Romans 7:7-21

English Standard Version

The Law and Sin

⁷What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(A)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(B)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But sin, ^(C)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(D)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰The very commandment ^(E)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹For sin, ^(F)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(G)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹²So ^(H)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³Did 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. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(I)sold under sin. ¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(J)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(K)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now ^(L)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells ^(M)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^(N)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, ^(O)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.