1. Brothers and sisters, I am speaking to you who know the law. Don't you know that the law has authority over us only as long as we are alive?
2. For example, by law a married woman is joined to her husband as long as he is living. But suppose her husband dies. Then the marriage law no longer applies to her.
3. But suppose that married woman gets married again while her husband is still alive. Then she is called a woman who commits adultery. But suppose her husband dies. Then she is free from that law. She is not guilty of adultery even if she marries another man.
4. My brothers and sisters, when Christ died you also died as far as the law is concerned. Then it became possible for you to belong to him. He was raised from the dead. Now our lives can be useful to God.
5. Our sinful nature used to control us. The law stirred up sinful longings in our bodies. So the things we did resulted in death.
6. But now we have died to what used to control us. We have been set free from the law. Now we serve in the new way of the Holy Spirit. We no longer serve in the old way of the written law.