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Dead to Sin but Alive in Christ

¹ So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us more and more grace? ² Of course not! Our old sinful life ended. It's dead. So how can we continue living in sin? ³ Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ Jesus when we were baptized? In our baptism we shared in his death. ⁴ So when we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and took part in his death. And just as Christ was raised from death by the wonderful power of the Father, so we can now 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 death as he did. ⁶ We know that our old life was put to death on the cross with Christ. This happened so that our sinful selves would have no power over us. Then 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 that we will also live with him. ⁹ Christ was raised from death. 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 for God through Christ Jesus.

¹² But don't let sin control your life here on earth. You must not be ruled by the things your sinful self makes you want to do. ¹³ Don't offer the parts of your body to serve sin. Don't use your bodies to do evil, but offer yourselves to God, as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used for doing good. ¹⁴ Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God's grace.

Slaves of Goodness

¹⁵ So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Surely you know that you become the slaves of whatever you give yourselves to. Anything or anyone you follow will be your master. You can follow sin, or you can obey God. Following sin brings spiritual death, but obeying God makes you right with him. ¹⁷ In the past you were slaves to sin—sin controlled you. But thank God, you fully obeyed what you were taught. ¹⁸ You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to what is right. ¹⁹ I use this example from everyday life because you need help in understanding spiritual truths. In the past you offered the parts of your body to be slaves to your immoral and sinful thoughts. The result was that you lived only for sin. In the same way, you must now offer yourselves to be slaves to what is right. Then you will live only for God.

²⁰ In the past you were slaves to sin, and you did not even think about doing right. ²¹ You did evil things, and now you are ashamed of what you did. Did those things help you? No, they only brought death. ²² But now you are free from sin. You have become slaves of God, and the result is that you live only for God. This will bring you eternal life. ²³ When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death. But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.