Warumi 7
Neno: Bibilia Takatifu
Mkristo Hafungwi Na Sheria
7 Ndugu zangu, kwa kuwa sasa ninasema na wale wanaoifahamu sheria, bila shaka mnaelewa kwamba mtu akifa hafungwi tena na sheria. 2 Kwa mfano, mwanamke aliyeolewa hufungwa kisheria kwa mumewe wakati wote mumewe akiwa hai. Lakini mumewe akifa mwanamke huyo hafungwi tena na sheria ya ndoa. 3 Endapo mwanamke huyo ataishi namwanaume mwingine wakati mumewe yu hai, ataitwa mzinzi. Lakini mumewe akifa, mwanamke huyo hafungwi tena na she ria ya ndoa, na akiolewa na mtu mwingine haitwi mzinzi.
Kazi Ya Sheria
4 Kadhalika ndugu zangu, ninyi pia mmekufa kuhusu maagizo ya sheria kwa njia ya mwili wa Kristo. Sasa ninyi ni mali yake yeye aliyefufuliwa kutoka kwa wafu, ili tumzalie Mungu matunda. 5 Tulipokuwa tukitawaliwa na hali yetu ya dhambi, tamaa zetu za dhambi zikiwa zinachochewa na sheria, zilikuwa zikifanya kazi katika miili yetu, tukatumikishwa katika huduma ya dhambi ambayo matunda yake ni kifo. 6 Lakini sasa tumekuwa huru kutoka katika kifungo cha sheria kwa kuwa tumekufa kuhusu yale mambo yaliyotu funga, ili tuhudumu katika maisha mapya ya Roho na wala si katika ile njia ya zamani ya sheria iliyoandikwa.
7 Tusemeje basi? Kwamba sheria ni dhambi? La, sivyo! Kama isingekuwapo sheria, nisingalifahamu dhambi ni nini. Hakika nisi ngalijua tamaa ni nini kama sheria haikusema, “Usitamani.” 8 Lakini dhambi ilipata nafasi katika amri hii ikazaa ndani yangu kila aina ya tamaa. Kwa maana pasipo sheria, dhambi ime kufa. 9 Kabla ya kuwapo sheria, nilikuwa hai pasipo sheria, lakini amri ilipowasili dhambi nayo ilikuwa hai, nami nikafa. 10 Ile amri iliyokusudiwa kuleta uzima, ilileta kifo. 11 Dhambi ilipata nafasi katika amri, ikanidanganya, na kwa kutumia amri, ikaniletea kifo.
12 Kwa hiyo sheria yenyewe ni takatifu na amri ni takatifu, na ya haki, tena ni njema.
13 Je, hii ina maana kwamba sheria ambayo ni njema ilinile tea kifo? La, sivyo. Lakini ili dhambi itambuliwe kuwa ni dhambi, iliniletea kifo kwa njia ya sheria ambayo ni nzuri; kusudi kwa njia ya sheria, dhambi ionekane kuwa mbaya kabisa.
Mgongano Kati Ya Mwili Na Roho
14 Tunafahamu kwamba sheria ni ya kiroho. Lakini mimi si wa kiroho; mimi nimeuzwa utumwani, ni mtumwa wa dhambi. 15 Sielewi nitendalo: kwa maana lile ninalotaka kulifanya, sifanyi; badala yake, ninafanya lile ambalo nachukia kulifanya. 16 Kwa hiyo kama ninafanya lile nisilopenda kufanya, hii ina maana kwamba nakubali kuwa sheria ni njema. 17 Basi, kwa kweli si mimi hasa nitendaye lile nisilolipenda bali ni ile dhambi ikaayo ndani yangu. 18 Kwa maana ninafahamu kwamba hakuna wema wo wote ndani yangu mimi, yaani katika mwili wangu wa asili. Ingawa nina nia ya kutenda lililo jema, lakini ninashindwa kulitenda. 19 Sitendi lile jema nipendalo bali lile ovu nisilopenda, ndilo nitendalo. 20 Basi kama ninafanya lile nisilopenda kufanya, si mimi tena nifanyaye hivyo, bali ni ile dhambi ikaayo ndani yangu.
21 Kwa hiyo imekuwa kama ni sheria: kila ninapotaka kufanya jambo jema, jambo ovu hujitokeza. 22 Kwa maana ndani yangu ninaifurahia sheria ya Mungu. 23 Lakini ninaona kuna sheria nyin gine mwilini mwangu inayopingana na ile sheria ninayoikubali akilini mwangu. Sheria hii inanifanya kuwa mateka wa sheria ya dhambi ambayo inafanya kazi mwilini mwangu.
24 Ole wangu, mimi mnyonge! Ni nani atakayeniokoa na huu mwili wa kifo? 25 Ninamshukuru Mungu kwa ajili ya Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo! Kwa hiyo basi, mimi kwa moyo wangu, ninaitumikia sheria ya Mungu, lakini kwa mwili wangu wa asili ninaitumikia sheria ya dhambi.
Romans 7
International Children’s Bible
An Example from Marriage
7 Brothers, all of you understand the law of Moses. So surely you know that the law rules over a person only while he is alive. 2 For example, a woman must stay married to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, then she is free from the law of marriage. 3 But if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if her husband dies, then the woman is free from the law of marriage. So if she marries another man after her husband dies, she is not guilty of adultery.
4 In the same way, my brothers, your old selves died, and you became free from the law through the body of Christ. Now you belong to someone else. You belong to the One who was raised from death. We belong to Christ so that we can be used in service to God. 5 In the past, we were ruled by our sinful selves. The law made us want to do sinful things. And those sinful things we wanted to do controlled our bodies, so that the things we did were only bringing us death. 6 In the past, the law held us like prisoners. But our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way, not in the old way with written rules. Now we serve God in the new way, with the Spirit.
Our Fight Against Sin
7 You might think that I am saying that sin and the law are the same thing. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin meant. I would never have known what it means to want something wrong if the law had not said, “You must not want to take your neighbor’s things.”[a] 8 And sin found a way to use that command and cause me to want every kind of wrong thing. So sin came to me because of that command. But without the law, sin has no power. 9 I was alive without the law before I knew the law. But when the law’s command came to me, then sin began to live. 10 And I died because of sin. The command was meant to bring life, but for me that command brought death. 11 Sin found a way to fool me by using the command. Sin used the command to make me die.
12 So the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. 13 Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No! Sin used something that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that I could see what sin is really like. The command was used to show that sin is something very evil.
The War Within Man
14 We know that the law is spiritual. But I am not spiritual. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. 15 I do not understand the things I do. I do not do the good things I want to do. And I do the bad things I hate to do. 16 And if I do not want to do the bad things I do, then that means that I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one who is doing these bad things. It is sin living in me that does these things. 18 Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good. But I do not do them. 19 I do not do the good things that I want to do. I do the bad things that I do not want to do. 20 So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing those things. It is sin living in me that does those bad things.
21 So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. 22 In my mind, I am happy with God’s law. 23 But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. 24 What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? 25 God will. I thank him for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law. But in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin.
Footnotes
- 7:7 “You . . . things.” Quotation from Exodus 20:13, 15–17.
Copyright © 1989 by Biblica
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
