Release from the Law (Galatians 3:15–25)
1 UEB Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know about law), that the law controls a person for 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 UEB For the married woman is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 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 UEB So then, while her husband is living, if she lives with another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so she is not an adulteress if she lives with 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 UEB Therefore, my brothers, you were also made dead to the law through the body of Christ. This is so that you could be joined to another, that is, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might produce 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 UEB For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for 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 UEB But now we have been released from the law. We have died to that by which we were held. This is so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of 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 UEB What will we say then? Is the law itself sin? May it never be. However, I would never have known sin, if it were not through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law said, "You must 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 UEB But sin took the opportunity through the commandment and brought about every lust in me. For without the law, sin is 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 UEB At one time I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life, and 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 UEB The commandment that was to bring life turned out to be death for me. BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 UEB For sin took the opportunity through the commandment and deceived me. Through the commandment it 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 UEB So did what is good become death to me? May it never be. But sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin through what is good, brought about death in me. This was in order that through the commandment, sin 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 UEB For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. I have been sold under slavery to sin. BSB BSB: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 UEB For what I do, I do not really understand. For what I want to do, I do not do, and what I hate, 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 UEB But if I do what I do not want, I agree 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 UEB But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives 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 UEB For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, lives no good thing. For the desire for good is with me, but I cannot do it. 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 UEB For the good that I want I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, 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 UEB Now if I do what I do not want to do, then it is no longer I who am acting, but rather sin that lives 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 UEB I find, then, the principle in me that I want to do what is good, but that evil is actually present in me. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 UEB For I rejoice in the law of God with the inner man. BSB BSB: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 UEB But I see a different principle in my body parts. It fights against that new principle in my mind. It takes me captive by the principle of sin that is in 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 UEB I am a miserable man! Who will deliver me from this body of death? BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 UEB But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind. However, with the flesh I serve the principle 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.