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Estando mortos à lei, sirvamos a Deus em novidade de espírito

Não sabeis vós, irmãos (pois que falo aos que sabem a lei), que a lei tem domínio sobre o homem por todo o tempo que vive? Porque a mulher que está sujeita ao marido, enquanto ele viver, está-lhe ligada pela lei; mas, morto o marido, está livre da lei do marido. De sorte que, vivendo o marido, será chamada adúltera se for doutro marido; mas, morto o marido, livre está da lei e assim não será adúltera se for doutro marido. Assim, meus irmãos, também vós estais mortos para a lei pelo corpo de Cristo, para que sejais doutro, daquele que ressuscitou de entre os mortos, a fim de que demos fruto para Deus. Porque, quando estávamos na carne, as paixões dos pecados, que são pela lei, operavam em nossos membros para darem fruto para a morte. Mas, agora, estamos livres da lei, pois morremos para aquilo em que estávamos retidos; para que sirvamos em novidade de espírito, e não na velhice da letra.

A lei opera em nós a morte. A luta da carne com o espírito

Que diremos, pois? É a lei pecado? De modo nenhum! Mas eu não conheci o pecado senão pela lei; porque eu não conheceria a concupiscência, se a lei não dissesse: Não cobiçarás. Mas o pecado, tomando ocasião pelo mandamento, despertou em mim toda a concupiscência: porquanto, sem a lei, estava morto o pecado. E eu, nalgum tempo, vivia sem lei, mas, vindo o mandamento, reviveu o pecado, e eu morri; 10 e o mandamento que era para vida, achei eu que me era para morte. 11 Porque o pecado, tomando ocasião pelo mandamento, me enganou e, por ele, me matou. 12 Assim, a lei é santa; e o mandamento, santo, justo e bom.

13 Logo, tornou-se-me o bom em morte? De modo nenhum! Mas o pecado, para que se mostrasse pecado, operou em mim a morte pelo bem, a fim de que pelo mandamento o pecado se fizesse excessivamente maligno. 14 Porque bem sabemos que a lei é espiritual; mas eu sou carnal, vendido sob o pecado. 15 Porque o que faço, não o aprovo, pois o que quero, isso não faço; mas o que aborreço, isso faço. 16 E, se faço o que não quero, consinto com a lei, que é boa. 17 De maneira que, agora, já não sou eu que faço isto, mas o pecado que habita em mim. 18 Porque eu sei que em mim, isto é, na minha carne, não habita bem algum; e, com efeito, o querer está em mim, mas não consigo realizar o bem. 19 Porque não faço o bem que quero, mas o mal que não quero, esse faço. 20 Ora, se eu faço o que não quero, já o não faço eu, mas o pecado que habita em mim.

21 Acho, então, esta lei em mim: que, quando quero fazer o bem, o mal está comigo. 22 Porque, segundo o homem interior, tenho prazer na lei de Deus. 23 Mas vejo nos meus membros outra lei que batalha contra a lei do meu entendimento e me prende debaixo da lei do pecado que está nos meus membros. 24 Miserável homem que eu sou! Quem me livrará do corpo desta morte? 25 Dou graças a Deus por Jesus Cristo, nosso Senhor. Assim que eu mesmo, com o entendimento, sirvo à lei de Deus, mas, com a carne, à lei do pecado.

Freedom from the Law

Brothers and sisters, I’m talking to you as people who know the Law. Don’t you know that the Law has power over someone only as long as he or she lives? A married woman is united with her husband under the Law while he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband. So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she’s committing adultery. But if her husband dies, she’s free from the Law, so she won’t be committing adultery if she marries someone else. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also died with respect to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you could be united with someone else. You are united with the one who was raised from the dead so that we can bear fruit for God. When we were self-centered, the sinful passions aroused through the Law were at work in all the parts of our body, so that we bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law. We have died with respect to the thing that controlled us, so that we can be slaves in the new life under the Spirit, not in the old life under the written Law.

