1 ARST My fellow{ Jewish} believers, you are well- aware that the laws{ God gave the Jews} must be obeyed by{ Jewish} people throughout their whole lives.({ I know that you are well- aware of this fact}, because I am speaking to people who are familiar with the laws{ God gave the Jews}.) BSB BSB: Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2 ARST For instance, according to the laws{ God gave the Jews}, a married woman must remain married to her husband as long as he lives. However, if her husband dies,{ God’ s} law no longer requires her to remain married to him. BSB BSB: For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3 ARST Therefore, if she marries another man while her husband is alive,{ according to God’ s law} she will be an adulterous woman. However, if her husband dies, she no longer has to obey{ what} God’ s law{ requires of those who are married}. As a result, she would not be an adulterous woman if she married another man. BSB BSB: So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 ARST So, my fellow{ Jewish} believers, by means of the Messiah dying{ on the cross} the laws{ God gave the Jews} no longer control you.{ God did this} in order to unite you to the Messiah,{ as if you were marrying a new husband}. He is the person whom God made alive again after he had died.{ God did this} in order that we may do things that please him. BSB BSB: Therefore, 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 ARST Indeed, when living sinfully used to control us, the laws{ God gave us} caused us to want to sin even more.{ Our living sinfully} controlled what we did with our body parts. As a result, we would{ eventually} die{ eternally}. BSB BSB: For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.
6 ARST But now{ that we trust in Jesus}, God cancels what his laws require{ us to do}. The laws{ God gave the Jews} no longer control us as if we were prisoners. As a result, we now serve God in the new way that comes from the{ Holy} Spirit.{ We} no longer{ serve God} in the old way that the written rules{ God gave the Jews} require. BSB BSB: But now, having died to what 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 ARST { Someone might say,}{“If what you have said is true,} then surely the laws{ God gave the Jews} are sinful!”{ Then I would say,}“Of course not!” On the contrary, without the laws{ God gave the Jews}, I would never have become aware of{ what it means to} sin. For instance, if God did not say in his laws,“You must not covet,” I would never have become aware of{ what it means to} covet. BSB BSB: What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
8 ARST However, since I am sinful, I wanted to covet in many ways because I knew that{ God} commanded{ us not to covet}.{ This is} because if the laws{ God gave the Jews} did not exist, living sinfully would cease. BSB BSB: But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 ARST There was a time when I was living without being aware of the laws{ God gave the Jews}. But, when I became aware of those commandments, I wanted to sin even more. BSB BSB: Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 ARST I became{ spiritually} dead. God’ s command was supposed to result in me living{ eternally}. But God’ s command actually will result in me dying{ eternally}. BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 ARST { This is so} because{ I} wanted to sin even more because I knew what God had commanded. When I sinned, I tricked myself. Then{ disobeying} what God had commanded killed me{ spiritually}. BSB BSB: For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
13 ARST So,{ God’ s laws}, which are good, surely did not cause me to die{ spiritually}! Of course not! Rather, living sinfully did so.{ This happened} so that{ God’ s} good{ laws} would reveal how sinful it is to live sinfully.{ This also happened} so that what God commands would reveal that living sinfully is utterly sinful. BSB BSB: Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 ARST { This is true} because we are{ all} aware that the laws{ God gave the Jews} are from God’ s Spirit. But as for me, I am{ spiritually} weak.{ It is as if} I must serve as a slave to living sinfully. BSB BSB: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 ARST { This is true} because I do not comprehend what I do! Indeed, I keep on doing what I do not want to do. But I do what I hate{ that I do}. BSB BSB: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
16 ARST Now because I do what I do not want{ to do},{ this proves that} I agree with the laws{ God gave the Jews}.{ I also testify} that they are good{ laws}. BSB BSB: And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17 ARST This means that now I am no longer the one who causes me to do{ these sinful things}. Rather, my wanting to live sinfully causes me{ to do them}. BSB BSB: In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
18 ARST Indeed, I am aware that I am not good{ at all}. In other words, my sinful self{ is not good at all}.{ This is true} because, even though I really want to do{ what is good}, I am unable to do so. BSB BSB: I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 ARST Indeed, I do not do the good things I want{ to do}. Rather, I keep on doing evil things that I do not want{ to do}. BSB BSB: For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.
20 ARST Now because I do what I do not want{ to do}, I am no longer the one who causes me to do{ these sinful things}. Rather, my wanting to live sinfully causes me{ to do them}. BSB BSB: And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 ARST Consequently, I realized that a principle exists: I keep on doing evil things,{ even though} I really want to do good things. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 ARST { This is true} because the laws God gave{ the Jews} make my mind rejoice. BSB BSB: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 ARST Yet, I notice another principle that controls what I do with my body parts.{ This principle} conflicts with the{ other} principle that my mind{ accepts}. It also controls me, making me its prisoner by means of the principle that I tend to live sinfully.{ Living sinfully} controls what I do with my body parts. BSB BSB: But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
24 ARST I am truly a wretched person!{ I feel as though there is no one} who could{ possibly} rescue me from this body that kills me! BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 ARST I thank God{ who rescued me} by means of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Therefore, I actually do obey with my mind the laws God gave{ the Jews}. Yet{ at the same time} with my sinful self{ I obey} the principle that I tend to live sinfully. BSB BSB: Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.