Romans 7
1 Knowe yee not, brethren, (for I speake to them that knowe the Lawe) that the Lawe hath dominion ouer a man as long as he liueth?
Surely, friends, you know (for I am speaking to people who know what Law means) that Law has power over a person only as long as they lives.
2 For the woman which is in subiection to a man, is bound by the Lawe to the man, while he liueth: but if the man bee dead, shee is deliuered from the lawe of the man.
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.
3 So then, if while the man liueth, she taketh another man, she shalbe called an adulteresse: but if the man be dead, she is free from the Law, so that shee is not an adulteresse, though shee take another man.
If, then, during her husband’s lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.
4 So yee, my brethren, are dead also to the Law by ye body of Christ, that ye should be vnto an other, euen vnto him that is raised vp from the dead, that we should bring foorth fruite vnto God.
And so with you, my friends; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.
5 For when we were in ye flesh, the affections of sinnes, which were by the Law, had force in our members, to bring foorth fruit vnto death.
When we were living merely earthly lives, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were active in every part of our bodies, with the result that our lives bore fruit for death.
6 But now we are deliuered from the Lawe, he being dead in whom we were holden, that we should serue in newnesse of Spirite, and not in the oldnesse of the letter.
But now we are set free from the Law, because we are dead to that which once kept us under restraint; and so we serve under new, spiritual conditions, and not under old, written regulations.
7 What shall we say then? Is the Lawe sinne? God forbid. Nay, I knewe not sinne, but by the Lawe: for I had not knowen lust, except the Lawe had sayd, Thou shalt not lust.
What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say “You must not covet,” I should not know what it is to covet.
8 But sinne tooke an occasion by ye commandement, and wrought in me all maner of concupiscence: for without the Lawe sinne is dead.
But sin took advantage of the commandment to arouse in me every form of covetousness, for where there is no consciousness of Law sin shows no sign of life.
9 For I once was aliue, without the Law: but when the commandement came, sinne reuiued,
There was a time when I myself, unconscious of Law, was alive; but when the commandment was brought home to me, sin sprang into life, while I died!
10 But I died: and the same commandement which was ordeined vnto life, was found to be vnto me vnto death.
The commandment that should have meant life I found to result in death!
11 For sinne tooke occasion by the commandement, and deceiued me, and thereby slewe me.
Sin took advantage of the commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my death.
12 Wherefore the Lawe is holy, and that commandement is holy, and iust, and good.
And so the Law is holy, and each commandment is also holy, and just, and good.
13 Was that then which is good, made death vnto me? God forbid: but sinne, that it might appeare sinne, wrought death in me by that which is good, that sinne might be out of measure sinfull by the commandement.
Did, then, a thing, which in itself was good, involve death in my case? Heaven forbid! It was sin that involved death; so that, by its use of what I regarded as good to bring about my death, its true nature might appear; and in this way the commandment showed how intensely sinful sin is.
14 For we knowe that the Law is spirituall, but I am carnall, solde vnder sinne.
We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly – sold into slavery to sin.
15 For I alow not that which I do: for what I would, that do I not: but what I hate, that do I.
I do not understand my own actions. For I am so far from habitually doing what I want to do, that I find myself doing the thing that I hate.
16 If I doe then that which I woulde not, I consent to the Lawe, that it is good.
But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.
17 Nowe then, it is no more I, that doe it, but sinne that dwelleth in me.
This being so, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.
18 For I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to wil is preset with me: but I find no meanes to perform that which is good.
I know that there is nothing good in me – I mean in my earthly nature. For, although it is easy for me to want to do right, to act rightly is not easy.
19 For I doe not the good thing, which I would, but the euil, which I would not, that do I.
I fail to do the good thing that I want to do, but the bad thing that I want not to do – that I habitually do.
20 Nowe if I do that I would not, it is no more I that doe it, but the sinne that dwelleth in me.
But, when I do the thing that I want not to do, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.
21 I finde then that when I would doe good, I am thus yoked, that euill is present with me.
This, then, is the law that I find – when I want to do right, wrong presents itself!
22 For I delite in the Law of God, concerning the inner man:
At heart I delight in the Law of God;
23 But I see another Law in my members, rebelling against the Lawe of my minde, and leading me captiue vnto the lawe of sinne, which is in my members.
but throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavours to make me a prisoner to that law of sin which exists throughout my body.
24 O wretched man that I am, who shall deliuer me from the body of this death!
Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this death?
25 I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Then I my selfe in my minde serue the Lawe of God, but in my flesh the lawe of sinne.
Thank God, there is deliverance through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Well then, for myself, with my reason I serve the Law of God, but with my earthly nature the Law of sin.
