15We are Jews by birth, not ‘Gentile sinners’. 16But we know that a person is not declared ‘righteous’ by works of the Jewish law, but through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah. That is why we too believed in the Messiah, Jesus: so that we might be declared ‘righteous’ on the basis of the Messiah’s faithfulness, and not on the basis of works of the Jewish law. On that basis, you see, no creature will be declared ‘righteous’. 17Well, then; if, in seeking to be declared ‘righteous’ in the Messiah, we ourselves are found to be ‘sinners’, does that make the Messiah an agent of ‘sin’? Certainly not! 18If I build up once more the things which I tore down, I demonstrate that I am a lawbreaker. 19Let me explain it like this. Through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with the Messiah. 20I am, however, alive – but it isn’t me any longer, it’s the Messiah who lives in me. And the life I do still live in the flesh, I live within the faithfulness of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I don’t set aside God’s grace. If ‘righteousness’ comes through the law, then the Messiah died for nothing.

The Bible for Everyone: A New Translation . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits which you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer,

Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly,

love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly,

day by day. Amen.