¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified^[a] not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.^[b] And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ,^[c] and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. ¹⁷ But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.