Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible







They would not surrender to the righteousness of God, because they were ignorant of his righteousness and therefore essayed to set up a righteousness of their own. Now Christ is an end to law, so as to let every believer have righteousness.


Besides, their minds were dulled, for to this very day, when the Old Testament is read aloud, the same veil hangs. Veiled from them the fact that the glory fades in Christ! Yes, down to this day, whenever Moses is read aloud, the veil rests on their heart; though whenever they turn to the Lord, the veil is removed.


Thus there is no doom now for those who are in Christ Jesus; the law of the Spirit brings the life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened here by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the guise of sinful flesh, to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, read more.
in order to secure the fulfilment of the Law's requirements in our lives, as we live and move not by the flesh but by the Spirit.

Surely you know, my brothers ??for I am speaking to men who know what law means ??that the law has hold over a person only during his lifetime! Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is alive; but if the husband dies, she is done with the law of 'the husband.' Accordingly, she will be termed an adulteress if she becomes another man's while her husband is alive; but if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of 'the husband,' so that she is no adulteress if she becomes another man's. read more.
It is the same in your case, my brothers. The crucified body of Christ made you dead to the Law, so that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead that we might be fruitful to God. For when we were unspiritual, the sinful cravings excited by the Law were active in our members and made us fruitful to Death; but now we are done with the Law, we have died to what once held us, so that we can serve in a new way, not under the written code as of old but in the Spirit. What follows, then? That 'the Law is equivalent to sin'? Never! Why, had it not been for the Law, I would never have known what sin meant! Thus I would never have known what it is to covet, unless the Law had said, You must not covet. The command gave an impulse to sin, and sin resulted for me in all manner of covetous desire ??for sin, apart from law, is lifeless. I lived at one time without law myself, but when the command came home to me, sin sprang to life and I died; the command that meant life proved death for me. The command gave an impulse to sin, sin beguiled me and used the command to kill me. So the Law at any rate is holy, the command is holy, just, and for our good. Then did what was meant for my good prove fatal to me? Never! It was sin; sin resulted in death for me by making use of this good thing. This was how sin was to be revealed in its true nature; it was to use the command to become sinful in the extreme. The Law is spiritual; we know that. But then I am a creature of the flesh, in the thraldom of sin. I cannot understand my own actions; I do not act as I want to act; on the contrary, I do what I detest. Now, when I act against my wishes, that means I agree that the Law is right. That being so, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. For in me (that is, in my flesh) no good dwells, I know; the wish is there, but not the power of doing what is right. I cannot be good as I want to be, and I do wrong against my wishes. Well, if I act against my wishes, it is not I who do the deed but sin that dwells within me. So this is my experience of the Law: I want to do what is right, but wrong is all I can manage; I cordially agree with God's law, so far as my inner self is concerned, but then I find quite another law in my members which conflicts with the law of my mind and makes me a prisoner to sin's law that resides in my members. Miserable wretch that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? God will! Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Move second part of this vers to follow vs 23] (Thus, left to myself, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.)

but since we know a man is justified simply by faith in Jesus Christ and not by doing what the Law commands, we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus so as to get justified by faith in Christ and not by doing what the Law commands ??for by doing what the Law commands no person shall be justified. If it is discovered that in our quest for justification in Christ we are 'sinners' as well as the Gentiles, does that make Christ an agent of sin? Never! I really convict myself of transgression when I rebuild what I destroyed. read more.
For through the Law I died to the Law that I might live for God; I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me; the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not annul God's grace; but if righteousness comes by way of the Law, then indeed Christ's death was useless.

Whereas a curse rests on all who rely upon obedience to the Law; for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not hold by all that is written in the book of the law, to perform it. And because no one is justified on the score of the Law before God (plainly, the just shall live by faith, ??12 and the Law is not based on faith: no, he who performs these things shall live by them), Christ ransomed us from the curse of the Law by becoming accursed for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a gibbet), read more.
that the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promised Spirit.

So with us. When we were under age, we lived under the thraldom of the Elemental spirits of the world; but when the time had fully expired, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those who were under the Law, that we might get our sonship. read more.
It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!' So you are servant no longer but son, and as son you are also heir, all owing to God. In those days, when you were ignorant of God, you were in servitude to gods who are really no gods at all; but now that you know God ??or rather, are known by God ??how is it you are turning back again to the weakness and poverty of the Elemental spirits? Why do you want to be enslaved all over again by them? You observe days and months and festal seasons and years! Why, you make me afraid I may have spent my labour on you for nothing!

Whereas now, within Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he who has made both of us a unity and destroyed the barrier which kept us apart; in his own flesh he put an end to the feud of the Law with its code of commands, so as to make peace by the creation of a new Man in himself out of both parties,


Then Peter opened his lips and said, "I see quite plainly that God has no favourites, but that he who reverences Him and lives a good life in any nation is welcomed by Him.


