of those," he replied, "I have kept from my youth."

¹⁹ But it cannot be denied that all that the Law says is addressed to those who are living under the Law, in order that every mouth may be stopped, and that the whole world may await sentence from God. ²⁰ For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.

²¹ I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me. ²² For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God; ²³ but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

⁷ Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so.

⁵ Moses says that he whose actions conform to the righteousness required by the Law shall live by that righteousness.

¹⁹ for it is by the Law that I have died to the Law, in order that I may live to God.

⁵ circumcised, as I was, on the eighth day, a member of the race of Israel and of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from Hebrews; as to the Law a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the Church; as to the righteousness which comes through Law, blameless.

¹⁰ A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all. ¹¹ For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER," and if you are a murderer, although not an adulterer, you have become an offender against the Law.

⁷ If, however, the service that proclaims death--its code being engraved in writing upon stones--came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the brightness of his face--a vanishing brightness;

¹² and the Law has nothing to do with faith. It teaches that "HE WHO DOES THESE THINGS SHALL LIVE BY DOING THEM."

²² to put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses,

¹³ On the contrary encourage one another, day after day, so long as To-day lasts, so that not one of you may be hardened through the deceitful character of sin.

²² But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.

²⁶ If a man thinks that he is scrupulously religious, although he is not curbing his tongue but is deceiving himself, his religious service is worthless.

³¹ Do we then by means of this faith abolish the Law? No, indeed; we give the Law a firmer footing.

¹⁴ For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.

¹⁶ But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,

⁸ Now we know that the Law is good, if a man uses it in the way it should be used,

⁸ Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead. ⁹ Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died; ¹⁰ and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death. ¹¹ For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.

³ For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;

²¹ God, however, is only one. Is the Law then opposed to the promises of God? No, indeed; for if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.

¹³ Let no one say when passing through trial, "My temptation is from God;" for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

²² But I say to you that every one who becomes angry with his brother shall be answerable to the magistrate; that whoever says to his brother 'Raca,' shall be answerable to the Sanhedrin; and that whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the Gehenna of Fire.

²³ But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Adversary; you are a hindrance to me, because your thoughts are not God's thoughts, but men's."

²⁵ and was unable to pay. So his master ordered that he and his wife and children and everything that he had should be sold, and payment be made.

³⁷ "'THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD,'" He answered, "'WITH THY WHOLE HEART, THY WHOLE SOUL, THY WHOLE MIND.' ³⁸ This is the greatest and foremost Commandment. ³⁹ And the second is similar to it: 'THOU SHALT LOVE THY FELLOW MAN AS MUCH AS THYSELF.' ⁴⁰ The whole of the Law and the Prophets is summed up in these two Commandments."

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus, and exclaimed, "Master, leave my boat, for I am a sinful man."

⁶ Then Jesus went with them. But when He was not far from the house, the Captain sent friends to Him with the message: "Sir, do not trouble to come. I am not worthy of having you come under my roof;

¹¹ The Pharisee, standing erect, prayed as follows by himself: "'O God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people--I am not a thief nor a cheat nor an adulterer, nor do I even resemble this tax-gatherer. ¹² I fast twice a week. I pay the tithe on all my gains.' ¹³ "But the tax-gatherer, standing far back, would not so much as lift his eyes to Heaven, but kept beating his breast and saying, "'O God, be reconciled to me, sinner that I am.' ¹⁴ "I tell you that this man went home more thoroughly absolved from guilt than the other; for every one who uplifts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be uplifted."

¹⁸ For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not.

²² For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God; ²³ but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin. ²⁴ (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

¹ And as for myself, brethren, I found it impossible to speak to you as spiritual men. It had to be as to worldlings--mere babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food, since for this you were not yet strong enough. And even now you are not strong enough: ³ you are still unspiritual. For so long as jealousy and strife continue among you, can it be denied that you are unspiritual and are living and acting like mere men of the world?

⁸ To me who am less than the least of all God's people has this work been graciously entrusted--to proclaim to the Gentiles the Good News of the exhaustless wealth of Christ,

¹² For God's Message is full of life and power, and is keener than the sharpest two-edged sword. It pierces even to the severance of soul from spirit, and penetrates between the joints and the marrow, and it can discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart.

⁴⁸ It follows that you bear testimony to the actions of your forefathers and that you fully approve thereof. They slew, you build.

¹⁹ For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do. ²⁰ But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

⁹ Let your love be perfectly sincere. Regard with horror what is evil; cling to what is right.

²² As for you and your faith, keep your faith to yourself in the presence of God. The man is to be congratulated who does not pronounce judgement on himself in what his actions sanction.

¹⁷ For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined.

