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?

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 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, 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 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.

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 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.

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 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 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 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 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 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."

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 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.

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 Once, apart from Law, I was alive, but when the Commandment came, sin sprang into life, 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, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.

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

11 For sin seized the advantage, and by means of the Commandment it completely deceived me, and also put me to death.

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

12 So that the Law itself is holy, and the Commandment is holy, just and good.

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

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 a spiritual thing; but I am unspiritual--the slave, bought and sold, of sin.

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

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.

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 But if I do that which I do not desire to do, I admit the excellence of the Law,

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

17 and now it is no longer I that do these things, but the sin which has its home within me does them.

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

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 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 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 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 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.

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 therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

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

22 For in my inmost self all my sympathy is with the Law of God;

At heart I delight in the Law of God;

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.

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 (Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

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

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.

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.