But do you, beloved, build up yourselves on your most holy faith and pray in the holy Spirit, so keeping yourselves within the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that ends in life eternal.

intelligence with self-control, self-control with stedfastness, stedfastness with piety, piety with brotherliness, brotherliness with Christian love. For as these qualities exist and increase with you, they render you active and fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; read more.
whereas he who has not these by him is blind, shortsighted, oblivious that he has been cleansed from his erstwhile sins.

"Teacher," he said, "what is the greatest command in the Law?" He replied, "You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and chief command. read more.
There is a second like it: you must love your neighbour as yourself. The whole Law and the prophets hang upon these two commands."

Thus there is no doom now for those who are in Christ Jesus; the law of the Spirit brings the life which is in Christ Jesus, and that law has set me free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law, weakened here by the flesh, could not do; by sending his own Son in the guise of sinful flesh, to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, read more.
in order to secure the fulfilment of the Law's requirements in our lives, as we live and move not by the flesh but by the Spirit. For those who follow the flesh have their interests in the flesh, and those who follow the Spirit have their interests in the Spirit. The interests of the flesh mean death, the interests of the Spirit mean life and peace. For the interests of the flesh are hostile to God; they do not yield to the law of God (indeed they cannot). Those who are in the flesh cannot satisfy God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells within you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. On the other hand, if Christ is within you, though the body is a dead thing owing to Adam's sin, the spirit is living as the result of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live by his indwelling Spirit in your lives. Well then, my brothers, we owe a duty ??but it is not to the flesh! It is not to live by the flesh! If you live by the flesh, you are on the road to death; but if by the Spirit you put the actions of the body to death, you will live. For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God. You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!", it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God; and if children, heirs as well, heirs of God, heirs along with Christ ??for we share his sufferings in order to share his glory. Present suffering, I hold, is a mere nothing compared to the glory that we are to have revealed.

Oh for their salvation, brothers! That is my heart's desire and prayer to God! I can vouch for their zeal for God; only, it is not zeal with knowledge. They would not surrender to the righteousness of God, because they were ignorant of his righteousness and therefore essayed to set up a righteousness of their own. read more.
Now Christ is an end to law, so as to let every believer have righteousness. Moses writes of law-righteousness, Anyone who can perform it, shall live by it. But here is what faith-righteousness says: ??Say not in your heart, 'Who will go up to heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down). Or, 'who will go down to the abyss?' (that is, to bring Christ from the dead). No, what it does say is this: ??The word is close to you, in your very mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach). Confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord,' believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved; for with his heart man believes and is justified, with his mouth he confesses and is saved. No one who believes in him, the scripture says, will ever be disappointed. No one ??12 for there is no distinction of Jew and Greek, the same Lord is Lord of them all, with ample for all who invoke him. Everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, good temper, kindliness, generosity, fidelity, gentleness, self-control: ??there is no law against those who practise such things. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its emotions and passions. read more.
As we live by the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit;

see that none of you pays back evil for evil, but always aim at what is kind to one another and to all the world; rejoice at all times, never give up prayer, read more.
thank God for everything ??such is his will for you in Christ Jesus; never quench the fire of the Spirit, never disdain prophetic revelations but test them all, retaining what is good and abstaining from whatever kind is evil. May the God of peace consecrate you through and through! Spirit, soul, and body, may you be kept without break or blame till the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ!

If you really fulfil the royal law laid down by scripture, You must love your neighbour as yourself, well and good; but if you pay servile regard to people, you commit a sin, and the Law convicts you of transgression. For whoever obeys the whole of the Law and only makes a single slip, is guilty of everything. read more.
He who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery but if you kill, you have transgressed the Law. Speak, act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom; for the judgment will be merciless to the man who has shown no mercy ??whereas the merciful life will triumph in the face of judgment. My brothers, what is the use of anyone declaring he has faith, if he has no deeds to show? Can his faith save him? Suppose some brother or sister is ill-clad and short of daily food; if any of you says to them, "Depart in peace! Get warm, get food," without supplying their bodily needs, what use is that? So faith, unless it has deeds, is dead in itself. Someone will object, 'And you claim to have faith!' Yes, and I claim to have deeds as well; you show me your faith without any deeds, and I will show you by my deeds what faith is! You believe in one God? Well and good. So do the devils, and they shudder. But will you understand, you senseless fellow, that faith without deeds is dead? When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did? In his case, you see, faith co-operated with deeds, faith was completed by deeds, and the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness ??he was called God's friend. You observe it is by what he does that a man is justified, not simply by what he believes. So too with Rahab the harlot. Was she not justified by what she did, when she entertained the scouts and got them away by a different road? For as the body without the breath of life is dead, so faith is dead without deeds.