¹² I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not imagine that I have yet laid hold of it. But this one thing I do--forgetting everything which is past and stretching forward to what lies in front of me, ¹⁴ with my eyes fixed on the goal I push on to secure the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Yet God's solid foundation stands unmoved, bearing this inscription, "THE LORD KNOWS THOSE WHO REALLY BELONG TO HIM." And this also, "LET EVERY ONE WHO NAMES THE NAME OF THE LORD RENOUNCE ALL WICKEDNESS."

⁹ THOU HAST LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS; THEREFORE GOD, THY GOD, HAS ANOINTED THEE WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS BEYOND THY COMPANIONS."

² For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.

⁷ But if we live in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we claim to be already free from sin, we lead ourselves astray and the truth has no place in our hearts.

²³ others you must try to save, as brands plucked from the flames; and on others look with pity mingled with fear, while you hate every trace of their sin.

¹² So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.

²² For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;

⁷ "BLESSED," he says, "ARE THOSE WHOSE INIQUITIES HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED OVER. ⁸ BLESSED IS THE MAN OF WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE ACCOUNT."

²⁰ But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

¹² For, assuming the earnest willingness, the gift is acceptable according to whatever a man has, and not according to what he has not.

⁸ Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him, ⁹ not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith.

⁵ Or do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "The Spirit which He has caused to dwell in our hearts yearns jealously over us"? ⁶ But He gives more abundant grace, as is implied in His saying, "GOD SETS HIMSELF AGAINST THE HAUGHTY, BUT TO THE LOWLY HE GIVES GRACE."

²¹ For from within, out of men's hearts, their evil purposes proceed--fornication, theft, murder, adultery, ²² covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, reviling, pride, reckless folly: ²³ all these wicked things come out from within and make a man unclean."

¹³ If you then, with all your human frailty, know how to give your children gifts that are good for them, how much more certainly will your Father who is in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

¹⁵ For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.

¹⁹ For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do.

²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.

³ For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; ⁴ in order that in our case the requirements of the Law might be fully met. For our lives are regulated not by our earthly, but by our spiritual natures. ⁵ For if men are controlled by their earthly natures, they give their minds to earthly things. If they are controlled by their spiritual natures, they give their minds to spiritual things. ⁶ Because for the mind to be given up to earthly things means death; but for it to be given up to spiritual things means Life and peace. ⁷ Abandonment to earthly things is a state of enmity to God. Such a mind does not submit to God's Law, and indeed cannot do so. ⁸ And those whose hearts are absorbed in earthly things cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are not devoted to earthly, but to spiritual things, if the Spirit of God is really dwelling in you; whereas if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, such a one does not belong to Him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, though your body must die because of sin, yet your spirit has Life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead is dwelling in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead will give Life also to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who dwells in you. ¹² Therefore, brethren, it is not to our lower natures that we are under obligation that we should live by their rule. ¹³ For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of the spirit, you are putting your old bodily habits to death, you will live.

¹⁴ On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.

¹ To you Gentiles also, who were dead through your offences and sins, ² which were once habitual to you while you walked in the ways of this world and obeyed the Prince of the powers of the air, the spirits that are now at work in the hearts of the sons of disobedience--to you God has given Life. ³ Among them all of us also formerly passed our lives, governed by the inclinations of our lower natures, indulging the cravings of those natures and of our own thoughts, and were in our original state deserving of anger like all others. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the intense love which He bestowed on us, ⁵ caused us, dead though we were through our offences, to live with Christ--it is by grace that you have been saved--

¹³ For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

¹² I do not say that I have already won the race or have already reached perfection. But I am pressing on, striving to lay hold of the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me.

² that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.

¹ Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led about by the Spirit in the Desert for forty days,

³⁴ "In most solemn truth I tell you," replied Jesus, "that every one who commits sin is the slave of sin.

¹² Let not Sin therefore reign as king in your mortal bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings;

¹¹ Put on the complete armour of God, so as to be able to stand firm against all the stratagems of the Devil. ¹² For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare. ¹³ Therefore put on the complete armour of God, so that you may be able to stand your ground on the day of battle, and, having fought to the end, to remain victors on the field.

¹⁷ And for this purpose it was necessary that in all respects He should be made to resemble His brothers, so that He might become a compassionate and faithful High Priest in things relating to God, in order to atone for the sins of the people.

¹⁵ For we have not a High Priest who is unable to feel for us in our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in every respect just as we are tempted, and yet did not sin.

¹⁹ And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight.

³⁴ "My food," said Jesus, "is to be obedient to Him who sent me, and fully to accomplish His work.

²⁹ But the true Jew is one inwardly, and true circumcision is heart-circumcision--not literal, but spiritual; and such people receive praise not from men, but from God.

¹⁶ Therefore we are not cowards. Nay, even though our outward man is wasting away, yet our inward man is being renewed day by day.

¹⁶ to grant you--in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections--to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being.

