Release from the Law (Galatians 3:15–25)
1 RV Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth? 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 RV For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged 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 RV So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined 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 RV Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto 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 RV For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth 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 RV But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we 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 RV What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt 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 RV but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from 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 RV And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, 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 RV and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death: BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 RV for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through 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 RV Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good;—that through the commandment sin 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 RV For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. BSB BSB: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 RV For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but 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 RV But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. BSB BSB: And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17 RV So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth 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 RV For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is 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 RV For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise. 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 RV But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth 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 RV I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 RV For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: BSB BSB: For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 RV but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is 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 RV O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 RV I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve the law of God; 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.