The Righteousness of God Through Faith

21 But now the ⁿrighteousness of God has been ^omanifested apart from the law, ^palthough the Law and the Prophets ^qbear witness to it— 22 the ^rrighteousness of God through ^sfaith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is ^tno distinction: 23 for ^uall have ^vsinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are ^wjustified ^xby his grace as a ^ygift, through the ^zredemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a ^apropitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine ^bforbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of ^cthe one who has faith in Jesus.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

12 Therefore, ^hjust as sin came into the world ⁱthrough one man, and ^jdeath ^kthrough sin, and so death spread to all men¹ because ^lall sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before ^mthe law was given, but ⁿsin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, ^owho was a ^ptype of the one who was to come.

15 But the free ^qgift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded ^rfor many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 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.

18 Therefore, as one trespass² led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness³ leads to ^sjustification and life for ^tall men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s ^uobedience the many will be made righteous.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

1 ^vWhat shall we say then? ^wAre we to continue in sin that ^xgrace may abound? 2 By no means! ^yHow can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been ^zbaptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were ^aburied therefore with him by baptism into death, ^bin order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in ^cnewness of life.

5 For if we have been ^dunited with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our ^eold self¹ was ^fcrucified with him in order that the ^gbody of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be ^henslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free² from sin. 8 Now ⁱif we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being ^jraised from the dead, will ^knever die again; ^ldeath ^mno longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, ⁿonce for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

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

Life in the Spirit

1 There is therefore now no ^acondemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.¹ 2 For the ^blaw of the Spirit of life has set you^{2 c}free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done ^dwhat the law, ^eweakened by the flesh, could not do. ^fBy sending his own Son ^gin the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,³ he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the ^hrighteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who ⁱwalk ^jnot according to the flesh but ^kaccording to the Spirit.