Romans 7

1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

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.

2 For the woman who hath a husband, is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband is dead, she is loosed from the law of [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 So then, if while [her] husband liveth, she is married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband is dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to 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 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit to God.

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.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit to death:

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 delivered from the law, that being dead by which we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.

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 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? By no means. No, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt 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 “You must not covet,” I should not know what it is to covet.

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

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 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

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 the commandment which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] to death.

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

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].

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

12 Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

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

13 Was then that which is good made death to me? By no means. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding 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 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

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

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

16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent to the law that [it is] good.

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

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

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

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh, ) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good, I find not.

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 For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, 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 Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

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.

21 I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

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

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

At heart I delight in the Law of God;

23 But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

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

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

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

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.