Romerne 7
Dette er Biblen på dansk
7 Eller vide I ikke, Brødre! (thi jeg taler til sådanne, som kender Loven) at Loven hersker over Mennesket, så lang Tid han lever? 2 Den gifte Kvinde er jo ved Loven bunden til sin Mand, medens han lever; men når Manden dør, er hun løst fra Mandens Lov. 3 Derfor skal hun kaldes en Horkvinde, om hun bliver en anden Mands, medens Manden lever: men når Manden dør, er hun fri fra den Lov, så at hun ikke er en Horkvinde, om hun bliver en anden Mands. 4 Altså ere også I, mine Brødre! gjorte døde for Loven ved Kristi Legeme, for at I skulle blive en andens, hans, som blev oprejst fra de døde, for at vi skulle bære Frugt for Gud. 5 Thi da vi vare i Kødet, vare de syndige Lidenskaber, som vaktes ved Loven, virksomme i vore Lemmer til at bære Frugt for Døden, 6 Men nu ere vi løste fra Loven, idet vi ere bortdøde fra det, hvori vi holdtes nede, så at vi tjene i Åndens nye Væsen og ikke i Bogstavens gamle Væsen.
7 Hvad skulle vi da sige? er Loven Synd? Det være langt fra! Men jeg kendte ikke Synden uden ved Loven; thi jeg kendte jo ikke Begæringen, hvis ikke Loven sagde: "Du må ikke begære." 8 Men da Synden fik Anledning, virkede den ved Budet al Begæring i mig; thi uden Lov er Synden død. 9 Og jeg levede engang uden Lov, men da Budet kom, levede Synden op; 10 men jeg døde, og Budet, som var til Liv, det fandtes at blive mig til Død; 11 thi idet Synden fik Anledning, forførte den mig ved Budet og dræbte mig ved det. 12 Altså er Loven vel hellig, og Budet helligt og retfærdigt og godt. 13 Blev da det gode mig til Død? Det være langt fra! Men Synden blev det, for at den skulde vise sig som Synd, idet den ved det gode virkede Død for mig, for at Synden ved Budet skulde blive overvættes syndig. 14 Thi vi vide, at Loven er åndelig; men jeg er kødelig, solgt under Synden. 15 Thi jeg forstår ikke, hvad jeg udfører; thi ikke det, som jeg vil, øver jeg, men hvad jeg hader, det gør jeg. 16 Men når jeg gør det, jeg ikke vil, så samstemmer jeg med Loven i, at den er god. 17 Men nu er det ikke mere mig, som udfører det, men Synden, som bor i mig. 18 Thi jeg ved, at i mig, det vil sige i mit Kød, bor der ikke godt; thi Villien har jeg vel, men at udføre det gode formår jeg ikke; 19 thi det gode, som jeg vil, det gør jeg ikke; men det onde, som jeg ikke vil, det øver jeg. 20 Dersom jeg da gør det, som jeg ikke vil, så er det ikke mere mig, der udfører det, men Synden, som bor i mig. 21 Så finder jeg da den Lov for mig, som vil gøre det gode, at det onde ligger mig for Hånden 22 Thi jeg glæder mig ved Guds Lov efter det indvortes Menneske; 23 men jeg ser en anden Lov i mine Lemmer, som strider imod mit Sinds Lov og tager mig fangen under Syndens Lov, som er i mine Lemmer. 24 Jeg elendige Menneske! hvem skal fri mig fra dette Dødens Legeme? 25 Gud ske Tak ved Jesus Kristus, vor Herre! Altså: jeg selv tjener med Sindet Guds Lov, men med Kødet Syndens Lov.
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.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson