Romans 7
The Message
Torn Between One Way and Another
7 1-3 You shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she’s free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she’s obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one’s disapproval.
4-6 So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to “marry” a resurrection life and bear “offspring” of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God.
7 But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.
8-12 Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.
13 I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.
14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?
25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.
Romans 7
Amplified Bible
Believers United to Christ
7 Or do you not know, [a]brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction [to rule] over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman [as an example] is bound and remains bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if her husband dies, she is released and exempt from the law concerning her husband. 3 Accordingly, she will be designated as an adulteress if she [b]unites herself to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law [regarding marriage], so that she is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 Therefore, my [c]fellow believers, you too died to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 When we were living in the flesh [trapped by sin], the sinful passions, which were awakened by [that which] the Law [identifies as sin], were at work in our body to bear fruit for death [since the willingness to sin led to death and separation from God]. 6 But now we have been released from the Law and its penalty, having died [through Christ] to that by which we were held captive, so that we serve [God] in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter [of the Law].
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, if it had not been for the Law, I would not have recognized sin. For I would not have known [for example] about coveting [what belongs to another, and would have had no sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, “You shall not covet.”(A) 8 But sin, finding an opportunity through the commandment [to express itself] produced in me every kind of coveting and selfish desire. For without the Law sin is dead [the recognition of sin is inactive]. 9 I was once alive without [knowledge of] the Law; but when the commandment came [and I understood its meaning], sin became alive and I died [since the Law sentenced me to death].(B) 10 And the very commandment which was intended to bring life, actually proved to bring death for me.(C) 11 For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, beguiled and completely deceived me, and [d]using it as a weapon killed me [separating me from God]. 12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good [the Law], then become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, in order that it might be revealed as sin, was producing death in me by [using] this good thing [as a weapon], so that through the commandment sin would become exceedingly sinful.
The Conflict of Two Natures
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control]. 15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. 16 Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent). 17 So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. 19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.
21 So I find it to be the law [of my inner self], that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature],(D) 23 but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members. 24 Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? 25 Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin.
Footnotes
- Romans 7:1 Lit brethren.
- Romans 7:3 Lit becomes another man’s, probably referring to an illicit, sexual relationship. Paul uses the same language at the end of the verse, but there he probably means sexual intimacy within a new marriage.
- Romans 7:4 Lit brethren.
- Romans 7:11 Lit through it killed me.
Romans 7
Young's Literal Translation
7 Are ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?
2 for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;
3 so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.
4 So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;
5 for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that [are] through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;
6 and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.
7 What, then, shall we say? the law [is] sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:
8 `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.
9 And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;
10 and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;
11 for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay [me];
12 so that the law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.
13 That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,
14 for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;
15 for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.
16 And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good,
17 and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,
18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,
19 for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.
20 And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.
21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,
22 for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,
23 and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members.
24 A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.
Romans 7
Darby Translation
7 Are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to those knowing law,) that law rules over a man as long as he lives?
2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the husband:
3 so then, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be to another man.
4 So that, my brethren, *ye* also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among [the] dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
5 For when we were in the flesh the passions of sins, which [were] by the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to death;
6 but now we are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.
7 What shall we say then? [is] the law sin? Far be the thought. But I had not known sin, unless by law: for I had not had conscience also of lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust;
8 but sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, wrought in me every lust; for without law sin [was] dead.
9 But *I* was alive without law once; but the commandment having come, sin revived, but *I* died.
10 And the commandment, which [was] for life, was found, [as] to me, itself [to be] unto death:
11 for sin, getting a point of attack by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].
12 So that the law indeed [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Did then that which is good become death to me? Far be the thought. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death to me by that which is good; in order that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but *I* am fleshly, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do, I do not own: for not what I will, this I do; but what I hate, this I practise.
16 But if what I do not will, this I practise, I consent to the law that [it is] right.
17 Now then [it is] no longer *I* [that] do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell: for to will is there with me, but to do right [I find] not.
19 For I do not practise the good that I will; but the evil I do not will, that I do.
20 But if what *I* do not will, this I practise, [it is] no longer *I* [that] do it, but the sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then the law upon *me* who will to practise what is right, that with *me* evil is there.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man:
23 but I see another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members.
24 O wretched man that I [am]! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?
25 I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then *I* *myself* with the mind serve God's law; but with the flesh sin's law.
Romans 7
Holman Christian Standard Bible
An Illustration from Marriage
7 Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers,(A) are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives.(B) But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death(C) in relation to the law(D) through the crucified body of the Messiah,(E) so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh,[a](F) the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us[b](G) and bore fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way[c] of the Spirit(H) and not in the old letter of the law.
Sin’s Use of the Law
7 What should we say then?(I) Is the law sin? Absolutely not!(J) On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.(K) For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.(L)[d] 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,(M) produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.(N) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life(O) resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me,(P) and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy,(Q) and the commandment is holy and just and good.
The Problem of Sin in Us
13 Therefore, did what is good cause my death?[e] Absolutely not!(R) On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual,(S) but I am made out of flesh,[f] sold(T) into sin’s power.(U) 15 For I do not understand what I am doing,(V) because I do not practice what I want to do,(W) but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.(X) For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this principle:[g](Y) When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. 22 For in my inner self[h] I joyfully agree with God’s law.(Z) 23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body,[i](AA) waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.[j] 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?(AB) 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
Footnotes
- Romans 7:5 = a person’s life before accepting Christ
- Romans 7:5 Lit of our members
- Romans 7:6 Lit in newness
- Romans 7:7 Ex 20:17
- Romans 7:13 Lit good become death to me?
- Romans 7:14 Other mss read I am carnal
- Romans 7:21 Or law
- Romans 7:22 Lit inner man
- Romans 7:23 Lit my members
- Romans 7:23 Lit my members
- Romans 7:25 Or Thanks be to God—(it is done) through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
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