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 authority over a man 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 instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

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, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries 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.

Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to 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 lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for 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, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we 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! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do 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 its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. 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 sprang to life and I died.

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

So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

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

For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

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.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was 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.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, 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. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

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

And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.

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

In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

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.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

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 I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil 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.

And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

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

So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

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

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

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 body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

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

What a wretched man 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.

Thanks be to God, 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.