Romans 6 - 7

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1 What shall we say then? m Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can n we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us o who have been baptized p into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were q buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as r Christ was raised from the dead by s the glory of the Father, we too might walk in t newness of life.

5 For u if we have been united with him in v a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that w our old self 1 x was crucified with him in order that y the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For z one who has died a has been set free 2 from sin. 8 Now b if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that c Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; d death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, e once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves f dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not g sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 h Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but i present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For j sin k will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? l Are we to sin m because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves n to anyone as obedient slaves, 3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But o thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the p standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, q having been set free from sin, r have become slaves of righteousness. 19 s I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For t just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members u as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 v For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 w But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things x of which you are now ashamed? y For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you z have been set free from sin and a have become slaves of God, b the fruit you get leads to sanctification and c its end, eternal life. 23 d For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 7

Released from the Law

1 Or do you not know, brothers 4 - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For e a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 5 3 Accordingly, f she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, g you also have died h to the law i through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, j in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work k in our members l to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the m new way of n the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 6

The Law and Sin

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, o I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if p the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, q seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. r For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment s that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, t seizing an opportunity through the commandment, u deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So v the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, w sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For x I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with y the law, that it is good. 17 So now z it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells a in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 b For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, c it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For d I delight in the law of God, e in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members f another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from g this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

