Surely, Brothers, you know (for I am speaking to men who know what Law means) that Law has power over a man only as long as he lives.

All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

Indeed, the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.

What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say 'Thou shalt not covet,' I should not know what it is to covet.

But throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavors to make me a prisoner to that law of Sin which exists throughout my body.

And so with you, my Brothers; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.

Boasting, as you do, of your Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law?

Circumcision has its value, if you are obeying the Law. But, if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision is no better than uncircumcision.

For 'no human being will be pronounced righteous before God' as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.

But now, quite apart from Law, the Divine Righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the Prophets bear witness--

Do we, then, use this faith to abolish Law? Heaven forbid! No, we establish Law.

Law entails punishment; but, where no Law exists, no breach of it is possible.

Even before the time of the Law there was sin in the world; but sin cannot be charged against a man where no Law exists.

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.

Thank God, there is deliverance through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Well then, for myself, with my reason I serve the Law of God, but with my earthly nature the Law of Sin.

For through your union with Christ Jesus, the Law of the life- giving Spirit has set you free from the Law of Sin and Death.