Release from the Law (Galatians 3:15–25)
1 DBY Are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to those knowing law,) that law rules over a man as 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 DBY For the married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the 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 DBY so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to 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 DBY So that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to 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 DBY For when we were in the flesh the passions of sins, which were by the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to 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 DBY but now we are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of 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 DBY What shall we say then? is the law sin? Far be the thought. But I had not known sin, unless by law: for I had not had conscience also of lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust; 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 DBY but sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, wrought in me every lust; for without 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 DBY But I was alive without law once; but the commandment having come, sin revived, but I died. BSB BSB: Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 DBY And the commandment, which was for life, was found, as to me, itself to be unto death: BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 DBY for sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew 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 DBY Did then that which is good become death to me? Far be the thought. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death to me by that which is good; in order that sin by the commandment might become exceeding 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 DBY For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am fleshly, sold under sin. BSB BSB: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 DBY For that which I do, I do not own: for not what I will, this I do; but what I hate, this I practise. 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 DBY But if what I do not will, this I practise, I consent to the law that it is right. BSB BSB: And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17 DBY Now then it is no longer I that do it, but the sin that dwells in 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 DBY For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell: for to will is there with me, but to do right I find not. 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 DBY For I do not practise the good that I will; but the evil I do not will, that I 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 DBY But if what I do not will, this I practise, it is no longer I that do it, but the sin that dwells in 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 DBY I find then the law upon me who will to practise what is right, that with me evil is there. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 DBY For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man: BSB BSB: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 DBY but I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members. 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 DBY O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me out of this body of death? BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 DBY I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve God's law; but with the flesh sin's law. 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.