Font Size
Romans 7
Worldwide English (New Testament)
Romans 7
Worldwide English (New Testament)
7 My brothers, I am saying this to you people who know the law. Do you not know that the law is master over a person only while he lives?
2 A married woman belongs to her husband by law as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law that made her belong to her husband.
3 So if she belongs to another man while her husband is living, she commits adultery. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then if she belongs to another man, she does not commit adultery.
4 In the same way my brothers, you died when Christ died. And you are free from the law. Now you belong to another person. You belong to the one who has been raised from death. Because of that, we are able to do what God wants us to do.
5 One time we lived in the way our bodies wanted to live. The law made us think about doing wrong things. And we did things that made us die.
6 But now we have been made free from the law. We died, and so we are no longer slaves to the one who was our master. Now we are slaves to God in our new life. This new life is ruled by the Spirit. We do not work for the old written law.
7 So what shall we say? Shall we say that the law is bad? No! I would not have known what is wrong if there had been no law. The law says, `Do not want to take other people's things.' That is how I know it is wrong to want another person's things.
8 My wrong ways used the law to make me want all kinds of things. When there is no law, the thing within me that wants to do wrong is dead.
9 Once I had no law, and I lived. But when the law came, that which wanted to do wrong things came to life, and I died.
10 The same law which was meant to make a person live, made me die.
11 My wrong ways used the law to fool me and kill me.
12 So the law is holy. And what the law says is holy and right and good.
13 So did that good thing make me die? No. The wrong things I did made me die, because that good thing showed they were wrong. And the law shows that the wrong things are very, very bad.
14 We know that the law came from the Holy Spirit. But I am a weak man. I have been sold like a slave to do wrong things.
15 I do not know why I do the things I do. I do not do what I want to do. But I do the things I hate.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but my wrong ways in me.
18 I know that no good thing lives in me. I mean, no good thing lives in my body. I want to do what is good, but I cannot do it.
19 I do not do the good thing I want to do, but I do the wrong thing that I do not want to do.
20 If I do the thing I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but the wrong thing in me that does it.
21 So there is a law I find that it is at work in me. When I want to do what is right, I can only do what is wrong.
22 In my own mind I am glad to obey the law of God.
23 But I see that in my body there is another law fighting against the law in my mind. And that makes me like a prisoner to the law of wrong things in my body.
24 I am a very sad man. Who will save me from this body that will make me die?
25 Thank God for Jesus Christ our Lord who will do it! So this is the way it is. In my mind I am a slave to do the law of God, but in my body I am a slave to do the law of wrong things.
Romans 7
Young's Literal Translation
Romans 7
Young's Literal Translation
7 Are ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?
2 for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;
3 so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.
4 So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;
5 for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that [are] through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;
6 and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.
7 What, then, shall we say? the law [is] sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:
8 `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.
9 And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;
10 and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;
11 for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay [me];
12 so that the law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.
13 That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,
14 for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;
15 for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.
16 And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good,
17 and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,
18 for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,
19 for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.
20 And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.
21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,
22 for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,
23 and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members.
24 A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.
Romans 7
New International Version
Romans 7
New International Version
Released From the Law, Bound to Christ
7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.(B) 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law(D) through the body of Christ,(E) that you might belong to another,(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a](G) the sinful passions aroused by the law(H) were at work in us,(I) so that we bore fruit for death.(J) 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(L)
The Law and Sin
7 What shall we say, then?(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b](P) 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(R) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life(S) actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(T) deceived me,(U) and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.(V)
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good(W) to bring about my death,(X) so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,(Y) sold(Z) as a slave to sin.(AA) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.(AB) 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.(AC) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.(AD) 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c](AE) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.(AF) 20 Now 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.(AG)
21 So I find this law at work:(AH) Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being(AI) I delight in God’s law;(AJ) 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war(AK) against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin(AL) at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?(AM) 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!(AN)
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,(AO) but in my sinful nature[d] a slave to the law of sin.(AP)
Footnotes
- Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
- Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
- Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
- Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh
Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.