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Romans 7-8
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 7

Freedom from the Law.[a] 1 Are you unaware, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over one as long as one lives? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her living husband; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law in respect to her husband.(A) 3 Consequently, while her husband is alive she will be called an adulteress if she consorts with another man. But if her husband dies she is free from that law, and she is not an adulteress if she consorts with another man.

4 In the same way, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, awakened by the law, worked in our members to bear fruit for death.(B) 6 But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.(C)

Acquaintance with Sin Through the Law. 7 [b]What then can we say? That the law is sin? Of course not![c] Yet I did not know sin except through the law, and I did not know what it is to covet except that the law said, “You shall not covet.”(D) 8 But sin, finding an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law sin is dead.(E) 9 I once lived outside the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive; 10 then I died, and the commandment that was for life turned out to be death for me.(F) 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death.(G) 12 So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.(H)

Sin and Death.[d] 13 Did the good, then, become death for me? Of course not! Sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, worked death in me through the good, so that sin might become sinful beyond measure through the commandment.(I) 14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin.(J) 15 What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.(K) 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. 20 Now if [I] do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. 22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23 (L)but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.[e] 24 Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.(M)

Chapter 8

The Flesh and the Spirit.[f] 1 Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death.(N) 3 For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,(O) 4 so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.(P) 5 For those who live according to the flesh are concerned with the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit with the things of the spirit. 6 The concern of the flesh is death, but the concern of the spirit is life and peace.(Q) 7 For the concern of the flesh is hostility toward God; it does not submit to the law of God, nor can it;(R) 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.(S) 9 But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.(T) 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.(U) 11 If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. 12 Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.(V)

Children of God Through Adoption.[g] 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.(W) 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba,[h] Father!”(X) 16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,(Y) 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.(Z)

Destiny of Glory.[i] 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.(AA) 19 For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; 20 for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,(AB) in hope 21 that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.(AC) 22 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;(AD) 23 and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.(AE) 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees?(AF) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

26 In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. 27 And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.(AG)

God’s Indomitable Love in Christ. 28 [j]We know that all things work for good for those who love God,[k] who are called according to his purpose.(AH) 29 [l]For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.(AI) 30 And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.(AJ)

31 [m]What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?(AK) 32 He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?(AL) 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us.(AM) 34 Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.(AN) 35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? 36 As it is written:(AO)

“For your sake we are being slain all the day;
    we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.(AP) 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,[n] nor future things, nor powers,(AQ) 39 nor height, nor depth,[o] nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 7:1–6 Paul reflects on the fact that Christians have a different understanding of the law because of their faith in Christ. Law binds the living, not the dead, as exemplified in marriage, which binds in life but is dissolved through death. Similarly, Christians who through baptism have died with Christ to sin (cf. Rom 6:2–4) are freed from the law that occasioned transgressions, which in turn were productive of death. Now that Christians are joined to Christ, the power of Christ’s resurrection makes it possible for them to bear the fruit of newness of life for God.
  2. 7:7–25 In this passage Paul uses the first person singular in the style of diatribe for the sake of argument. He aims to depict the disastrous consequences when a Christian reintroduces the law as a means to attain the objective of holiness pronounced in Rom 6:22.
  3. 7:7–12 The apostle defends himself against the charge of identifying the law with sin. Sin does not exist in law but in human beings, whose sinful inclinations are not overcome by the proclamation of law.
  4. 7:13–25 Far from improving the sinner, law encourages sin to expose itself in transgressions or violations of specific commandments (see Rom 1:24; 5:20). Thus persons who do not experience the justifying grace of God, and Christians who revert to dependence on law as the criterion for their relationship with God, will recognize a rift between their reasoned desire for the goodness of the law and their actual performance that is contrary to the law. Unable to free themselves from the slavery of sin and the power of death, they can only be rescued from defeat in the conflict by the power of God’s grace working through Jesus Christ.
  5. 7:23 As in Rom 3:27, Paul plays on the term law, which in Greek can connote custom, system, or principle.
  6. 8:1–13 After his warning in Rom 7 against the wrong route to fulfillment of the objective of holiness expressed in Rom 6:22, Paul points his addressees to the correct way. Through the redemptive work of Christ, Christians have been liberated from the terrible forces of sin and death. Holiness was impossible so long as the flesh (or our “old self”), that is, self-interested hostility toward God (Rom 8:7), frustrated the divine objectives expressed in the law. What is worse, sin used the law to break forth into all manner of lawlessness (Rom 8:8). All this is now changed. At the cross God broke the power of sin and pronounced sentence on it (Rom 8:3). Christians still retain the flesh, but it is alien to their new being, which is life in the spirit, namely the new self, governed by the holy Spirit. Under the direction of the holy Spirit Christians are able to fulfill the divine will that formerly found expression in the law (Rom 8:4). The same Spirit who enlivens Christians for holiness will also resurrect their bodies at the last day (Rom 8:11). Christian life is therefore the experience of a constant challenge to put to death the evil deeds of the body through life of the spirit (Rom 8:13).
  7. 8:14–17 Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.
  8. 8:15 Abba: see note on Mk 14:36.
  9. 8:18–27 The glory that believers are destined to share with Christ far exceeds the sufferings of the present life. Paul considers the destiny of the created world to be linked with the future that belongs to the believers. As it shares in the penalty of corruption brought about by sin, so also will it share in the benefits of redemption and future glory that comprise the ultimate liberation of God’s people (Rom 8:19–22). After patient endurance in steadfast expectation, the full harvest of the Spirit’s presence will be realized. On earth believers enjoy the firstfruits, i.e., the Spirit, as a guarantee of the total liberation of their bodies from the influence of the rebellious old self (Rom 8:23).
  10. 8:28–30 These verses outline the Christian vocation as it was designed by God: to be conformed to the image of his Son, who is to be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8:29). God’s redemptive action on behalf of the believers has been in process before the beginning of the world. Those whom God chooses are those he foreknew (Rom 8:29) or elected. Those who are called (Rom 8:30) are predestined or predetermined. These expressions do not mean that God is arbitrary. Rather, Paul uses them to emphasize the thought and care that God has taken for the Christian’s salvation.
  11. 8:28 We know that all things work for good for those who love God: a few ancient authorities have God as the subject of the verb, and some translators render: “We know that God makes everything work for good for those who love God….”
  12. 8:29 Image: while man and woman were originally created in God’s image (Gn 1:26–27), it is through baptism into Christ, the image of God (2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15), that we are renewed according to the image of the Creator (Col 3:10).
  13. 8:31–39 The all-conquering power of God’s love has overcome every obstacle to Christians’ salvation and every threat to separate them from God. That power manifested itself fully when God’s own Son was delivered up to death for their salvation. Through him Christians can overcome all their afflictions and trials.
  14. 8:38 Present things and future things may refer to astrological data. Paul appears to be saying that the gospel liberates believers from dependence on astrologers.
  15. 8:39 Height, depth may refer to positions in the zodiac, positions of heavenly bodies relative to the horizon. In astrological documents the term for “height” means “exaltation” or the position of greatest influence exerted by a planet. Since hostile spirits were associated with the planets and stars, Paul includes powers (Rom 8:38) in his list of malevolent forces.
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Romans 7-8
New International Version

