God’s Judgment and the Law

12 For all who have sinned ^swithout the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned ^tunder the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is ^unot the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse ^vor even excuse them 16 on that ^wday when, according to my gospel, ^xGod judges the secrets of men ^yby Christ Jesus.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and ^zrely ^aon the law and boast in God 18 and ^bknow his will and ^capprove what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a ^dguide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 ^eyou then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, ^fdo you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who ^gboast in the law dishonor God by ^hbreaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, ⁱ“The name of God is blasphemed ^jamong the Gentiles because of you.”

25 ^kFor ^lcircumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 ^mSo, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded¹ as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically² uncircumcised but keeps the law will ⁿcondemn you who have the ^owritten code³ and circumcision but break the law. 28 For ^pno one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and ^qcircumcision is a matter of the heart, ^rby the Spirit, not by the letter. ^sHis praise is not from man but from God.

No One Is Righteous

9 What then? Are we Jews¹ any better off?² No, not at all. For we have already charged that ^ball, both ^cJews and ^dGreeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are ^kunder the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For ^lby works of the law no human being³ will be justified in his sight, since ^mthrough the law comes knowledge of sin.

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

Released from the Law

1 Or do you not know, brothers¹—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 ^ga 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.² 3 Accordingly, she will be called an ^hadulteress 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, you also have ⁱdied 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. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful ^jpassions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit ^kfor death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve ^lin the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the ^mwritten code.³

The Law and Sin

7 ⁿWhat then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! ^oYet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ^p“You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^qFor 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 ^rthat promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So ^sthe 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, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For ^tI 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 the law, that it is good. 17 So now ^uit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that ^vnothing 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. 19 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, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a ^wlaw that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I ^xdelight in the law of God, in my ^yinner being, 23 but I see in my members 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 this ^zbody 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.

Israel’s Unbelief

30 ^oWhat shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a ^prighteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^{1 q}did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the ^rstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

1 Brothers,^{2 v}my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a ^wzeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the ^xrighteousness of God, and ^yseeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For ^zChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.³

The Message of Salvation to All

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that ^athe person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the ^brighteousness based on faith says, ^c“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);