New International Reader's Version NIRV
New International Version NIV
15 What should we say then? Should we sin because we are not ruled by law but by God's grace? Not at all!
15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
16 Don't you know that when you give yourselves to obey someone you become that person's slave? You can be slaves of sin. Then you will die. Or you can be slaves who obey God. Then you will live a godly life.
16
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 You used to be slaves of sin. But thank God that with your whole heart you obeyed the teachings you were given!
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But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.
18 You have been set free from sin. You have become slaves to right living.
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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 Because you are human, you find this hard to understand. So I have said it in a way that will help you understand it. You used to give the parts of your body to be slaves to unclean living. You were becoming more and more evil. Now give your bodies to be slaves to right living. Then you will become holy.
19
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
20 Once you were slaves of sin. At that time right living did not control you.
20
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
21 What benefit did you gain from doing the things you are now ashamed of? Those things lead to death!
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What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22 You have been set free from sin. God has made you his slaves. The benefit you gain leads to holy living. And the end result is eternal life.
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But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
23 When you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done.
23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.