and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ&#8217;s faithfulness<n id="1" /> &#8211; a righteousness from God that is in fact<n id="2" /> based on Christ&#8217;s<n id="3" /> faithfulness.<n id="4" />

For he who said, &#8220;<b><i>Do not commit adulteryi>b>,&#8221;<n id="1" /> also said, &#8220;<b><i>Do not murderi>b>.&#8221;<n id="2" /> Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

I<n id="1" /> tell you the truth,<n id="2" /> until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter<n id="3" /> will pass from the law until everything takes place.

So<n id="1" /> Simeon,<n id="2" /> directed by the Spirit,<n id="3" /> came into the temple courts,<n id="4" /> and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law,<n id="5" />

After the reading from the law and the prophets,<n id="1" /> the leaders of the synagogue<n id="2" /> sent them a message,<n id="3" /> saying, &#8220;Brothers,<n id="4" /> if you have any message<n id="5" /> of exhortation<n id="6" /> for the people, speak it.&#8221;<n id="7" />

When they heard this, they praised<n id="1" /> God. Then they said to him, &#8220;You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews<n id="2" /> there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers<n id="3" /> of the law.<n id="4" />

They<n id="1" /> show that the work of the law is written<n id="2" /> in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend<n id="3" /> them,<n id="4" />

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace,<n id="1" /> with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants &#8211; not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham,<n id="2" /> who is the father of us all

So then,<n id="1" /> if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her<n id="2" /> husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.

For when we were in the flesh,<n id="1" /> the sinful desires,<n id="2" /> aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body<n id="3" /> to bear fruit for death.

<p class="bodytext">What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I<n id="1" /> would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else<n id="2" /> if the law had not said, &#8220;<b><i>Do not coveti>b>.&#8221;<n id="3" />

For God achieved what the law could not do because<n id="1" /> it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Woe to you, experts in the law<n id="1" /> and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth<n id="2" /> of mint, dill, and cumin,<n id="3" /> yet you neglect what is more important in the law &#8211; justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You<n id="4" /> should have done these things without neglecting the others.

<p class="bodytext">Then the crowd responded,<n id="1" /> &#8220;We have heard from the law that <i>the Christi><n id="2" /> <i>will remain foreveri>.<n id="3" /> How<n id="4" /> can you say, &#8216;The Son of Man must be lifted up&#8217;? Who is this Son of Man?&#8221;

shouting, &#8220;Men of Israel,<n id="1" /> help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law,<n id="2" /> and this sanctuary!<n id="3" /> Furthermore<n id="4" /> he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple<n id="5" /> and made this holy place ritually unclean!&#8221;<n id="6" />

&#8220;I am a Jew,<n id="1" /> born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up<n id="2" /> in this city, educated with strictness<n id="3" /> under<n id="4" /> Gamaliel<n id="5" /> according to the law of our ancestors,<n id="6" /> and was<n id="7" /> zealous<n id="8" /> for God just as all of you are today.

<p class="bodytext">They set<n id="1" /> a day to meet with him,<n id="2" /> and they came to him where he was staying<n id="3" /> in even greater numbers.<n id="4" /> From morning until evening he explained things<n id="5" /> to them,<n id="6" /> testifying<n id="7" /> about the kingdom of God<n id="8" /> and trying to convince<n id="9" /> them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.