The function of the Law

So what are we going to say? That the Law is sin? Absolutely not! But I wouldn’t have known sin except through the Law. I wouldn’t have known the desire for what others have if the Law had not said, Don’t desire to take what others have.[a] But sin seized the opportunity and used this commandment to produce all kinds of desires in me. Sin is dead without the Law. I used to be alive without the Law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. So the commandment that was intended to give life brought death. 11 Sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and killed me. 12 So the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Living under the Law

13 So did something good bring death to me? Absolutely not! But sin caused my death through something good so that sin would be exposed as sin. That way sin would become even more thoroughly sinful through the commandment. 14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I’m made of flesh and blood, and I’m sold as a slave to sin. 15 I don’t know what I’m doing, because I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do the thing that I hate. 16 But if I’m doing the thing that I don’t want to do, I’m agreeing that the Law is right. 17 But now I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it’s sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good doesn’t live in me—that is, in my body. The desire to do good is inside of me, but I can’t do it. 19 I don’t do the good that I want to do, but I do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 But if I do the very thing that I don’t want to do, then I’m not the one doing it anymore. Instead, it is sin that lives in me that is doing it.

21 So I find that, as a rule, when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. 22 I gladly agree with the Law on the inside, 23 but I see a different law at work in my body. It wages a war against the law of my mind and takes me prisoner with the law of sin that is in my body. 24 I’m a miserable human being. Who will deliver me from this dead corpse? 25 Thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I’m a slave to God’s Law in my mind, but I’m a slave to sin’s law in my body.

婚姻关系的例子

弟兄姊妹,我现在对那些熟悉律法的人说:你们难道不知道律法只在人活着的时候管辖人吗? 比方说,一个妇人结了婚,只要丈夫还在世,她就受律法的约束要与丈夫在一起。如果丈夫死了,她就脱离了与丈夫的婚姻关系。 丈夫还活着的时候,她若与别的男人发生性关系,便算淫妇。丈夫若死了,她就脱离了与丈夫的婚姻关系,即使改嫁,也不是淫妇。

我的弟兄姊妹,同样,你们借着基督的身体向着律法也死了,使你们可以归于那位从死里复活的基督,好为上帝结果子。 从前我们受自己罪恶本性[a]的控制,因律法而激发的罪恶欲望在我们身上发作,以致结出死亡的果子。 但现在,我们既然向着一度捆绑我们的律法死了,就脱离了律法的控制,能够以圣灵所赐的新样式,而不是以拘守教条的旧样式事奉上帝。

律法使人知罪

那么,我们可以说律法本身是罪吗?当然不是!没有律法,我们就不知道什么是罪。律法若不说“不可贪心”,我就不知道什么是贪心。 然而,罪却趁机利用诫命在我里面生出各种贪念,因为没有律法,罪是死的。 我没认识律法之前是活的,但律法来了之后,罪就活了,而我却死了。 10 我发现那本来要使人活的诫命反而叫我死, 11 因为罪利用诫命趁机引诱我,而且借着诫命杀了我。

12 其实律法是圣洁的,诫命也是圣洁、公义、良善的。 13 既然如此,难道是良善的诫命叫我死吗?当然不是!是罪借着良善的诫命叫我死。这样,罪借着诫命叫我死就显出它实在是邪恶至极!

善恶相争

14 我们知道律法是属灵的,我却属乎肉体,已经卖给罪做奴隶了。 15 我不明白自己的所作所为,因为我想做的,我做不到;而我憎恨的恶事,我偏偏去做! 16 既然我不想做的,我反倒去做,我就得承认律法是好的。 17 其实那并不是我做的,而是住在我里面的罪做的。 18 我也知道,在我的罪恶本性里面毫无良善,我有行善的心愿,却没有行善的力量。 19 我想行善,却不能行;我不想作恶,反倒去作。 20 如果我不想做的,我反倒去做,这就不是我自己做的,而是住在我里面的罪做的。

21 因此,我发现一个律:我想行善的时候,恶就不放过我。 22 按着我里面的意思[b],我喜爱上帝的律。 23 然而,我发觉在我身体内另有一个律和我心中的律作战,将我俘虏,使我服从身体内犯罪的律。 24 我真是苦啊!谁能救我脱离这个被死亡控制的身体呢? 25 感谢上帝,祂借着我们的主耶稣基督救了我!这样看来,我的内心服从上帝的律法,但我罪恶的本性却服从犯罪的律。

Footnotes

  1. 7:5 罪恶本性”希腊文是“肉体”,以下皆用相同译法。
  2. 7:22 里面的意思”希腊文是“里面的人”。

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

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? 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) 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.

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. 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) 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

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) 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) 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)

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