Romans 7

1 Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?

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 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband.

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 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.

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 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.

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 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.

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 But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

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 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

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 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. For apart from the law sin is dead.

9 I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died.

10 The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death;

So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

13 Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.

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 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave to sin.

15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.

I do not understand what I do. Instead of doing what I want to do, I do the very thing I hate.

16 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.

Now if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.

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 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.

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 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.

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 I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

I find then the law that when I want to do what is right, evil is present with me.

22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward person,

For I delight in the law of God in my inner being,

23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

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 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.

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.