Romans 7

1 Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a person only as long as he lives?

Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

2 For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her husband.

For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

3 So then, she will be called an adulteress if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not committing adultery if she is joined to another man.

So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.

4 So then, my brothers, you also were put to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, so that we might bear fruit for God.

Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, which were aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit leading to death.

For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

6 But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were held, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Yoʋ shall not covet.”

What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. For apart from the law sin is dead.

But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died.

Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

10 So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

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

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

13 Has that then which is good brought death to me? Certainly not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave to sin.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. Instead of doing what I want to do, I do the very thing I hate.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

16 Now if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.

17 But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is right, but I find that the ability to carry it out is lacking.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I do the very evil that I do not want to do.

For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

20 Now if I do the very thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

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

So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being,

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

23 but I see another law at work in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that is in my members.

But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 I thank God that he will do so through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.