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.(B) 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law(D) through the body of Christ,(E) that you might belong to another,(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law(H) were at work in us,(I) so that we bore fruit for death.(J) 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(L)

The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then?(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b](P) 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(R) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life(S) actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(T) deceived me,(U) and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.(V)

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good(W) to bring about my death,(X) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,(Y) sold(Z) as a slave to sin.(AA) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(AB) 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(AC) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.(AD) 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c](AE) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.(AF) 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.(AG)

21 So I find this law at work:(AH) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being(AI) I delight in God’s law;(AJ) 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war(AK) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin(AL) at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?(AM) 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!(AN)

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,(AO) but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.(AP)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation(AQ) for those who are in Christ Jesus,(AR) 2 because through Christ Jesus(AS) the law of the Spirit who gives life(AT) has set you[e] free(AU) from the law of sin(AV) and death. 3 For what the law was powerless(AW) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[f](AX) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh(AY) to be a sin offering.[g](AZ) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement(BA) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(BB)

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;(BC) but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.(BD) 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death,(BE) but the mind governed by the Spirit is life(BF) and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;(BG) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh(BH) cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh(BI) but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.(BJ) And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,(BK) they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,(BL) then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[h] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead(BM) is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies(BN) because of[i] his Spirit who lives in you.

12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.(BO) 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;(BP) but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,(BQ) you will live.(BR)

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God(BS) are the children of God.(BT) 15 The Spirit(BU) you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;(BV) rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[j] And by him we cry, “Abba,[k] Father.”(BW) 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit(BX) that we are God’s children.(BY) 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs(BZ)—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings(CA) in order that we may also share in his glory.(CB)

Present Suffering and Future Glory

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.(CC) 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God(CD) to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,(CE) in hope 21 that[l] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay(CF) and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.(CG)

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning(CH) as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,(CI) groan(CJ) inwardly as we wait eagerly(CK) for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.(CL) 24 For in this hope we were saved.(CM) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.(CN) Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.(CO)

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit(CP) himself intercedes for us(CQ) through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts(CR) knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes(CS) for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good(CT) of those who love him, who[m] have been called(CU) according to his purpose.(CV) 29 For those God foreknew(CW) he also predestined(CX) to be conformed to the image of his Son,(CY) that he might be the firstborn(CZ) among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined,(DA) he also called;(DB) those he called, he also justified;(DC) those he justified, he also glorified.(DD)

More Than Conquerors

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things?(DE) If God is for us,(DF) who can be against us?(DG) 32 He who did not spare his own Son,(DH) but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge(DI) against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns?(DJ) No one. Christ Jesus who died(DK)—more than that, who was raised to life(DL)—is at the right hand of God(DM) and is also interceding for us.(DN) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?(DO) Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?(DP) 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[n](DQ)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors(DR) through him who loved us.(DS) 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[o] neither the present nor the future,(DT) nor any powers,(DU) 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God(DV) that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.(DW)

Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
  2. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
  3. Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
  4. Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
  5. Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
  6. Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
  7. Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
  8. Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
  9. Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through
  10. Romans 8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23.
  11. Romans 8:15 Aramaic for father
  12. Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. 21 For
  13. Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who
  14. Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
  15. Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers
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