Romans 7

1 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.

Or do you not know, brothers (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a person for as long as he lives?

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 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 concerning the 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.

So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she is called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

4 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.

Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we may bear 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 sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit for 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 have been released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in 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 ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ I should not know what it is to covet.

What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not. However, I would not have known sin, except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness, unless the law had said, "Do 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 opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is 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!

I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died.

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

The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death;

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

for sin, taking the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

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

Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, 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.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.

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 fleshly, 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 very thing that I hate.

For I do not know what I am doing. For I do not practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

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

But if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

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

So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells 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 in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For the desire is present in me, but the doing of the good is 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 desire, I do not do; but the evil which I do not desire, that I practice.

20 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.

But if what I do not desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

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

I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

22 At heart I delight in the Law of God;

For I delight in God's law in my inner being,

23 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.

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.

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

What a wretched man I am. Who will deliver me out of 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.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law.