Romans 7

1 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

9 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!

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

10 The commandment that should have meant life I found to result in death!

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

11 Sin took advantage of the commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my death.

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

12 And so the Law is holy, and each commandment is also holy, and just, and good.

Wherefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

13 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.

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 earthly – sold into slavery to sin.

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

15 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.

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 But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.

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

17 This being so, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

18 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.

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 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.

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

20 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.

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

21 This, then, is the law that I find – when I want to do right, wrong presents itself!

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

22 At heart I delight in the Law of God;

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

23 but throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavors to make me a prisoner to that law of sin which exists throughout my body.

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 Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this death?

Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 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.

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.