Romans 7

1 Are you ignorant, brothers—for to those knowing law I speak—that the law has lordship over the man 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 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;

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, 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.

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 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;

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 were in the flesh, the passions of sins, that [are] through the Law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to 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 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.

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, 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:

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 “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.

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 And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, sin revived, 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 and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;

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

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

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

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

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

13 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.

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 For we have known that the Law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by 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 for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practice, but what I hate, this 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 what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the Law that [it 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 and now it is no longer I that work it, but sin dwelling in me,

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

18 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,

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

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

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

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

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

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

23 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.

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

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

25 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.

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.