Release from the Law (Galatians 3:15–25)
1 CPDV Or do you not know, brothers, (now I am speaking to those who know the law) that the law has dominion over a man only so long as he lives? 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 CPDV For example, a woman who is subject to a husband is obligated by the law while her husband lives. But when her husband has died, she is released from the law of her husband. 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 CPDV Therefore, while her husband lives, if she has been with another man, she should be called an adulteress. But when her husband has died, she is freed from the law of her husband, such that, if she has been with another man, she is not an adulteress. 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 CPDV And so, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law, through the body of Christ, so that you may be another one who has risen from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 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 CPDV For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were under the law, operated within our bodies, so as to bear fruit unto death. 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 CPDV But now we have been released from the law of death, by which we were being held, so that now we may serve with a renewed spirit, and not in the old way, by the letter. 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.
God’s Law Is Holy 7 CPDV What should we say next? Is the law sin? Let it not be so! But I do not know sin, except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting, unless the law said: “You shall not 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 CPDV But sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 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 CPDV Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived, BSB BSB: Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 CPDV and I died. And the commandment, which was unto life, was itself found to be unto death for me. BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 CPDV For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me. BSB BSB: For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
Struggling with Sin 13 CPDV Then was what is good made into death for me? Let it not be so! But rather sin, in order that it might be known as sin by what is good, wrought death in me; so that sin, through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure. 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 CPDV For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin. BSB BSB: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 CPDV For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what 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 CPDV So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good. BSB BSB: And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17 CPDV But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me. BSB BSB: In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
18 CPDV For I know that what is good does not live within me, that is, within my flesh. For the willingness to do good lies close to me, but the carrying out of that good, I cannot reach. 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 CPDV For I do not do the good that I want to do. But instead, I do the evil 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 CPDV Now if I do what I am not willing to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but the sin which lives within me. 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 CPDV And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 CPDV For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man. BSB BSB: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 CPDV But I perceive another law within my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me with the law of sin which is in my body. 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 CPDV Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death? BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 CPDV The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord! Therefore, I serve the law of God with my own mind; but with the flesh, the law of sin. 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.