That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God.

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

What, then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means!

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."

But before the time for faith came, the Law kept us all locked up as prisoners until this coming faith should be revealed.

Now that the time for faith is here, the Law is no longer in charge of us.

But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,

to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.

Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live.

That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God.

Certainly not! We have died to sin---how then can we go on living in it?

God is my witness that what I say is true---the God whom I serve with all my heart by preaching the Good News about his Son. God knows that I remember you

And so you Jews will be condemned by the Gentiles because you break the Law, even though you have it written down and are circumcised; but they obey the Law, even though they are not physically circumcised.

Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God's Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives praise from God, not from human beings.

By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life.

In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus.

(I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.) At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes.

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.

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart.

I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart.

it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life.

Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.

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.

It does not matter at all whether or not one is circumcised; what does matter is being a new creature.

It is we, not they, who have received the true circumcision, for we worship God by means of his Spirit and rejoice in our life in union with Christ Jesus. We do not put any trust in external ceremonies.

and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.