For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death.

So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have.

Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.

For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus, has set me free from the law of sin and death.

There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.

For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.

But you, man of God, avoid all these things. Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.

Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses.

For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed.

All of us often make mistakes. But if a person never makes a mistake in what he says, he is perfect and is also able to control his whole being.

Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you.

I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul.

Nor must you surrender any part of yourselves to sin to be used for wicked purposes. Instead, give yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes.

(I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.) At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes.

We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin.

Set me free from my distress; then in the assembly of your people I will praise you because of your goodness to me.

who is gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth.

And then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will.