Romans 7

1 Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth?

Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?

2 For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband.

A wife, for instance, whose husband is living is bound to him by the Law; but if her husband dies the law that bound her to him has now no hold over her.

3 So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.

This accounts for the fact that if during her husband's life she lives with another man, she will be stigmatized as an adulteress; but that if her husband is dead she is no longer under the old prohibition, and even though she marries again, she is not an adulteress.

4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, [even] to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.

So, my brethren, to you also the Law died through the incarnation of Christ, that you might be wedded to Another, namely to Him who rose from the dead in order that we might yield fruit to God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

For whilst we were under the thraldom of our earthly natures, sinful passions-- made sinful by the Law--were always being aroused to action in our bodily faculties that they might yield fruit to death.

6 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

But seeing that we have died to that which once held us in bondage, the Law has now no hold over us, so that we render a service which, instead of being old and formal, is new and spiritual.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet:

What follows? Is the Law itself a sinful thing? No, indeed; on the contrary, unless I had been taught by the Law, I should have known nothing of sin as sin. For instance, I should not have known what covetousness is, if the Law had not repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not covet."

8 but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin [is] dead.

Sin took advantage of this, and by means of the Commandment stirred up within me every kind of coveting; for apart from Law sin would be dead.

9 And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;

Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died;

10 and the commandment, which [was] unto life, this I found [to be] unto death:

and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.

11 for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me.

For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.

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

So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.

13 Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; —that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.

Did then a thing which is good become death to me? No, indeed, but sin did; so that through its bringing about death by means of what was good, it might be seen in its true light as sin, in order that by means of the Commandment the unspeakable sinfulness of sin might be plainly shown.

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

For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.

15 For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do.

For what I do, I do not recognize as my own action. What I desire to do is not what I do, but what I am averse to is what I do.

16 But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.

But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,

17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.

18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good [is] not.

For I know that in me, that is, in my lower self, nothing good has its home; for while the will to do right is present with me, the power to carry it out is not.

19 For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.

For what I do is not the good thing that I desire to do; but the evil thing that I desire not to do, is what I constantly do.

20 But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

But if I do that which I desire not to do, it can no longer be said that it is I who do it, but the sin which has its home within me does it.

21 I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.

I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;

23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

but I discover within me a different Law at war with the Law of my understanding, and leading me captive to the Law which is everywhere at work in my body--the Law of sin.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!) To sum up then, with my understanding, I--my true self--am in servitude to the Law of God, but with my lower nature I am in servitude to the Law of sin.