  1. Cross References
    Romans 6:15
    What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
    Romans 3:8
    And why not do evil that good may come? - as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
  2. Cross References
    Romans 6:11
    So you also must consider yourselves dead to si...
    Romans 7:4
    Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to th...
    Romans 7:6
    But now we are released from the law, having di...
    Galatians 2:19
    For through the law I died to the law, so that ...
    Colossians 2:20
    If with Christ you died to the elemental spirit...
    Colossians 3:3
    For you have died, and your life is hidden with...
    1 Peter 2:24
    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tre...
  3. Cross References
    Galatians 3:27
    For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
  4. Cross References
    Matthew 28:19
    Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
  5. Cross References
    Colossians 2:12
    Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
  6. Cross References
    Romans 6:9
    We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
    Romans 8:11
    If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
    Acts 2:24
    God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
  7. Cross References
    John 11:40
    Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?
    2 Corinthians 13:4
    For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
  8. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 5:17
    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
    Galatians 6:15
    For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
    Ephesians 4:23 - 24
    And to be renewed in the spirit of your minds.
    Colossians 3:10
    And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
    Romans 7:6
    But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
  9. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 4:10
    Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
  10. Cross References
    Philippians 3:10 - 11
    That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
    Colossians 2:12
    Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
    Colossians 3:1
    If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
  11. Cross References
    Ephesians 4:22
    To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires.
    Colossians 3:9
    Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
  12. Cross References
    Galatians 2:20
    I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
    Galatians 5:24
    And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
    Galatians 6:14
    But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
  13. Cross References
    Romans 7:24
    Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
  14. Cross References
    1 Peter 4:1
    Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.
  15. Cross References
    Romans 6:18
    And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
  16. Cross References
    2 Timothy 2:11
    The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him.
    2 Corinthians 4:10
    Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
    2 Corinthians 13:4
    For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
  17. Cross References
    Acts 13:34
    And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, "'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.
    Revelation 1:18
    And the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
  18. Cross References
    Romans 5:14
    Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
    Romans 5:17
    For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
  19. Cross References
    Hebrews 7:27
    He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
  20. Cross References
    Romans 6:2
    By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
  21. Cross References
    Romans 6:14
    For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
    Psalms 19:13
    Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
    Psalms 119:133
    Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
    Micah 7:19
    He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
    2 Corinthians 5:17
    Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
  22. Cross References
    Romans 7:5
    For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
    Colossians 3:5
    Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
  23. Cross References
    Romans 12:1
    I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
    1 Peter 2:24
    He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
    1 Peter 4:2
    So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.
  24. Cross References
    Romans 8:2
    For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
    Romans 8:12
    So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
  25. Cross References
    Romans 6:12
    Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
  26. Cross References
    Romans 6:1
    What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
  27. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 9:21
    To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.
  28. Cross References
    Romans 6:20
    For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
    Matthew 6:24
    No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
    John 8:34
    Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
  29. Cross References
    Romans 1:8
    First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
  30. Cross References
    2 Timothy 1:13
    Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
  31. Cross References
    Romans 6:22
    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
    Romans 8:2
    For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
    Romans 6:7
    For one who has died has been set free from sin.
    John 8:32
    And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
  32. Cross References
    Romans 6:22
    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
  33. Cross References
    Romans 3:5
    But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? ( I speak in a human way.)
  34. Cross References
    Romans 6:13
    Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
  35. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 9:27
    But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
  36. Cross References
    Romans 6:16
    Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
  37. Cross References
    Romans 7:5
    For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
    Jeremiah 12:13
    They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out but profit nothing. They shall be ashamed of their harvests because of the fierce anger of the Lord.
  38. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 4:2
    But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
  39. Cross References
    Romans 1:32
    Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
    Romans 8:6
    For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
    Romans 8:13
    For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
    Proverbs 14:12
    There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
    Galatians 6:8
    For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
  40. Cross References
    Romans 6:18
    And, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
  41. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 7:22
    For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
    1 Peter 2:16
    Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
  42. Cross References
    Romans 7:4
    Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
  43. Cross References
    1 Peter 1:9
    Obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
  44. Cross References
    Romans 2:7
    To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
    Romans 5:12
    Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned -
  45. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 7:39
    A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
  46. Cross References
    Matthew 5:32
    But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
  47. Cross References
    Romans 7:6
    But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
    Romans 6:2
    By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
  48. Cross References
    Romans 8:2
    For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
    Galatians 2:19
    For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
    Galatians 5:18
    But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
    Ephesians 2:15
    By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace.
    Colossians 2:14
    By canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
  49. Cross References
    Ephesians 2:16
    And might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
    Colossians 1:22
    He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.
  50. Cross References
    Romans 6:22
    But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
    Galatians 5:22
    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.
    Ephesians 5:9
    (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).
  51. Cross References
    Romans 6:13
    Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
  52. Cross References
    Romans 6:21
    But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
    Romans 6:23
    For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  53. Cross References
    Romans 6:4
    We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
  54. Cross References
    Romans 2:27
    Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
    Romans 2:29
    But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
    2 Corinthians 3:6
    Who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
  55. Cross References
    Romans 3:20
    For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
  56. Cross References
    Romans 13:9
    For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
    Exodus 20:17
    "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
    Deuteronomy 5:21
    "'And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.'
  57. Cross References
    Exodus 20:17
    "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
    Deuteronomy 5:21
    "'And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.'
  58. Cross References
    Romans 7:11
    For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
    Galatians 5:13
    For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
  59. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 15:56
    The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
  60. Cross References
    Romans 10:5
    For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
  61. Cross References
    Romans 7:8
    But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
  62. Cross References
    Genesis 3:13
    Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
    Hebrews 3:13
    But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
  63. Cross References
    Psalms 19:8 - 9
    The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
    Psalms 119:137
    Righteous are you, O Lord, and right are your rules.
    2 Peter 2:21
    For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
    Romans 7:16
    Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
  64. Cross References
    1 Kings 21:20
    Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.
    1 Kings 21:25
    ( There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.
    2 Kings 17:17
    And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
    Isaiah 50:1
    Thus says the Lord : "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
    Isaiah 52:3
    For thus says the Lord : "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.
  65. Cross References
    Romans 7:18 - 19
    For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
    Galatians 5:17
    For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
  66. Cross References
    1 Timothy 1:8
    Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.
    Romans 7:12
    So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
  67. Cross References
    Romans 7:20
    Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
  68. Cross References
    Genesis 6:5
    The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
    Genesis 8:21
    And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
    Job 14:4
    Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
    Job 15:14
    What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
    Psalms 51:5
    Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
  69. Cross References
    Romans 7:15
    For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
  70. Cross References
    Romans 7:17
    So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
  71. Cross References
    Psalms 1:2
    But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
    Psalms 112:1
    Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!
    Psalms 119:35
    Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
  72. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 4:16
    So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
    Ephesians 3:16
    That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
    1 Peter 3:4
    But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
  73. Cross References
    Galatians 5:17
    For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
    James 4:1
    What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
  74. Cross References
    Romans 6:6
    We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
    Romans 8:23
    And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.