Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.

Sin must not be your master; for you do not live under law but under God's grace.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.

So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead---killed by the Law itself---in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross,

so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse."

If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.

He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace.

he canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.

You have died with Christ and are set free from the ruling spirits of the universe. Why, then, do you live as though you belonged to this world? Why do you obey such rules as

While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. "Take and eat it," he said; "this is my body."

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If you eat this bread, you will live forever. The bread that I will give you is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live."

The cup we use in the Lord's Supper and for which we give thanks to God: when we drink from it, we are sharing in the blood of Christ. And the bread we break: when we eat it, we are sharing in the body of Christ.

Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all.

Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by his wounds that you have been healed.

Bride of the king, listen to what I say--- forget your people and your relatives.

The people of Tyre will bring you gifts; rich people will try to win your favor.

In her colorful gown she is led to the king, followed by her bridesmaids, and they also are brought to him.

Your Creator will be like a husband to you--- the LORD Almighty is his name. The holy God of Israel will save you--- he is the ruler of all the world.

Like a young man taking a virgin as his bride, He who formed you will marry you. As a groom is delighted with his bride, So your God will delight in you.

Israel, I will make you my wife; I will be true and faithful; I will show you constant love and mercy and make you mine forever.

I will keep my promise and make you mine, and you will acknowledge me as LORD.

The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete.

I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.

For a husband has authority over his wife just as Christ has authority over the church; and Christ is himself the Savior of the church, his body.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it.

in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty---pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection.

Let us rejoice and be glad; let us praise his greatness! For the time has come for the wedding of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself for it.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came to me and said, "Come, and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb."

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

You, my king, will have many sons to succeed your ancestors as kings, and you will make them rulers over the whole earth.

My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples.

But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.

Your lives will be filled with the truly good qualities which only Jesus Christ can produce, for the glory and praise of God.

It is not that I just want to receive gifts; rather, I want to see profit added to your account.

The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is.

Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God.