Romans 7
English Standard Version
Released from the Law
7 Or do you not know, brothers[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For (A)a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.[b] 3 Accordingly, (B)she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, (C)you also have died (D)to the law (E)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, (F)in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work (G)in our members (H)to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the (I)new way of (J)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.[c]
The Law and Sin
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, (K)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if (L)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, (M)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. (N)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment (O)that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, (P)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, (Q)deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So (R)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, (S)sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For (T)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with (U)the law, that it is good. 17 So now (V)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells (W)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 (X)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, (Y)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For (Z)I delight in the law of God, (AA)in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members (AB)another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from (AC)this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
Footnotes
- Romans 7:1 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 4
- Romans 7:2 Greek law concerning the husband
- Romans 7:6 Greek of the letter
Kehillah in Rome 7
Orthodox Jewish Bible
7 Do you not have da’as, Achim b’Moshiach, for I speak to those who know the Torah, that the Torah exercises marut (authority, rule) over a man so long as he lives?
2 For the agunah (woman whose husband’s whereabouts are unknown) is bound by the Torah to her husband while he lives; but in the case that her husband’s death can be confirmed, she is no longer an agunah and is released from the Torah of her husband.
3 Accordingly she will be named no’eh-fet (adulteress) if, while her husband lives, she becomes another man’s. But if her ba’al (husband) dies, she is free from the Torah, so that she is no no’ehfet (adulteress) if she becomes another man’s.
4 So then, Achim b’Moshiach, you also were put to death in relation to the Torah through the basar of Moshiach (TEHILLIM 16:9-10 ), in order that you might become another’s, bound to Moshiach who was given Techiyah (Resurrection) from the Mesim, so that we might bear p’ri for Hashem.
5 For when we were in the basar (in the fallen condition of the old humanity), through the Torah, the ta’avat besarim, the sinful passions (i.e., Chet Kadmon’s yetzer harah of the fallen human condition) were working in our natural capacities, so as to bear p’ri for mavet (death) [cf. Ro 4:15].
6 But now we have become niftar (freed, deceased) from the dominating ownership of the Torah, having died to that by which we were confined, so that we might serve in the Ruach Hakodesh of hitkhadshut and newness and not in the yoshen (oldness) of chumra (legalism, strict adherence to the letter of the law) (Ro 2:29).
7 What then shall we say? That the Torah is considered as chet (sin)? Chas v’shalom! Nevertheless, I would not have experienced chet (sin) except through the Torah; for I would not have known chamdanut (covetousness, greediness) if the Torah had not said, LO TACHMOD ("Thou shalt not covet" SHEMOT 20:17).
8 But Chet (Sin), seizing its opportunity through the mitzvoh (commandment), stirred up all manner of chamdanut (covetousness) in me. For in the absence of the Torah, Chet (Sin) is dead.
9 And in the absence of the Torah I was once alive. But when the mitzvoh (commandment) came [BERESHIS 2:16-17), Chet (Sin) became alive,
10 and I died. The mitzvoh (commandment) intended as the Derech L’Chayyim (Way to Life) proved for me a means to mavet (death).
11 For Chet (Sin), seizing its opportunity through the mitzvoh (commandment), deceived me and, through the mitzvoh (commandment), killed me [BERESHIS 3:1-6].
12 So that the Torah is kedoshah (holy) and the mitzvoh (commandment) is kedoshah and yasharah and tovah.
13 Did that which is good, then, become mavet (death) to me? Chas v’shalom! But Chet (Sin), it was Chet, working mavet (death) in me through that which is tovah, in order that Chet might be shown as Chet (Sin), and in order that Chet through the mitzvoh (commandment) might become chata’ah gedolah ad m’od (utterly sinful).
14 For we have da’as that the Torah is Ruchanit (Spiritual, of the Ruach Hakodesh); but I am of the basar (fallen humanity) sold under the power of (slave master Chet Kadmon) Chet.
15 For I do not have da’as what I do. For that which I commit is not what I want; no, it is what I hate that I do!
16 But if that which I do is what I do not want, I agree with the Torah that the Torah is good.
17 But now it is no longer I doing this, but [the power of] Chet (Sin) which dwells within me.
18 For I have da’as that there dwells in me, that is, in my basar (my fallen humanity enslaved to Chet Kadmon) no good thing; for the wish [to do what is right] lies ready at hand for me, but to accomplish the good is not.
19 For I fail to do good as I wish, but HaRah (The Evil) which I do not wish is what I commit.
20 But if what I do not wish is that which I do, it is no longer I doing it but [the power of] Chet (Sin, Chet Kadmon, Original Sin) which dwells within me (cf. Ro 8:7-8).
21 I find then it be a law that for me who wishes to do HaTov (The Good), that for me HaRah (The Evil) lies ready at hand.
22 For I rejoice, I have simcha Torah in the Torah of Hashem, so far as the inner man is concerned,
23 But I see another Chok (decree, law) in my natural capacities at milchamah (war) with the Torah of my mind and making me a prisoner to the Chok (law) of Chet (Sin) which is [a power] in my natural capacities.
24 Wretched man am I! Who will deliver me from the body of this mavet (death)?
25 Hodu l’Hashem (thanks be to G-d) baMoshiach Yehoshua Adoneinu. So then I myself with my mind serve the Torah of Hashem and with my basar I serve the Chok of Chet (the Law of Sin). [T.N. The total spiritual turnaround here described is when the conviction of the intellect, emotion, and will "obey from the heart the form of doctrine laid out here in Scripture" as we are born anew in the humanity of the new Man and die to the old depraved Adam.]
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