Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NLT

Romans 6-8
New Living Translation

Sin’s Power Is Broken

6 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

No Longer Bound to the Law

7 Now, dear brothers and sisters[b]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? 2 For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. 3 So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.

4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature,[c] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

God’s Law Reveals Our Sin

7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”[d] 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.

13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.

Struggling with Sin

14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[e] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[f] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Life in the Spirit

8 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power[g] of the life-giving Spirit has freed you[h] from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.[i] So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life[j] because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[k] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[l] you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[m] of God.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[n] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[o] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

The Future Glory

18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[p] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[q] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[r] in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[s] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn[t] among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[u]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[v] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 6:12 Or Do not let sin reign in your body, which is subject to death.
  2. 7:1 Greek brothers; also in 7:4.
  3. 7:5 Greek When we were in the flesh.
  4. 7:7 Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21.
  5. 7:18 Greek my flesh; also in 7:25.
  6. 7:23 Greek law; also in 7:23b.
  7. 8:2a Greek the law; also in 8:2b.
  8. 8:2b Some manuscripts read me.
  9. 8:3 Greek our flesh; similarly in 8:4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12.
  10. 8:10 Or your spirit is alive.
  11. 8:12 Greek brothers; also in 8:29.
  12. 8:13 Greek deeds of the body.
  13. 8:14 Greek sons; also in 8:19.
  14. 8:15a Greek you received a spirit of sonship.
  15. 8:15b Abba is an Aramaic term for “father.”
  16. 8:23 Greek wait anxiously for sonship.
  17. 8:24 Some manuscripts read wait.
  18. 8:27 Greek for God’s holy people.
  19. 8:28 Some manuscripts read And we know that everything works together.
  20. 8:29 Or would be supreme.
  21. 8:36 Ps 44:22.
  22. 8:38 Greek nor rulers.
Listen to Romans 6-8
Close NIV

Romans 6-8
New International Version

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say, then?(A) Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?(B) 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin;(C) how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized(D) into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death(E) in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead(F) through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.(G)

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.(H) 6 For we know that our old self(I) was crucified with him(J) so that the body ruled by sin(K) might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin(L)— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.(M)

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.(N) 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,(O) he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.(P) 10 The death he died, he died to sin(Q) once for all;(R) but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin(S) but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign(T) in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness,(U) but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.(V) 14 For sin shall no longer be your master,(W) because you are not under the law,(X) but under grace.(Y)

Slaves to Righteousness

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?(Z) By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey(AA)—whether you are slaves to sin,(AB) which leads to death,(AC) or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God(AD) that, though you used to be slaves to sin,(AE) you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching(AF) that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin(AG) and have become slaves to righteousness.(AH)

19 I am using an example from everyday life(AI) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness(AJ) leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin,(AK) you were free from the control of righteousness.(AL) 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!(AM) 22 But now that you have been set free from sin(AN) and have become slaves of God,(AO) the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.(AP) 23 For the wages of sin is death,(AQ) but the gift of God is eternal life(AR) in[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters(AS)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.(AT) 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.(AU) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law(AV) through the body of Christ,(AW) that you might belong to another,(AX) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[c](AY) the sinful passions aroused by the law(AZ) were at work in us,(BA) so that we bore fruit for death.(BB) 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(BC) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(BD)

The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then?(BE) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(BF) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(BG) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[d](BH) 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(BI) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(BJ) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life(BK) actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(BL) deceived me,(BM) and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.(BN)

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good(BO) to bring about my death,(BP) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,(BQ) sold(BR) as a slave to sin.(BS) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(BT) 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(BU) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.(BV) 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[e](BW) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.(BX) 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(BY)

21 So I find this law at work:(BZ) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being(CA) I delight in God’s law;(CB) 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war(CC) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin(CD) at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?(CE) 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!(CF)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,(CG) but in my sinful nature[f] a slave to the law of sin.(CH)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation(CI) for those who are in Christ Jesus,(CJ) 2 because through Christ Jesus(CK) the law of the Spirit who gives life(CL) has set you[g] free(CM) from the law of sin(CN) and death. 3 For what the law was powerless(CO) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[h](CP) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh(CQ) to be a sin offering.[i](CR) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement(CS) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(CT)

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;(CU) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.(CV) 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death,(CW) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life(CX) and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;(CY) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh(CZ) cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh(DA) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.(DB) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,(DC) they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,(DD) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[j] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead(DE) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies(DF) because of[k] his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.(DG) 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;(DH) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,(DI) you will live.(DJ)

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God(DK) are the children of God.(DL) 15 The Spirit(DM) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;(DN) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[l] And by him we cry, “Abba,[m] Father.”(DO) 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit(DP) that we are God’s children.(DQ) 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs(DR)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings(DS) in order that we may also share in his glory.(DT)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.(DU) 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God(DV) to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,(DW) in hope 21 that[n] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay(DX) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.(DY)

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning(DZ) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,(EA) groan(EB) inwardly as we wait eagerly(EC) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.(ED) 24 For in this hope we were saved.(EE) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.(EF) Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.(EG)

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit(EH) himself intercedes for us(EI) through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts(EJ) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes(EK) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good(EL) of those who love him, who[o] have been called(EM) according to his purpose.(EN) 29 For those God foreknew(EO) he also predestined(EP) to be conformed to the image of his Son,(EQ) that he might be the firstborn(ER) among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined,(ES) he also called;(ET) those he called, he also justified;(EU) those he justified, he also glorified.(EV)

More Than Conquerors

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things?(EW) If God is for us,(EX) who can be against us?(EY) 32 He who did not spare his own Son,(EZ) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge(FA) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns?(FB) No one. Christ Jesus who died(FC)—more than that, who was raised to life(FD)—is at the right hand of God(FE) and is also interceding for us.(FF) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?(FG) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?(FH) 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[p](FI)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors(FJ) through him who loved us.(FK) 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[q] neither the present nor the future,(FL) nor any powers,(FM) 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God(FN) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(FO)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 6:6 Or be rendered powerless
  2. Romans 6:23 Or through
  3. Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
  4. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
  5. Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
  6. Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
  7. Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
  8. Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
  9. Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
  10. Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
  11. Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through
  12. Romans 8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23.
  13. Romans 8:15 Aramaic for father
  14. Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For
  15. Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who
  16. Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
  17. Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers
Next
Romans 5
Romans 9
Next
dropdown
New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.


New International Version (NIV)

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.

July Summer Surge

More on the NIV