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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Error: 'Psalm 45:10-17' not found for the version: Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Error: 'Genesis 27:1-17' not found for the version: Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Romans 7:7-20

Not That The Law Is At Fault For My Sin

⁷Therefore, what shall we say? Is the Law sin^[a]? May it never be! On-the-contrary, I would not have known^[b] sin except through the Law.

Sin Used The Law To Produce Sin In Me

For indeed I would not have known^[c] coveting^[d] if the Law were not saying [in Ex 20:17], “You shall not covet”. ⁸But sin, having taken^[e] an opportunity^[f] through the commandment, produced^[g] every^[h] [kind of ] coveting in me. For apart-from^[i] the Law, sin is dead^[j].

And Sin Used The Law To Kill Me

⁹And I was once^[k] alive apart from the Law. But the commandment having come, sin became-alive^[l] ¹⁰and I died. And the commandment for^[m] life— this was found in me to be for^[n] death. ¹¹For sin, having taken an opportunity through the commandment, deceived^[o] me, and through it, killed me.

So The Law Is Good

¹²So-then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

Not That The Law Killed Me. Sin Is To Blame For My Death

¹³Therefore did the good thing become death^[p] for me? May it never be! On the contrary, it was sin, in order that it might become-visible as sin while producing death in me through the good thing, in order that sin might become extremely^[q] sinful through the commandment.

I Agree The Law Is Good, But The Sin In Me Produces Behavior I Hate

¹⁴For^[r] we know that the Law is spiritual. But I am made-of-flesh^[s], having been sold under sin. ¹⁵For I do not understand^[t] what^[u] I am producing. For I am not practicing this which I am wanting, but I am doing this which I am hating. ¹⁶But if I am doing this which I am not wanting, I am agreeing-with^[v] the Law— that it is good. ¹⁷And now I am no longer producing it, but the sin^[w] dwelling in me is.

I Know I Am Not Good, For I Cannot Do The Good I Want To Do

¹⁸For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. For the wanting is present in me, but the producing the good is not. ¹⁹For I am not doing the good which I am wanting, but I am practicing this evil which I am not wanting. ²⁰But if I am doing this which I am not wanting, I am no longer producing it, but the sin^[x] dwelling in me is.

Footnotes

Romans 7:7 If the passions of sins are through the Law, is the Law what makes me a sinner? No. It merely defines the standard against which sin rebels.
Romans 7:7 Or, come-to-know sin. That is, known of sin’s presence in him as sin (v 7-8) or of its power to kill him in relation to God (v 9-11). Apart from God’s Law, sin is merely ‘your opinion’ or ‘my bad choices’.
Romans 7:7 Or, known-about.
Romans 7:7 Or, [evil] desire, lust.
Romans 7:8 Or, received.
Romans 7:8 Or, occasion, starting point, base of operations.
Romans 7:8 Or, opportunity, produced... in me through the commandment.
Romans 7:8 Once aware it was forbidden, sin increased the coveting. This explains how the passions of sins were ‘through the Law’, v 5.
Romans 7:8 Or, without a law.
Romans 7:8 This is stated as a general principle. Sin is present, but inactive until it has a law to transgress. Thus God’s Law is the power of sin, 1 Cor 15:56. Or, ‘sin was dead’, stating it as the historical experience of Paul.
Romans 7:9 Or, formerly.
Romans 7:9 Or, sprang to life, came back to life.
Romans 7:10 That is, for the purpose life.
Romans 7:10 That is, resulting in death.
Romans 7:11 Or, opportunity, deceived me through the commandment.
Romans 7:13 If the Law resulted in death, v 5, 10, is God’s Law responsible for my death?
Romans 7:13 Or, supremely, utterly.
Romans 7:14 The purpose of v14-25 is to prove that sin is responsible for death, not the Law. Paul uses himself as an example, and scholars debate whether he has in view his experience as a Pharisee or a Christian (each view giving a different sense to ‘Law’ and ‘death’). What Paul says in these verses is true of anyone trying to live under law.
Romans 7:14 That is, carnal, fleshly; or, human, of Adam’s race.
Romans 7:15 Or, ‘acknowledge’ as representing his true desires.
Romans 7:15 For example, this coveting, v 7.
Romans 7:16 Or concurring-with.
Romans 7:17 When God says not to do it, Paul agrees and does not want to do it, but sin produces it in him anyway. Thus it is sin, not God’s Law, that causes his death. The sin in him is against him and against God! How extremely sinful it truly is! This proves v 14b; Paul is under the dominion of sin.
Romans 7:20 Good is not in him producing good, but sin is in him producing sin, and overcoming his inner desire to obey God’s good Law. This proves v 18.

Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT)

Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing