< 羅馬書 7 >
1 弟兄們! 我現在是對明白法律的人說話:難道你們不知道:法律統治人,只是在人活著的時候嗎?
Know you not, brethren, for I speak to you that are acquainted with law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?
2 就如有丈夫的女人,當丈夫還活著的時候,是受法律束縛的;如果丈夫死了,她就不再因丈夫而受法律的束縛。
For the woman that has a husband, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives: but if her husband die, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 所以,當丈夫活著的時候,她若依附別的男人,便稱為淫婦;但如果丈夫死了,按法律她是自由的;她若依附別的男人,便不是淫婦。
So then, if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband die, she is free from the law; so that she is not an adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 所以,我的弟兄們! 你們藉著基督的身體已死於法律了,為使你們屬於另一位,就是屬於由死者中復活的那一位,為叫我們給天主結果實,
So then, my brethren, you, also, have died to the law, by the body of the Christ, in order that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit to God.
5 因為我們還在肉性權下的時候,那藉法律而傾向於罪惡的情慾,在我們的肢體內活動,結出死亡的果實。
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were excited by the law, were active in our members, so as to bring forth fruit to death:
6 但是現在,我們已死於束縛我們的勢力,脫離了法律,如此,我們不應再拘泥於舊約條文,而應以新的心神事奉天主。
but now we are made free from the law, being dead to that by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
7 那麼,我們能說法律本身罪嗎?絕對不能! 然而藉著法律,我才知道罪是什麼。如果不是法律說:「不可貪戀! 」我就不知道什麼是貪情。
What, then, shall we say? Is the law sin? It can not be. Indeed, I had not known sin, except through law. For I had not known evil desire, unless the law had said: You shall not have any evil desire.
8 罪惡遂乘機藉著誡命,在我內發動各種貪情;原來若沒有法律,罪惡便是死的。
But sin, taking occasion through the commandment, rendered active within me every evil desire. For without the law, sin was dead.
9 從前我沒有法律時,我是活人;但誡命一來,罪惡便活了起來,
Indeed, I was alive without the law, once; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died:
10 我反而死了。那本來應叫我生活的誡命,反叫我死了,
and the commandment, which was given for life, I found to be for death.
11 因為罪惡藉著誡命乘機誘惑了我,我也藉著誡命殺害了我。
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
12 所以法律本是聖的,誡命也是聖的,是正義和美善的。
Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment, holy and just and good.
13 那麼是善事使我死了嗎?絕對不是! 而是罪惡。罪惡為顯示罪惡的本性,藉著善事為我產生了死亡,以致罪惡藉著誡命成了極端的凶惡。
Has, then, that which is good become death to me? It can not be. But sin, that it, might appear sin, was causing death to me through that which is good, in order that sin, through the commandment, might become exceedingly sinful.
14 我們知道:法律是屬於神的,但我是屬血肉的,已被賣給罪惡作奴隸。
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into bondage to sin.
15 因為我不明白我作的是什麼:我所願意的,我偏不作;我所憎恨的,我反而去作。
For what I do, I know not: for that which I wish to do, this I do not; but that which I hate, this I do.
16 我若去作我所不願意的,這便是承認法律是善的。
If, then, I do that which I wish not to do, I give assent to the law, that it is good.
Now, then, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 我也知道,善不在我內,即不在我的肉性內,因為我有心行善,但實際上卻不能行善。
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good; for to will is present with me; but to perform that which is good, I find not.
19 因此,我所願意的善,我不去行;我所不願意的惡,我卻去作。
For the good that I wish to do, I do not; but the evil that I wish not to do, this I do.
20 但我所不願意的,我若去作,那麼已不是我作那事,而是在我內的罪惡。
Now, if I do that which I wish not to do, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 所以我發見這條規律:就是我願意為善的時候,總邪惡依附著我。
I find, then, this law: That, when I wish to do good, evil is present with me.
For, in the inward man, I delight in the law of God:
23 可是,我發覺在我的肢體,內另有一條法律,與我理智所贊同的法律交戰,並把我擄去,叫我隸屬於那在我肢體內的罪惡的法律。
but I perceive another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind, and making me a captive to the law of sin, which is in my members.
24 我這個人真不幸呀! 誰能救我脫離這該死的肉身呢?
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body that subjects me to death?
25 感謝天主,藉著我們的主耶穌基督。這樣看來,我這人是以理智去服從天主的法律,而以肉性去服從罪惡的法律。
I thank God that I shall be delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind, serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.