Release from the Law
(Galatians 3:15–25)

1Knowe yee not, brethren, (for I speake to them that knowe the Lawe) that the Lawe hath dominion ouer a man as long as he liueth? 2For the woman which is in subiection to a man, is bound by the Lawe to the man, while he liueth: but if the man bee dead, shee is deliuered from the lawe of the man. 3So then, if while the man liueth, she taketh another man, she shalbe called an adulteresse: but if the man be dead, she is free fro the Law, so that shee is not an adulteresse, though shee take another man.

4So yee, my brethren, are dead also to the Law by ye body of Christ, that ye should be vnto an other, euen vnto him that is raised vp from the dead, that we should bring foorth fruite vnto God. 5For when we were in ye flesh, the affections of sinnes, which were by the Law, had force in our members, to bring foorth fruit vnto death. 6But now we are deliuered from the Lawe, he being dead in whom we were holden, that we should serue in newnesse of Spirite, and not in the oldnesse of the letter.

God’s Law Is Holy

7What shall we say then? Is the Lawe sinne? God forbid. Nay, I knewe not sinne, but by the Lawe: for I had not knowen lust, except the Lawe had sayd, Thou shalt not lust. 8But sinne tooke an occasion by ye commandement, and wrought in me all maner of concupiscence: for without the Lawe sinne is dead. 9For I once was aliue, wtout the Law: but when the commandement came, sinne reuiued, 10But I died: and the same commandement which was ordeined vnto life, was found to be vnto me vnto death. 11For sinne tooke occasion by the commandement, and deceiued me, and thereby slewe me. 12Wherefore the Lawe is holy, and that commandement is holy, and iust, and good.

Struggling with Sin

13Was that then which is good, made death vnto me? God forbid: but sinne, that it might appeare sinne, wrought death in me by that which is good, that sinne might be out of measure sinfull by the commandement.

14For we knowe that the Law is spirituall, but I am carnall, solde vnder sinne. 15For I alow not that which I do: for what I would, that do I not: but what I hate, that do I. 16If I doe then that which I woulde not, I consent to the Lawe, that it is good. 17Nowe then, it is no more I, that doe it, but sinne that dwelleth in me. 18For I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to wil is preset with me: but I find no meanes to perform that which is good. 19For I doe not the good thing, which I would, but the euil, which I would not, that do I. 20Nowe if I do that I would not, it is no more I that doe it, but the sinne that dwelleth in me.

21I finde then that when I would doe good, I am thus yoked, that euill is present with me. 22For I delite in the Law of God, concerning the inner man: 23But I see another Law in my members, rebelling against the Lawe of my minde, and leading me captiue vnto the lawe of sinne, which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am, who shall deliuer me from the body of this death! 25I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lorde. Then I my selfe in my minde serue the Lawe of God, but in my flesh the lawe of sinne.