⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(A) through the body of Christ,^(B) that you might belong to another,^(C) 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,^[a](D) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(E) were at work in us,^(F) so that we bore fruit for death.^{(G) 6} But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(H) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(I)

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then?^(J) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(K) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(L) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[b](M) 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(N) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{(O) 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^(P) actually brought death.