Romans 7

1 My fellow believers, you know about laws. So you certainly know (OR, I want you to remember) that people have to obey laws [PRS] [only] while [they are] alive. [RHQ]

Surely, Brothers, you know (for I am speaking to men who know what Law means) that Law has power over a man only as long as he lives.

2 For example, a woman is required by the law {the law requires a woman} [to obey and be faithful to her husband] as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is freed [from having to] {[no longer has to]} [obey] the law about [remaining married to] her husband.

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 Therefore, a woman will be called {people will call a woman} an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she no longer [has to obey] that law. Then she will not be an adulteress if she marries 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 Likewise, my fellow believers, [just like people are free from having to obey any law after they die] [MET], you [and I] have been freed {[God] has freed you [and me]} from having [to obey] all the Jewish rituals and laws [MET]. [That is because it is as though] we died with Christ [when he was crucified]. Now you [and I] belong to someone else [MET], [like a woman who marries again after her husband dies belongs to another man]. Specifically, you [and I] belong to [Christ], who has come back to life {whom [God] has caused to live again after he died}, in order that we may live righteously [IDM] to [honor] God.

And so with you, my Brothers; 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 When our self-directed nature [controlled] us, desires [that led us to] sin were acting in our bodies. [Those desires were increased because of our knowing God’s] laws [PRS]. As a result [we did evil things] [IDM] [that] caused us to be separated from God.

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 freed {free} from [having to obey all the Jewish] rituals— [it is as though] we have died. The result is that now we are not controlled by those rituals {those rituals do not control us now}. So we serve God, not by [having to obey] those rituals, which is the old way, but in the new way, as [God’s] Spirit [helps us to serve him].

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 [Someone might object], saying, “(The laws [that God gave Moses] must be evil [if our sinful desires] are increased because of our knowing those laws. [MTY]/Are not the laws [that God gave Moses] evil [if they stir up our sinful desires]?)” [MTY, RHQ] [I would reply] that they certainly are not [evil, even though our sinful desires are increased]. What I would reply is that I, [for example], realized that [what I was doing] was sinful only because [of what is written] {[Moses wrote]} [in] those laws. For example, I realized that coveting [is sinful] only because he wrote in those laws [PRS], “You must not covet.”

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 ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ I should not know what it is to covet.

8 And because of what that commandment [stated], my sinful [desire to have things that belong to others] [PRS] caused me to covet in many ways. [Our desire to] sin is not stimulated [MET] when there is no law [that prohibits our doing sinful things].

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 Formerly, when I did not [know] what God’s laws [required], I used to live [without worrying about what I was doing]. But when I [became aware that God] commanded, [“You must not covet],” I suddenly realized [PRS] that I was sinning,

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 and [I realized that] I was separated from God. The laws that [I thought would enable me to] live [eternally as a result of my obeying them] caused me [to realize that] I was separated from God!

The very Commandment that should have meant Life I found to result in Death!

11 [My desire to] sin found a way [PRS] to deceive me [by making me think wrongly that] I could keep [on sinning and at the same time obey] those laws [enough so that I would live eternally], and [thus it] caused me to be separated from God [PRS].

Sin took advantage of the Commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my Death.

12 So [we conclude that] the laws [that God gave to Moses] are holy. What God commanded [about not coveting, along with all the other things that he commanded], is also holy, and it is just and good.

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

13 So, [if someone were to object] saying, “[The laws that God gave Moses], which are good, (resulted in my being separated from God!/did they result in my being separated from God?) [RHQ]” [I would reply], “Certainly they did not [do that]!” But instead, those [laws], which are good, stimulated [my desire to] sin. I knew that the result was that I was separated from God. And also, because I [learned what God had] commanded, [I knew that] what I was doing was [truly] sinful.

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 We know that the laws [that God gave Moses came from God’s] Spirit. But as for me, I am [influenced by my] self-directed nature. [It is as though] I have been forced to become a slave of [my desire to] sin [MET].

We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly — sold into slavery to Sin.

15 The things that I do, I [often] [HYP] do not understand. That is, [sometimes] [HYP] it is [the good things] that I want [to do] that I do not do. [And sometimes] [HYP] it is the [evil] things that I detest that I do.

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 very thing that I hate.

16 Since I [do] the [evil] things that I do not want [to] do, I agree that the laws [of God] are good.

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

17 So, it is not that I do [evil things because I wish to do them]. Instead, [what happens is that] I do sinful things because the desire to sin [causes me to do them]. The [desire to] sin (is within/permeates) me [PRS].

This being so, the action is no longer my own, but that of Sin which is within me.

18 I know that my self-directed nature will not [let me] [PRS] [do] anything that is good. I know this because I want [to do what is good], but I do not do what 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 I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, it is evil things that I do not want to do that I do.

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 Because I do [evil things] that I do not want to do, it is not that I do [evil things because I want to]. Instead, [I do them because] my self-directed nature, which permeates me [PRS], [causes me to do them].

But, when I do the very thing that I want not to do, the action is no longer my own, but that of Sin which is within me.

21 I find, then, that what always happens is that when I want to do what is good, there is an evil [desire] present within me that [PRS] [prevents me from doing good].

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

22 With my new inner nature I like the laws of God very much.

At heart I delight in the Law of God;

23 Nevertheless, I sense that there is a different force that is in (my body/me) [PRS, SYN]. It is opposed to what with my mind [I desire to do] [MET], and it puts me inescapably under the control of [MET] the sinful [desires] that I have [SYN].

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 [When I consider this], I [feel that I] am a very wretched person. I want someone to set me free from the control of what my body [desires], in order that I might not be separated from God. [RHQ] [I also think that what I have experienced is the same as what all believers experience].

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

25 I thank God that it is by Jesus Christ our Lord [that we can be free from the control of what our bodies desire]. So, [with our minds, you and] I on the one hand want to obey God’s laws. [But also], [you and] I [often let] our sinful [desires control us] because of our self-directed nature.

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.