Romanos 7
1 An ignoratis, fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor), quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit?
Brothers and sisters, (I'm speaking here to people who know the law), don't you see that the law has authority over someone only while they're alive?
2 Nam quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, soluta est a lege viri.
For example, a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he's alive, but if he dies, she's released from this legal obligation to him.
3 Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est a lege viri, ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.
So if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery. However, if her husband dies and then she marries another man, she wouldn't be guilty of adultery.
4 Itaque fratres mei, et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi: ut sitis alterius, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificemus Deo.
In the same way, my friends, you've become dead to the law through the body of Christ, and so now you belong to someone else—Christ, who was raised from the dead so that we could live a productive life for God.
5 Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quæ per legem erant, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti.
While we were controlled by old nature, our sinful desires (as revealed by the law) were at work within us and resulted in death.
6 Nunc autem soluti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus, et non in vetustate litteræ.
But now we've been set free from the law, and have died to what kept us in chains, so that we can serve in the newness of the spirit and not the old letter of the law.
7 Quid ergo dicemus? lex peccatum est? Absit. Sed peccatum non cognovi, nisi per legem: nam concupiscentiam nesciebam, nisi lex diceret: Non concupisces.
So what do we conclude? That the law is sin? Of course not! I wouldn't have known what sin was unless the law defined it. I wouldn't have realized that wanting to have other people's things for myself was wrong without the law that says, “Don't desire for yourself what belongs to someone else.”
8 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.
But through this commandment sin found a way to stir up in me all kinds of selfish desires—for without law, sin is dead.
9 Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando: sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit.
I used to live without realizing what the law really meant, but when I understood the implications of that commandment, then sin came back to life, and I died.
10 Ego autem mortuus sum: et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.
I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life brought death instead,
11 Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.
because sin found a way through the commandment to deceive me, and used the commandment to kill me!
12 Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum, et justum, et bonum.
However, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good.
13 Quod ergo bonum est, mihi factum est mors? Absit. Sed peccatum, ut appareat peccatum, per bonum operatum est mihi mortem: ut fiat supra modum peccans peccatum per mandatum.
Now would something that is good kill me? Of course not! But sin shows itself to be sin by using good to cause my death. So by means of the commandment, it's revealed how evil sin really is.
14 Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato.
We realize that the law is spiritual; but I'm all-too-human, a slave to sin.
15 Quod enim operor, non intelligo: non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.
I really don't understand what I'm doing. I do the things I don't want to do, and what I hate doing, that's what I do!
16 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.
But if I'm saying that I do what I don't want to, this shows that I admit the law is good and right.
17 Nunc autem jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.
So it's no longer me who does this, but sin living in me—
18 Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Nam velle, adjacet mihi: perficere autem bonum, non invenio.
for I know that there's nothing good in me as far as my sinful human nature is concerned. Even though I want to do good, I'm just not able to do it.
19 Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.
The good I want to do, I don't do; while the evil I don't want to do, that's what I end up doing!
20 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.
However, if I'm doing what I don't want to, then it's no longer me doing it, but sin living in me.
21 Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adjacet:
This is the principle I've discovered: if I want to do what's good, evil is always there too.
22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:
My inner self is delighted with God's law,
23 video autem aliam legem in membris meis, repugnantem legi mentis meæ, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quæ est in membris meis.
but I see a different law at work within me that is at war with the law my mind has decided to follow, making me a prisoner of the law of sin that is within me.
24 Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?
I'm totally miserable! Who will rescue me from this body that's causing my death? Thank God—for he does this through Jesus Christ our Lord!
25 gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei: carne autem, legi peccati.
Here's the situation: while I myself choose with my mind to obey God's law, my human nature obeys the law of sin.
