But what if our doing wrong serves to show up more clearly God's doing right? Can we say that God does wrong when he punishes us? (This would be the natural question to ask.)

What shall we say, then, of Abraham, the father of our race? What was his experience?

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

But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing.

Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.

But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.

Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law.

For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death.

For no one is put right in God's sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned.

The law of the LORD is perfect; it gives new strength. The commands of the LORD are trustworthy, giving wisdom to those who lack it.

Reverence for the LORD is good; it will continue forever. The judgments of the LORD are just; they are always fair.

They give knowledge to me, your servant; I am rewarded for obeying them.

I have learned that everything has limits; but your commandment is perfect.

But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing.

not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God.

The commandments, "Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not desire what belongs to someone else"---all these, and any others besides, are summed up in the one command, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.

"Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."

" 'Do not desire another man's wife; do not desire his house, his land, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.'

Among the things we seized I saw a beautiful Babylonian cloak, about five pounds of silver, and a bar of gold weighing over one pound. I wanted them so much that I took them. You will find them buried inside my tent, with the silver at the bottom."

One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked around up there, he saw a woman taking a bath in her house. She was very beautiful.

Near King Ahab's palace in Jezreel there was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth.

"I inherited this vineyard from my ancestors," Naboth replied. "The LORD forbid that I should let you have it!"

When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.

But now I tell you: anyone who looks at a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart.

And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be."

I have not wanted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.

Since you are God's people, it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you.

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).

Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not love the Father.

Everything that belongs to the world---what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of---none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world.