and I died. So ¹  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ² 

Do not be conformed ¹  to this present world, ²  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve ³  what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹  shown up as a liar, ²  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ³  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ⁴ 

What then? Are we better off? Certainly not, for we have already charged that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin,

This was ¹  also to demonstrate ²  his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just ³  and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness. ⁴ 

Pray ¹  that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea and that my ministry in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,

even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election ¹  would stand, not by works but by ²  his calling) ³  –

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.