Romans 7–8

CHAPTER 7

Released from the Law

¹Or do you not know, ^abrothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is master over a person as long as he lives?

²For ^athe married woman has been bound by law to her ¹husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ²concerning the husband.

³So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

⁴So, my brothers, you also were ^amade to die ^bto the Law ^cthrough the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

⁵For while we were ^ain the flesh, the sinful passions, which were ^baroused by the Law, were at work ^cin our members to bear fruit for death.

⁶But now we have been ^areleased from the Law, having ^bdied to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in ^cnewness of ^1dthe Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

^7aWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? ^bMay it never be! Rather, ^cI would not have come to know sin except ¹through the Law. For I would not have known about ²coveting if the Law had not said, “^dYou shall not ³covet.”

⁸But sin, ^ataking opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, worked out in me ¹coveting of every kind. For ^capart ²from the Law sin is dead.

⁹Now I was once alive apart ¹from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died;

¹⁰and this commandment, which was ^1ato lead to life, was found ²to lead to death for me.

¹¹For sin, ^ataking an opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, ^cdeceived me and through it killed me.

^12aSo, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

The Conflict of Two Natures

¹³Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? ^aMay it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would ¹become utterly sinful.

¹⁴For we know that the Law is ^aspiritual, but I am ^bfleshly, ^chaving been sold ^1dinto bondage under sin.

¹⁵For what I am working out, ^aI do not understand; for I am not practicing ^bwhat I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

¹⁶But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with ^athe Law, that it is good.

¹⁷So now, ^ano longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my ^aflesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not.

¹⁹For ^athe good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

²⁰But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, ^aI am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me.

²¹I find then ^athe ¹principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good.

²²For I joyfully concur with the law of God ¹in ^athe inner man,

²³but I see ^aa different law in my members, waging war against the ^blaw of my mind and making me a captive ¹to ^cthe law of sin which is in my members.

²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from ^1athe body of this ^bdeath?

^251aThanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh ^bthe law of sin.

CHAPTER 8

The Spirit of God Dwells in You

¹Therefore there is now no ^acondemnation for those who are ^bin ^cChrist Jesus.

²For ^athe law of the Spirit of life ¹in ^bChrist Jesus ^chas set you free from the law of sin and of death.

³For ^awhat the Law could not do, ^1bweak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in ^cthe likeness of ²sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

⁴so that the ^arighteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who ^bdo not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on ^athe things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, ^bthe things of the Spirit.

^6aFor the mind set on the flesh is ^bdeath, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

⁷because the mind set on the flesh is at ^aenmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

⁸and those who are ^ain the flesh are not able to please God.

⁹However, you are not ^ain the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God ^bdwells in you. But ^cif anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

^10aBut if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ¹alive because of righteousness.

¹¹But if the Spirit of Him who ^araised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ^bHe who raised ^cChrist Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ¹through His Spirit who dwells in you.

¹²So then, brothers, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—

¹³for ^aif you are living according to the flesh, you ¹must die, but if by the Spirit you are ^bputting to death the ^cpractices of the body, you will live.

¹⁴For as many as are ^abeing led by the Spirit of God, these are ^bsons of God.

¹⁵For you ^ahave not received a spirit of slavery ¹leading to fear again, but you ^bhave received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “^cAbba! Father!”

¹⁶The Spirit Himself ^atestifies with our spirit that we are ^bchildren of God,

¹⁷and if children, also ^aheirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, ^bif indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ^aare not worthy to be compared with the ^bglory that is to be revealed to us.

¹⁹For the ^aanxious longing of the creation eagerly waits for ^bthe revealing of the ^csons of God.

²⁰For the creation ^awas subjected to ^bfutility, not willingly, but ^cbecause of Him who subjected it, in hope

²¹¹that ^athe creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

²²For we know that the whole creation ^agroans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

^23aAnd not only this, but also we ourselves, having ^bthe first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves ^cgroan within ourselves, ^deagerly waiting for our adoption as sons, ^ethe redemption of our body.

²⁴For ^ain hope we were saved, but ^bhope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees?

²⁵But ^aif we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait for it.

²⁶And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for ^awe do not know how to pray as we should, but ^bthe Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

²⁷and ^aHe who searches the hearts knows what ^bthe mind of the Spirit is, because He ^cintercedes for the ¹saints according to the will of God.

²⁸And we know that for those who love God ^1aall things work together for good, for those who are ^bcalled according to His purpose.

²⁹Because those whom He ^aforeknew, He also ^bpredestined to become ^cconformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the ^dfirstborn among many brothers;

³⁰and those whom He ^apredestined, He also ^bcalled; and those whom He called, He also ^cjustified; and those whom He justified, He also ^dglorified.

God Is for Us

^31aWhat then shall we say to these things? ^bIf God is for us, who is against us?

³²He who indeed ^adid not spare His own Son, but ^bdelivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

³³Who will bring a charge against ^aGod’s elect? ^bGod is the one who justifies;

³⁴who is the one who ^acondemns? Christ Jesus is He who ^bdied, yes, rather who was ^1craised, who is ^dat the right hand of God, who also ^eintercedes for us.

³⁵Who will separate us from ^athe love of ¹Christ? Will ^baffliction, or turmoil, or ^cpersecution, or ^dfamine, or ^enakedness, or ^fperil, or sword?

³⁶Just as it is written,

“^aFor Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷But in all these things we overwhelmingly ^aconquer through ^bHim who loved us.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither ^adeath, nor life, nor ^bangels, nor rulers, nor ^cthings present, nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from ^athe love of God, which is ^bin Christ Jesus our Lord.