Romans 7

An Illustration from Marriage

7Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, ^jare you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? ²For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. ^kBut if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. ³So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death ^lin relation to the law ^mthrough the crucified body of the Messiah, ⁿso that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, ^opthe sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us ^qrand bore fruit for death. ⁶But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way ^sof the Spirit ^tand not in the old letter of the law.

Sin’s Use of the Law

⁷What should we say then? ^uIs the law sin? Absolutely not! ^vOn the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. ^wFor example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. ^xy8And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^zproduced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. ^a9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life ¹⁰and I died. The commandment that was meant for life ^bresulted in death for me. ¹¹For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, ^cand through it killed me. ¹²So then, the law is holy, ^dand the commandment is holy and just and good.

The Problem of Sin in Us

¹³Therefore, did what is good cause my death? ^eAbsolutely not! ^fOn the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, ^gbut I am made out of flesh, ^hsold ⁱinto sin’s power. ^j15For I do not understand what I am doing, ^kbecause I do not practice what I want to do, ^lbut I do what I hate. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. ^mFor the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹So I discover this principle: ^noWhen I want to do what is good, evil is with me. ²²For in my inner self ^pI joyfully agree with God’s law. ^q23But I see a different law in the parts of my body, ^rswaging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. ^t24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? ^u25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ^vwSo then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.