Romans 7
Good News Translation
An Illustration from Marriage
7 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. 2 A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. 3 So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. 4 That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. 5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. 6 Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
Law and Sin
7 (A)Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. 8 But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing. 9 I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. 11 (B)Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.
12 So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. 13 But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.
The Conflict in Us
14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. 15 (C)I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. 16 Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. 17 So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.
21 So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. 22 My inner being delights in the law of God. 23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!
This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
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
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
