The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by zone Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

  20Moreover athe law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace babounded much more,

  21so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  Romans 6

  Dead to Sin, Alive to God

  1What shall we say then? aShall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

  2Certainly not! How shall we who bdied to sin live any longer in it?

  3Or do you not know that cas many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus dwere baptized into His death?

  4Therefore we were eburied with Him through baptism into death, that fjust as Christ was raised from the dead by gthe glory of the Father, heven so we also should walk in newness of life.

  5iFor if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

  6knowing this, that jour old man was crucified with Him, that kthe body of sin might be 1done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

  7For lhe who has died has been 2freed from sin.

  8Now mif we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

  9knowing that nChrist, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

  10For the death that He died, oHe died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, pHe lives to God.

  11Likewise you also, 3reckon yourselves to be qdead indeed to sin, but ralive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  12sTherefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

  13And do not present your tmembers as 4instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but upresent yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

  14For vsin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

  From Slaves of Sin to Slaves of God

  15What then? Shall we sin wbecause we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

  16Do you not know that xto whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

  17But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart ythat form of doctrine to which you were 5delivered.

  18And zhaving been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

  19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness 6for holiness.

  20For when you were aslaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

  21bWhat fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For cthe end of those things is death.

  22But now dhaving been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit 7to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

  23For ethe wages of sin is death, but fthe 8gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  Romans 7

  Freed from the Law

  1Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law 1has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

  2For athe woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

  3So then bif, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

  4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become cdead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should dbear fruit to God.

  5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ewere at work in our members fto bear fruit to death.

  6But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve gin the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

  Sin’s Advantage in the Law

  7What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, hI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, i“You shall not covet.”

  8But jsin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For kapart from the law sin was dead.

  9I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

  10And the commandment, lwhich was to bring life, I found to bring death.

  11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

  12Therefore mthe law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

  Law Cannot Save from Sin

  13Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

  14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, nsold under sin.

  15For what I am doing, I do not understand. oFor what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

  16If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

  17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

  18For I know that pin me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

  19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

  20Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

  21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

  22For I qdelight in the law of God according to rthe inward man.

  23But sI see another law in tmy members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

  24O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ufrom this body of death?

  25vI thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

  Romans 8

  Free from Indwelling Sin

  1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, awho1 do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

  2For bthe law of cthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from dthe law of sin and death.

  3For ewhat the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, fGod did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,

  4that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who gdo not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

  5For hthose who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, ithe things of the Spirit.

  6For jto be 2carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

  7Because kthe 3carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, lnor indeed can be.

  8So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

  9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

  10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

  11But if the Spirit of mHim who raised Jesus from the dead d
wells in you, nHe who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 4through His Spirit who dwells in you.

  Sonship Through the Spirit

  12oTherefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

  13For pif you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you qput to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

  14For ras many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

  15For syou did not receive the spirit of bondage again tto fear, but you received the uSpirit of adoption by whom we cry out, v“Abba,5 Father.”

  16wThe Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

  17and if children, then xheirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, yif indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

  From Suffering to Glory

  18For I consider that zthe sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

  19For athe earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

  20For bthe creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

  21because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of 6corruption into the glorious cliberty of the children of God.

  22For we know that the whole creation dgroans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

  23Not only that, but we also who have ethe firstfruits of the Spirit, feven we ourselves groan gwithin ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the hredemption of our body.

  24For we were saved in this hope, but ihope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

  25But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

  26Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For jwe do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but kthe Spirit Himself makes intercession 7for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

  27Now lHe who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints maccording to the will of God.

  28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those nwho are the called according to His purpose.

  29For whom oHe foreknew, pHe also predestined qto be conformed to the image of His Son, rthat He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

  30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also scalled; whom He called, these He also tjustified; and whom He justified, these He also uglorified.

  God’s Everlasting Love

  31What then shall we say to these things? vIf God is for us, who can be against us?

  32wHe who did not spare His own Son, but xdelivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

  33Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? yIt is God who justifies.

  34zWho is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, awho is even at the right hand of God, bwho also makes intercession for us.

  35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

  36As it is written:

  c“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

  We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

  37dYet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

  38For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor eprincipalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

  39nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  Romans 9

  Israel’s Rejection of Christ

  1I atell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

  2bthat I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

  3For cI could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my 1countrymen according to the flesh,

  4who are Israelites, dto whom pertain the adoption, ethe glory, fthe covenants, gthe giving of the law, hthe service of God, and ithe promises;

  5jof whom are the fathers and from kwhom, according to the flesh, Christ came, lwho is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

  Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose

  (Gen. 25:19–23)

  6mBut it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For nthey are not all Israel who are of Israel,

  7onor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, p“In Isaac your seed shall be called.”

  8That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but qthe children of the promise are counted as the seed.

  9For this is the word of promise: r“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

  10And not only this, but when sRebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac

  11(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of tHim who calls),

  12it was said to her, u“The older shall serve the younger.”

  13As it is written, v“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

  Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

  14What shall we say then? wIs there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

  15For He says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

  16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

  17For ythe Scripture says to the Pharaoh, z“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

  18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ahardens.

  19You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For bwho has resisted His will?”

  20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? cWill the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

  21Does not the dpotter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make eone vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

  22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering fthe vessels of wrath gprepared for destruction,

  23and that He might make known hthe riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had iprepared beforehand for glory,

  24even us whom He jcalled, knot of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

  25As He says also in Hosea:

  l“I will call them My people, who were not My people,

  And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

  26“Andm it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,

  ‘ You are not My people,’

  There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

  27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

  n“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,

  o The remnant will be saved.

  28For 2He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,

  p Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”

  29And as Isaiah said before:

  q“Unless the LORD of 3Sabaoth had left us a seed,

  r We would have become like Sodom,

  And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

  Present Condition of Israel

  30What shall we say then? sThat Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, teven the righteousness of faith;

  31but Israel, upursuing the law of righteousness, vhas not attained to the law 4of righteousness.

  32Why? Beca
use they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, 5by the works of the law. For wthey stumbled at that stumbling stone.

  33As it is written:

  x“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,

  And ywhoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

  Romans 10

  Israel Needs the Gospel

  1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for 1Israel is that they may be saved.

  2For I bear them witness athat they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

  3For they being ignorant of bGod’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own crighteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

  4For dChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

  5For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, e“The man who does those things shall live by them.”

  6But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, f“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

  7or, g“ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

  8But what does it say? h“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

  9that iif you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

  10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

  11For the Scripture says, j“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

  12For kthere is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for lthe same Lord over all mis rich to all who call upon Him.

  13For n“whoever calls oon the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

  Israel Rejects the Gospel

  14How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear pwithout a preacher?

  15And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

  q“How beautiful are the feet of those who 2preach the gospel of peace,