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. 11 So you also must consider yourselves ^odead to sin and ^palive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its ^qpassions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but ^rpresent yourselves to God as those who have been brought ^sfrom death to life, and your members to God as instruments ^tfor righteousness. 14 For sin will have no ^udominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? ^vAre we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,³ you are slaves of the one whom you obey, ^weither of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once ^xslaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set ^yfree from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking ^zin human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to ^asanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But ^bwhat fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the ^cfruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 ^dFor the wages of sin is death, but the ^efree gift of God is eternal ^flife in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.