Romanos 7
1 An ignoratis fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor) quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit?
Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a person only as long as he lives?
2 Nam quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir eius, soluta est a lege viri.
For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her husband.
3 Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro: si autem mortuus fuerit vir eius, liberata est a lege viri: ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.
So then, she will be called an adulteress if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not committing adultery if she is joined to another man.
4 Itaque fratres mei et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi: ut sitis alterius, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificemus Deo.
So then, my brothers, you also were put to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, so that we might bear fruit for God.
5 Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quæ per legem erant, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti.
For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, which were aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit leading to 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 have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were held, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
7 Quid ergo dicemus? lex peccatum est? Absit. Sed peccatum non cognovi, nisi per legem: nam concupiscentiam nesciebam, nisi lex diceret: Non concupisces.
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Yoʋ shall not covet.”
8 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.
But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. For apart from the law sin is dead.
9 Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando. Sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit.
Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died.
10 Ego autem mortuus sum: et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.
So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.
For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12 Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum, et iustum, et bonum.
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, 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.
Has that then which is good brought death to me? Certainly not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum venundatus sub peccato.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave to sin.
15 Quod enim operor, non intelligo. non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.
I do not understand what I do. Instead of doing what I want to do, I do the very thing I hate.
16 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.
Now if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 Nunc autem iam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.
But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Nam velle, adiacet mihi: perficere autem bonum, non invenio.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. I have the desire to do what is right, but I find that the ability to carry it out is lacking.
19 Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.
For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I do the very evil that I do not want to do.
20 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: iam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.
Now if I do the very thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adiacet:
I find then the law that when I want to do what is right, evil is present with me.
22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:
For I delight in the law of God in my inner being,
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 another law at work in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that is in my members.
24 Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius?
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25 Gratia Dei per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei: carne autem, legi peccati.
I thank God that he will do so through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