⁹ Do not speak falsehoods to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its doings,

¹⁰ 'BUT THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS,' SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS AND WILL WRITE THEM UPON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL INDEED BE THEIR GOD AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

⁴ Instead of that, it should be a new nature within--the imperishable ornament of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is indeed precious in the sight of God.

²¹ I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

¹¹ But you, O man of God, must flee from these things; and strive for uprightness, godliness, good faith, love, fortitude, and a forgiving temper. ¹² Exert all your strength in the honourable struggle for the faith; lay hold of the Life of the Ages, to which you were called, when you made your noble profession of faith before many witnesses.

²⁵ He must speak in a gentle tone when correcting the errors of opponents, in the hope that God will at last give them repentance, for them to come to a full knowledge of the truth ²⁶ and recover sober-mindedness and freedom from the Devil's snare, though they are now entrapped by him to do his will.

⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as to endanger your lives;

¹¹ Dear friends, I entreat you as pilgrims and foreigners not to indulge the cravings of your lower natures: for all such cravings wage war upon the soul.

⁴ "Blessed are the mourners, for they shall be comforted.

⁶ "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied.

¹⁸ "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED ME TO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR; HE HAS SENT ME TO ANNOUNCE RELEASE TO THE PRISONERS OF WAR AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND: TO SEND AWAY FREE THOSE WHOM TYRANNY HAS CRUSHED,

⁶ This we know--that our old self was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our sinful nature might be deprived of its power, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin;

¹³ For if you so live, death is near; but if, through being under the sway of the spirit, you are putting your old bodily habits to death, you will live.

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what prayers to offer nor in what way to offer them. But the Spirit Himself pleads for us in yearnings that can find no words,

⁸ For as for our troubles which came upon us in the province of Asia, we would have you know, brethren, that we were exceedingly weighed down, and felt overwhelmed, so that we renounced all hope even of life. ⁹ Nay, we had, as we still have, the sentence of death within our own selves, in order that our confidence may repose, not on ourselves, but on God who raised the dead to life. ¹⁰ He it is who rescued us from so imminent a death, and will do so again; and we have a firm hope in Him that He will also rescue us in all the future,

⁷ And judging by the stupendous grandeur of the revelations--therefore lest I should be over-elated there has been sent to me, like the agony of impalement, Satan's angel dealing blow after blow, lest I should be over-elated. ⁸ As for this, three times have I besought the Lord to rid me of him; ⁹ but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me.

¹¹ In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by hand, when you threw off your sinful nature in true Christian circumcision;

¹⁸ The Lord will deliver me from every cruel attack and will keep me safe in preparation for His heavenly Kingdom. To Him be the glory until the Ages of the Ages! Amen.

¹⁴ who gave Himself for us to purchase our freedom from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people who should be specially His own, zealous for doing good works. ¹⁵ and might set at liberty all those who through fear of death had been subject to lifelong slavery.

⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more; nor sorrow, nor wail of woe, nor pain; for the first things have passed away."

²¹ She will give birth to a Son, and you are to call His name JESUS for He it is who will save His People from their sins."

¹⁷ But thanks be to God that though you were once in thraldom to Sin, you have now yielded a hearty obedience to that system of truth in which you have been instructed.

¹⁵ For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do. ¹⁶ But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law, ¹⁷ and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them. ¹⁸ For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not. ¹⁹ For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do. ²⁰ But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it. ²¹ I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

⁵⁷ but God be thanked who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His unspeakably precious gift!

⁹ but His reply has been, "My grace suffices for you, for power matures in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I boast of my infirmities rather than complain of them--in order that Christ's power may overshadow me. ¹⁰ In fact I take pleasure in infirmities, in the bearing of insults, in distress, in persecutions, in grievous difficulties--for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹⁷ For the cravings of the lower nature are opposed to those of the Spirit, and the cravings of the Spirit are opposed to those of the lower nature; because these are antagonistic to each other, so that you cannot do everything to which you are inclined. ¹⁸ But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not subject to Law. ¹⁹ Now you know full well the doings of our lower natures. Fornication, impurity, indecency, idol-worship, sorcery; ²⁰ enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of passion, intrigues, dissensions, factions, envyings; ²¹ hard drinking, riotous feasting, and the like. And as to these I forewarn you, as I have already forewarned you, that those who are guilty of such things will have no share in the Kingdom of God. ²² The Spirit, on the other hand, brings a harvest of love, joy, peace; patience towards others, kindness, benevolence; ²³ good faith, meekness, self-restraint. ²⁴ Against such things as these there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their lower nature with its passions and appetites.

²⁰ Always and for everything let your thanks to God the Father be presented in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

⁶ Do not be over-anxious about anything, but by prayer and earnest pleading, together with thanksgiving, let your request be unreservedly made known in the presence of God.

¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, and let it be through Him that you give thanks to God the Father.

⁵ And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.