Romans 7

1 Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

Is it not clear, my brothers (I am using an argument to those who have knowledge of the law), that the law has power over a man as long as he is living?

2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

For the woman who has a husband is placed by the law under the power of her husband as long as he is living; but if her husband is dead, she is free from the law of the husband.

3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.

So if, while the husband is living, she is joined to another man, she will get the name of one who is untrue to her husband: but if the husband is dead, she is free from the law, so that she is not untrue, even if she takes another man.

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

In the same way, my brothers, you were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, even to him who came again from the dead, so that we might give fruit to God.

5 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

For when we were in the flesh, the evil passions which came into being through the law were working in our bodies to give the fruit of death.

6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

But now we are free from the law, having been made dead to that which had power over us; so that we are servants in the new way of the spirit, not in the old way of the letter.

7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

What then is to be said? is the law sin? in no way. But I would not have had knowledge of sin but for the law: for I would not have been conscious of desire if the law had not said, You may not have a desire for what is another's.

8 But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;

10 So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death:

11 For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

But the law is holy, and its orders are holy, upright, and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Was then that which is good, death to me? In no way. But the purpose was that sin might be seen to be sin by working death to me through that which is good; so that through the orders of the law sin might seem much more evil.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.

But, if I do that which I have no mind to do, I am in agreement with the law that the law is good.

17 In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.

19 For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

For the good which I have a mind to do, I do not: but the evil which I have no mind to do, that I do.

20 And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

But if I do what I have no mind to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin living in me.

21 So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

So I see a law that, though I have a mind to do good, evil is present in me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

In my heart I take pleasure in the law of God,

23 But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

But I see another law in my body, working against the law of my mind, and making me the servant of the law of sin which is in my flesh.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?

25 Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

I give praise to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with my mind I am a servant to the law of God, but with my flesh to the law of sin.