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Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.

Law and Sin

(A)Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. 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.

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But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(A) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(B)

The Law and Sin

What shall we say, then?(C) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(D) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(E) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a](F) But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(G) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21