The law

⁷ What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

⁸ But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

⁹ Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

¹⁰ So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

¹¹ For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

¹⁶ Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁷ You shall not murder.

¹⁸ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ You shall not steal.

²⁰ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹ You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹² Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ You shall not murder.

¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ You shall not steal.

¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁰ Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

¹¹ For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹⁷ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

¹⁸ For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

¹⁹ So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

³⁷ Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

¹³ For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.

¹⁴ Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.

¹⁵ So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

²⁰ Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

²¹ But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.

⁸ Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

⁹ The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰ Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

⁸ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately.

⁹ We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers,

¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching

⁷ You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁸ You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁰ but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

¹² Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

³ You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

⁶ but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

¹⁵ We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners”

¹⁶ know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not!

¹⁸ If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.

¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

¹⁰ All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”

¹¹ Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

¹² The law, however, is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”

¹⁷ What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.

¹⁸ For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God freely granted it to Abraham through a promise.

¹⁹ Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

²⁰ A mediator is unnecessary, however, for only one party; but God is one.

²¹ Is the law, then, opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come from the law.

²³ Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.

²⁴ So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

⁸ The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.

Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”

In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.

Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

Teach them the statutes and laws, and show them the way to live and the work they must do.

² The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

³ but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”

But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

⁹ Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day,

¹⁰ so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”

³⁰ At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel,

³¹ just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

¹⁸ “Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,

¹⁹ honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Then Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

³² “Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied. “You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him,

³³ and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?

The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”