Release from the Law (Galatians 3:15–25)
1 WBS Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) that the law hath dominion over a man as long 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 WBS For the woman who hath a husband, is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband is dead, she is loosed 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 WBS So then, if while her husband liveth, she is married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband is dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married 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 WBS Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth 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 WBS For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work 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 WBS But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead by which we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the 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 WBS What shall we say then? Is the law sin? By no means. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, 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 WBS But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without 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 WBS For I was alive without 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 WBS And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be to death. BSB BSB: So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 WBS For sin, taking occasion 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 WBS Was then that which is good made death to me? By no means. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; 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 WBS 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 WBS For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that I do not; 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 WBS If then I do that which I would not, I consent to 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 WBS Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that 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 WBS For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, 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 WBS For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, 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 WBS Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that 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 WBS I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. BSB BSB: So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 WBS 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 WBS But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to 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 WBS O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? BSB BSB: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 WBS I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself 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.