The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John chronicle the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Most Christians see these books of the Bible as being Jesus' efforts to give the church a further set of rules and principles to follow, in addition to the Old Testament laws. However, we find that Jesus was actually taking the law to a higher level in order to show the religious zealots of the day, the scribes and Pharisees, that they could not keep the law. See Matthew 5:28. Jesus would allude to His true purpose for being on the earth -- but His disciples could not properly understand Him.
It is only in the Epistles of Paul that we begin to see the true picture of what Jesus achieved through His death, burial and resurrection. Paul explains that we are justified by faith and not by works of the law. See Galatians 2:16.
In the book of Romans, Paul continues to teach about grace in what many consider to be his finest work. Paul tells us in Romans 6:10-14 that we should not submit to sin, because we have died to sin and the law and we are now under grace. Then, in Romans 6:16-18 Paul says that we should not submit ourselves to sin; otherwise, we will become a slave to it. Paul also says that we should become a slave to righteousness. This implies that we have a choice as to whether or not we wish to submit to sin or submit to righteousness.
In Ephesians 4:22, Paul says that we should put off the old man (old nature). Colossians 3:9 says something similar, but phrases it in the past-tense, in that it says that we "have put off the old man with his deeds". Both verses could be said to be the message of grace, the finished work of Christ, and that the old nature has been done away with and there is nothing more for us to do about it.
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