Romans 7

1 Or do you not know, brothers, (now I am speaking to those who know the law) that the law has dominion over a man only so long as he lives?

Are you ignorant, brothers—for to those knowing law I speak—that the law has lordship over the man as long as he lives?

2 For example, a woman who is subject to a husband is obligated by the law while her husband lives. But when her husband has died, she is released from the law of her husband.

For the married woman to the living husband has been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she has been free from the law of the husband;

3 Therefore, while her husband lives, if she has been with another man, she should be called an adulteress. But when her husband has died, she is freed from the law of her husband, such that, if she has been with another man, she is not an adulteress.

so then, the husband being alive, she will be called an adulteress if she may become another man’s; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man’s.

4 And so, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law, through the body of Christ, so that you may be another one who has risen from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

So that, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another’s, who was raised up out of the dead, that we might bear fruit to God;

5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were under the law, operated within our bodies, so as to bear fruit unto death.

for when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, that [are] through the Law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to death;

6 But now we have been released from the law of death, by which we were being held, so that now we may serve with a renewed spirit, and not in the old way, by the letter.

and now we have ceased from the Law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

7 What should we say next? Is the law sin? Let it not be so! But I do not know sin, except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting, unless the law said: “You shall not covet.”

What, then, will we say? The Law [is] sin? Let it not be! But I did not know sin except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the Law had not said:

8 But sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

“You will not covet”; and sin having received an opportunity, through the command, worked in me all covetousness—for apart from law sin is dead.

9 Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived,

And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, sin revived, and I died;

10 and I died. And the commandment, which was unto life, was itself found to be unto death for me.

and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;

11 For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me.

for sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, deceived me, and through it, slew [me],

12 And so, the law itself is indeed holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

so that the Law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.

13 Then was what is good made into death for me? Let it not be so! But rather sin, in order that it might be known as sin by what is good, wrought death in me; so that sin, through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure.

That which is good then, has it become death to me? Let it not be! But sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that sin might become exceedingly sinful through the command.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin.

For we have known that the Law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by sin;

15 For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what I do.

for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practice, but what I hate, this I do.

16 So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good.

And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the Law that [it is] good,

17 But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me.

and now it is no longer I that work it, but sin dwelling in me,

18 For I know that what is good does not live within me, that is, within my flesh. For the willingness to do good lies close to me, but the carrying out of that good, I cannot reach.

for I have known that there does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and I do not find to work that which is right,

19 For I do not do the good that I want to do. But instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.

for the good that I will, I do not do; but the evil that I do not will, this I practice.

20 Now if I do what I am not willing to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but the sin which lives within me.

And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but sin that is dwelling in me.

21 And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me.

I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, the evil is present with me,

22 For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man.

for I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man,

23 But I perceive another law within my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me with the law of sin which is in my body.

and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that [is] in my members.

24 Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?

A wretched man I [am]! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

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

I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed serve the Law of God with the mind, and with the flesh, the law of sin.