Romans 7

New English Translation

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters^[a] (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person^[b] as long as he lives? ²For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her^[c] husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.^[d] ³So then,^[e] if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her^[f] husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. ⁴So, my brothers and sisters,^[g] you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.^[h] ⁵For when we were in the flesh,^[i] the sinful desires,^[j] aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body^[k] to bear fruit for death. ⁶But now we have been released from the law, because we have died^[l] to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.^[m]

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I^[n] would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else^[o] if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”^[p] ⁸But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.^[q] For apart from the law, sin is dead. ⁹And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive ¹⁰and I died. So^[r] I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!^[s] ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.^[t] ¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual—but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.^[u] ¹⁵For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate.^[v] ¹⁶But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.^[w] ¹⁷But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.^[x] ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

²¹So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. ²³But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be^[y] to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then,^[z] I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but^[aa] with my flesh I serve^[ab] the law of sin.

Footnotes

Romans 7:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
Romans 7:1 sn Here person refers to a human being.
Romans 7:2 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
Romans 7:2 tn Grk “husband.”sn Paul’s example of the married woman and the law of the marriage illustrates that death frees a person from obligation to the law. Thus, in spiritual terms, a person who has died to what controlled us (v. 6) has been released from the law to serve God in the new life produced by the Spirit.
Romans 7:3 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
Romans 7:3 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
Romans 7:4 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
Romans 7:4 tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”
Romans 7:5 tn That is, before we were in Christ.
Romans 7:5 tn Or “sinful passions.”
Romans 7:5 tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.
Romans 7:6 tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apothanontes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
Romans 7:6 tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Romans 7:7 sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).
Romans 7:7 tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”
Romans 7:7 sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.
Romans 7:8 tn Or “covetousness.”
Romans 7:10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
Romans 7:10 tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life—this was for death.”
Romans 7:11 tn Or “and through it killed me.”
Romans 7:14 tn Grk “under sin.”
Romans 7:15 tn Grk “but what I hate, this I do.”
Romans 7:16 tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.”
Romans 7:18 tn Grk “For to wish is present in/with me, but not to do it.”
Romans 7:25 tc ‡ Most mss (א* A 1739 1881 M sy) read “I give thanks to God” rather than “Now thanks be to God” (א¹ [B] Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506), the reading of NA²⁸. The reading with the verb (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ, eucharistō tō theō) possibly arose from a transcriptional error in which several letters were doubled (TCGNT 455). The conjunction δέ (de, “now”) is included in some mss as well (א¹ Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506), but it should probably not be considered original. The ms support for the omission of δέ is both excellent and widespread (א* A B D 1739 1881 M lat sy), and its addition can be explained as an insertion to smooth out the transition between v. 24 and 25.
Romans 7:25 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
Romans 7:25 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
Romans 7:25 tn The words “I serve” have been repeated here for clarity.

Romans 7

Contemporary English Version

An Example from Marriage

7 My friends, you surely understand enough about law to know that laws only have power over people who are alive. ²For example, the Law says that a man's wife must remain his wife as long as he lives. But once her husband is dead, she is free ³to marry someone else. However, if she goes off with another man while her husband is still alive, she is said to be unfaithful.

⁴That is how it is with you, my friends. You are now part of the body of Christ and are dead to the power of the Law. You are free to belong to Christ, who was raised to life so we could serve God. ⁵When we thought only of ourselves, the Law made us have sinful desires. It made every part of our bodies into slaves who are doomed to die. ⁶But the Law no longer rules over us. We are like dead people, and it cannot have any power over us. Now we can serve God in a new way by obeying his Spirit, and not in the old way by obeying the written Law.

The Battle with Sin

⁷^(A) Does this mean that the Law is sinful? Certainly not! But if it had not been for the Law, I would not have known what sin is really like. For example, I would not have known what it means to want something that belongs to someone else, unless the Law had told me not to do this. ⁸It was sin that used this command as a way of making me have all kinds of desires. But without the Law, sin is dead.

⁹Before I knew about the Law, I was alive. But as soon as I heard that command, sin came to life, ¹⁰and I died. The very command that was supposed to bring life to me, instead brought death. ¹¹^(B) Sin used this command to trick me, and because of it I died. ¹²Still, the Law and its commands are holy and correct and good.

¹³Am I saying something good caused my death? Certainly not! It was sin that killed me by using something good. Now we can see how terrible and evil sin really is. ¹⁴We know that the Law is spiritual. But I am merely a human, and I have been sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵^(C) In fact, I don't understand why I act the way I do. I don't do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. ¹⁶Although I don't do what I know is right, I agree that the Law is good. ¹⁷So I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

¹⁸I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. ¹⁹Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. ²⁰And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

²¹The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. ²²With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God. ²³But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. ²⁴What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? ²⁵Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.

So with my mind I serve the Law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.

New English Translation (NET)

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Romans 7 New English Translation