1. So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace?
2. No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin?
3. Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism.
4. When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.
5. Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did.
6. We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin.
7. Anyone who has died is made free from sin's control.
8. If we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.
9. Christ was raised from the dead, and we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now.
10. Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time -- enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God.
11. In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus.
12. So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do.
13. Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good.
14. Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God's grace.
15. So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? No!
16. Surely you know that when you give yourselves like slaves to obey someone, then you are really slaves of that person. The person you obey is your master. You can follow sin, which brings spiritual death, or you can obey God, which makes you right with him.
17. In the past you were slaves to sin -- sin controlled you. But thank God, you fully obeyed the things that you were taught.
18. You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to goodness.
19. I use this example because this is hard for you to understand. In the past you offered the parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil; you lived only for evil. In the same way now you must give yourselves to be slaves of goodness. Then you will live only for God.
20. In the past you were slaves to sin, and goodness did not control you.
21. You did evil things, and now you are ashamed of them. Those things only bring death.
22. But now you are free from sin and have become slaves of God. This brings you a life that is only for God, and this gives you life forever.
23. When people sin, they earn what sin pays -- death. But God gives us a free gift -- life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.