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?

Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law, ) that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as it liveth?

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 that hath an husband, whilst her husband liveth is bound to the law. But if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her 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.

Therefore, whilst her husband liveth, she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man: but if her husband be dead, she is delivered from the law of her husband; so that she is not an adulteress, if she be with 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.

Therefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law, by the body of Christ; that you may belong to another, who is risen again from the dead, that we may bring forth 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 passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto 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 loosed from the law of death, wherein we were detained; so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness 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 shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid. But I do not know sin, but by the law; for I had not known concupiscence, if the law did not say: Thou shalt not covet.

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 occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

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

And I lived some time without the law. But when the commandment came, sin revived,

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

And I died. And the commandment that was ordained to life, the same was found to be unto death to me.

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

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, seduced me, and by it killed me.

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

Wherefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, 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 that then which is good, made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it may appear sin, by that which is good, wrought death in me; that sin, by the commandment, might become sinful above measure.

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

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under 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.

For that which I work, I understand not. For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do.

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

If then I do that which I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good.

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

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth 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 know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not.

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 will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, 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.

Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

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

I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me.

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

For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man:

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 members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members.

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

Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me 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.

The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.