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？
Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?
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。
A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.
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。
This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress.
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, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield 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 whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield 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 seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.
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 follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."
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。
Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be 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，
Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, 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, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me 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 seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.
12 所以法律本是聖的，誡命也是聖的，是正義和美善的。
So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, 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。
Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.
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 a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of 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 do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.
16 我若去作我所不願意的，這便是承認法律是善的。
But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,
17 實際上作那事的已不是我，而是在我內的罪惡。
and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.
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 lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is 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 what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly 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。
But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.
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 therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.
22 因為照我的內心，我是喜悅天主的法律；
For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with 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 discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.
24 我這個人真不幸呀! 誰能救我脫離這該死的肉身呢？
(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?
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。
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.
