< Romans 6 >
1 So what's our response? Should we continue to sin so we can have even more grace?
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 Of course not! Since we're already dead to sin, how can we continue to live in sin?
May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?
3 Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 Through baptism we were buried with him in death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too can live a new life.
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
5 If we've become one with him in dying like he did, then we'll be raised like him too.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;
6 We know that our old self was crucified with him to dispose of the dead body of sin so that we wouldn't be enslaved by sin any longer.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
7 Anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Since we died with Christ, we have confidence that we will also live with him,
But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,
9 for we know that because Christ has been raised from the dead he won't ever die, because death has no longer any power over him.
knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!
10 In dying, he died to sin once and for all, but now he lives, and he lives for God!
For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
11 In just the same way you should consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Don't let sin have control over your mortal body, don't give in to its temptations,
Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 and don't use any parts of your body as evil tools of sin. Instead dedicate yourselves to God as those who have been brought back from death to life, and use all parts of your body as tools to do something good for God.
Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 Sin won't rule over you, because you're not under law but under grace.
For sin will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.
15 So then, should we sin because we're not under law, but under grace? Of course not!
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
16 Don't you realize that if you make yourselves someone's slaves, obeying their orders, then you are slaves to the one you obey? If you are slaves of sin, the result is death; if you obey God, the result is you are made right with him.
Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
17 Thank God that though you once were slaves to sin, you whole-heartedly chose to follow the truth about God that you learned.
But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.
18 Now that you've been freed from sin, you've become slaves of doing what is morally right.
Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
19 I'm using this everyday example because your human thinking is limited. Just as you once enslaved yourselves to immorality, piling up sin upon sin, now you must enslave yourselves to what is pure and right.
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh; for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
20 When you were slaves to sin you were not required to do what's right.
For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.
21 But what were the results back then? Aren't you ashamed of the things you did? Such things that lead to death!
What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
22 But now that you're set free from sin, and have become God's slaves, the results will be a pure life—and in the end, eternal life. (aiōnios )
But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life. (aiōnios )
23 The wage sin pays is death, but God's free gift is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (aiōnios )
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (aiōnios )