Romans 7:14-25

New International Reader's Version

¹⁴We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin. ¹⁵I don’t understand what I do. I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. ¹⁶I do what I don’t want to do. So I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them. ¹⁸I know there is nothing good in my desires controlled by sin. I want to do what is good, but I can’t. ¹⁹I don’t do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don’t want to do. ²⁰I do what I don’t want to do. But I am not really the one who is doing it. It is sin living in me that does it.

²¹Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²Deep inside me I find joy in God’s law. ²³But I see another law working in me. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls me. ²⁴What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? ²⁵I give thanks to God who saves me. He saves me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law. But sin controls my desires. So I am a slave to the law of sin.

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Romans 7:14-25

New International Version

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^(A) sold^(B) as a slave to sin.^(C) ¹⁵I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^(D) ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^(E) ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^(F) ¹⁸For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a]^(G) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^(H) ²⁰Now 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.^(I)

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