Romans 7
1 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?
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]
2 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.
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.
3 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.
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.
4 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.
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.
5 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.
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.
6 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.
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].
7 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."
[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.”
8 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.
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].
9 Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, and I died;
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,
10 and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.
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!
11 For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.
[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].
12 So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.
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.
13 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.
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.
14 For we know that the Law is a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.
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].
15 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.
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.
16 But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,
Since I [do] the [evil] things that I do not want [to] do, I agree that the laws [of God] are good.
17 and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.
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].
18 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.
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.
19 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.
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.
20 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.
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].
21 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.
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].
22 For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;
With my new inner nature I like the laws of God very much.
23 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.
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].
24 (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?
[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].
25 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.
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.
