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 authority over a man only as long as he lives?
2 Nam quae sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir eius, soluta est a lege viri.
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 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, 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 Itaque fratres mei et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi: ut sitis alterius, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificetis Deo.
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 Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quae per legem erant, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti.
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 nunc autem soluti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus, et non in vetustate litterae.
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 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! 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 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.
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 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 sprang 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 discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
11 Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.
For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
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.
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 Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum venundatus sub peccato.
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, 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. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
16 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.
And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
17 Nunc autem iam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.
In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
18 Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Nam velle, adiacet mihi: perficere autem bonum, non invenio.
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 Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.
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 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: iam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.
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 Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adiacet:
So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.
23 video autem aliam legem in membris meis, repugnantem legi mentis meae, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quae est in membris meis.
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 Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius?
What a wretched man 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.
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.
