God’s Judgment and the Law

12 For all who have sinned ^vwithout the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For ^wit is not 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, ^xby 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 ^ywritten on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 ^zon that day when, ^aaccording to my gospel, God judges ^bthe secrets of men ^cby Christ Jesus.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and ^drely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are ^ea guide 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 ^fthe embodiment of ^gknowledge and truth— 21 ^hyou 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, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ⁱrob temples? 23 You who ^jboast in the law ^kdishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, ^las it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^mamong the Gentiles because of you.”

25 For circumcision indeed is of value ⁿif you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if ^oa man who is uncircumcised keeps ^pthe precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded¹ as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically² uncircumcised but keeps the law ^qwill condemn you who have ^rthe written code³ and circumcision but break the law. 28 For ^sno one is a Jew ^twho is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one ^uinwardly, and ^vcircumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^wHis 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 all, both ^kJews and ^lGreeks, are ^munder sin, 10 as it is written:

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

20 Now ⁱthe law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, ^jgrace 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 ^ea 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, ^fshe 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, ^gyou also have died ^hto the law ⁱthrough the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^jin 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 ^kin our members ^lto 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 ^mnew way of ⁿthe Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.³

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, ^oI would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^pthe law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, ^qseizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^rFor 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 ^sthat promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, ^tseizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^udeceived me and through it killed me. 12 So ^vthe 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, ^wsold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For ^xI 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 ^ythe law, that it is good. 17 So now ^zit is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells ^ain 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 ^bFor 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, ^cit 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 ^dI delight in the law of God, ^ein my inner being, 23 but I see in my members ^fanother 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 ^gthis 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.

Israel’s Unbelief

30 What shall we say, then? ^sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ^ta righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel ^uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^{1 v}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 ^wstumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

1 Brothers,² my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that ^bthey have a zeal for God, ^cbut not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of ^dthe righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For ^eChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.³

The Message of Salvation to All

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