Dead to Sin, Alive to God (2 Corinthians 4:7–18)
1 UDB Someone might say in reply to what I have written that since God has acted kindly toward us, perhaps we should continue to sin in order that his kindness would be the greater. BSB BSB: What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 UDB No, certainly not! We are like people who have died, who can no longer do anything evil. So we should not continue to sin. BSB BSB: Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
3 UDB When we were baptized in union with Christ Jesus, God viewed us as dying with Christ on his cross. Do you not know this? BSB BSB: Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 UDB So, when we were baptized, God viewed us as being dead with Christ in his tomb. God the Father used his power to raise Christ from the dead; in the same way, he made it possible for us to live life in a new way. BSB BSB: 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 walk in newness of life.
5 UDB Since God views us as joining with Christ when he died, he will also make us rise with him from the dead. BSB BSB: For if we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.
6 UDB God views us sinners as having died on the cross with Christ in order to put an end to our sinful nature. As a result, we no longer have to sin. BSB BSB: We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
7 UDB For whoever has died no longer has to sin. BSB BSB: For anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8 UDB Since God views us as having died together with Christ when he died, we believe that we will also live with him. BSB BSB: Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
9 UDB We know that since God enabled Christ to live again after he died, Christ will never die again. Nothing will ever be able to make him die again. BSB BSB: For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 UDB When he died, he went free from our sinful world, and he will never die again; but because he lives again, he lives in order to serve God. BSB BSB: The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
11 UDB In the same way, you must view yourselves as God views you: You are dead people, unable to sin any longer; but you are also living people, living to serve God and joined to Christ Jesus. BSB BSB: So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 UDB So when you want to sin, do not allow yourselves to do what you want. Remember that your body will die one day. BSB BSB: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.
13 UDB Do not use any part of your body to do anything wicked. Instead, present yourselves to God as people who are now alive after belonging to the realm of the dead. Use every part of your body for God. Allow him to use you to do righteous things. BSB BSB: Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.
14 UDB When you desire to sin, do not do it! The laws that God gave Moses did not enable you to stop sinning. But now God controls you and kindly helps you not to sin. BSB BSB: For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
The Wages of Sin 15 UDB We might think from this that because the laws God gave Moses did not enable us to stop sinning and God is now treating us kindly anyway, that God permits us to continue sinning. Absolutely not! BSB BSB: What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not!
16 UDB If you offer to obey someone, you become his slaves. If you obey when you wish to sin, then you become the slaves of sin and die as a result. But if you obey God, then you become his slaves and, as a result, will do the right things that God wants you to do. BSB BSB: Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness?
17 UDB In the past you sinned in whatever way you wanted to sin—you were slaves of sin. But then you began to sincerely obey what Christ taught you. I thank God for that. BSB BSB: But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
18 UDB So now you do not have to sin any longer; sin is no longer your master. Instead, you are slaves of God, who is righteous. BSB BSB: You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 UDB I am writing to you in a way that ordinary people can understand. In the past you were slaves to your desires, so you did all kinds of impure and evil things. But now act justly as God acts, so that he will set you apart for himself as his people. BSB BSB: I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 UDB It is true that, in the past, you behaved as people who were free from God's power and righteousness (because you did whatever your evil minds told you to do). You did not have to do things that were right. BSB BSB: For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness.
21 UDB But though you were like a slave to sin, God has set you free from sin and made you his servant. As a result you are being made holy, and the result of that is that you will live forever with him. BSB BSB: What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.
22 UDB But now you do not have to sin any longer. You are no longer slaves like that. Instead, you have become slaves of God. In return, he has set you apart as his own people, and he will allow you to live forever with him. BSB BSB: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.
23 UDB All who do what their evil minds tells them to do receive payment, too, but that payment is death. They will be apart from God forever. But as for God, he pays no wages to his slaves at all. Instead, he gives us a free gift: He allows us to live forever with him, joined to Christ Jesus our Lord. BSB BSB: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.