Romanos 7
1 An ignoratis, fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor), quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit?
Surely, brothers, you know (for I am speaking to those who know what law means) that law governs a person only during his lifetime?
2 Nam quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, soluta est a lege viri.
For a married woman who has a husband is bound by law to her husband during his lifetime; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.
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 then, if during her husband lifetime, she unites herself with another man, she will be counted an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the Law, so that she is no adulteress, even if she unites herself with 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 also, my brother, you were made dead to the Law through the body of Christ; that you should be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead 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 while we were unspiritual, the sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were ever active in every part of our bodies, leading us to bear fruit unto 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, because we are dead to that in which we were held; so that we are now in thraldom in new and spiritual conditions, and not under the old 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 shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary I should not have become acquainted with sin had it not been for the Law; for except the Law had repeatedly said, "Thou shalt not lust," I should never have known the sin of lust.
8 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.
But when sin had gained a vantage-ground, by means of the commandment, it stirred up within me all manner of lust; for where there is no law, sin is dead.
9 Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando: sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit.
Once I lived apart from the Law, myself; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;
10 Ego autem mortuus sum: et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.
and the very commandment which should have meant life, this I found to mean death.
11 Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.
For sin, when it had gained a vantage-ground through the commandment, beguiled me, and through it slew me.
12 Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum, et justum, et bonum.
So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and 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.
Did then that which was good become for me death? Never! but sin did; that it might be manifest as sin, by that the unutterable malignity of sin might become plain through the commandment.
14 Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato.
For we know that the Law is spiritual; but as for me, I am a creature of flesh, bought and sold under the dominion of sin.
15 Quod enim operor, non intelligo: non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.
For what I perform I know not; what I practise is not what I intend to do, but what I detest, that I habitually do.
16 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.
If then I habitually do what I do not intend to do, I am consenting to the Law, that it is right.
17 Nunc autem jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.
And now it is longer I myself who do the deed, but it is sin which has its home 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 in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing has its home; for while to will is present with me, to carry out that which is right is not.
19 Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.
For the good that I intend to do, I do not; but the evil which I do not; but the evil which I do not intend to do, that I am ever practising.
20 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.
But if I do the very thing I do not intend to do, it is no more I who practise it, but sin which has its home in me.
21 Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adjacet:
I find, then, this law, that when I intend to do good, evil is ever present with me.
22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:
For in my inmost self I delight in the law of God;
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 find a different law in my bodily faculties, waging war with the law of my will, and taking me prisoner to that law of sin which is in my bodily faculties.
24 Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?
Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this slave of death?
25 gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei: carne autem, legi peccati.
Oh, thank God! it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my will am in thraldom to the law of God; yet in my animal nature I am in thraldom to the law of sin.
