Romans 7

International Standard Version

Now We are Released from the Law

7 Don’t you realize, brothers—for I am speaking to people who know the Law—that the Law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive? ²For a married woman is bound by the Law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband. ³So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man.

⁴In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah’s^[a] body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and may bear fruit for God. ⁵For while we were living according to our human nature,^[b] sinful passions were at work in our bodies^[c] by means of the Law, to bear fruit resulting in death. ⁶But now we have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings.

The Law Shows Us What Sin Is

⁷What should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn’t have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.”^[d] ⁸But sin seized the opportunity provided by this commandment and produced in me all kinds of sinful desires, since apart from the Law, sin is dead. ⁹At one time I was alive without any connection to^[e] the Law.^[f] But when the rule was revealed, sin sprang to life, ¹⁰and I died. I found that the very rule that was intended to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the rule, deceived me and used it to kill me. ¹²So then, the Law^[g] itself is holy, and the rule is holy, just, and good.

The Problem of the Sin that Lives in Us

¹³Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being^[h] sinful than ever before. ¹⁴For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am merely human,^[i] sold as a slave to sin.^[j] ¹⁵I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I want to do, but instead do what I hate. ¹⁶Now if I practice what I don’t want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good. ¹⁷As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

¹⁸For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I don’t do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don’t want to do. ²⁰But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.

²¹So I find this to be a principle:^[k] when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. ²²For I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, ²³but I see in my body^[l] a different principle^[m] waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body.^[n] ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by^[o] death? ²⁵Thank God through Jesus the Messiah,^[p] our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature^[q] I serve the law of sin.

Footnotes

Romans 7:4 Or Christ’s
Romans 7:5 Lit. our flesh
Romans 7:5 Lit. members
Romans 7:7 Cf. Exod 20:17
Romans 7:9 The Gk. lacks any connection to
Romans 7:9 Or instruction
Romans 7:12 Or instruction
Romans 7:13 The Gk. lacks exposed as being
Romans 7:14 Lit. am flesh
Romans 7:14 Lit. sold under sin
Romans 7:21 Lit. law
Romans 7:23 Lit. in my members
Romans 7:23 Lit. law
Romans 7:23 Lit. in my members
Romans 7:24 Lit. body of death
Romans 7:25 Or Christ
Romans 7:25 Lit. my flesh

Romans 7

New King James Version

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ²For ^(A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³So then ^(B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(D)bear fruit to God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(E)were at work in our members ^(F)to bear fruit to death. ⁶But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(I)“You shall not covet.” ⁸But ^(J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(K)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰And the commandment, ^(L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹²Therefore ^(M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(N)sold under sin. ¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^(O)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸For I know that ^(P)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²²For I ^(Q)delight in the law of God according to ^(R)the inward man. ²³But ^(S)I see another law in ^(T)my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ^(U)from this body of death? ²⁵^(V)I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!