Romans 7–8

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7Do you not know, brothers and sisters^q—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ²For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^{r 3}So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^s But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^t through the body of Christ,^u that you might belong to another,^v to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^aw the sinful passions aroused by the law^x were at work in us,^y so that we bore fruit for death.^{z 6}But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^a so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^b

The Law and Sin

⁷What shall we say, then?^c Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^d Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^e For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{bf 8}But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^g produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^{h 9}Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring lifeⁱ actually brought death. ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^j deceived me,^k and through the commandment put me to death. ¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^l

¹³Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good^m to bring about my death,ⁿ so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual,^o sold^p as a slave to sin.^{q 15}I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^{r 16}And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.^{s 17}As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.^{t 18}For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^cu For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^{v 20}Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.^w

²¹So I find this law at work:^x Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being^y I delight in God’s law;^{z 23}but I see another law at work in me, waging war^a against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin^b at work within me. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?^{c 25}Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!^d

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law,^e but in my sinful nature^d a slave to the law of sin.^f

Life Through the Spirit

8Therefore, there is now no condemnation^g for those who are in Christ Jesus,^{h 2}because through Christ Jesusⁱ the law of the Spirit who gives life^j has set you^a free^k from the law of sin^l and death. ³For what the law was powerless^m to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^bn God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh^o to be a sin offering.^cp And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement^q of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.^r

⁵Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;^s but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.^{t 6}The mind governed by the flesh is death,^u but the mind governed by the Spirit is life^v and peace. ⁷The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^w it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh^x cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh^y but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.^z And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,^a they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you,^b then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^d because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead^c is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies^d because of^e his Spirit who lives in you.

¹²Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.^{e 13}For if you live according to the flesh, you will die;^f but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body,^g you will live.^h

¹⁴For those who are led by the Spirit of Godⁱ are the children of God.^{j 15}The Spirit^k you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again;^l rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^f And by him we cry, “Abba,^g Father.”^{m 16}The Spirit himself testifies with our spiritⁿ that we are God’s children.^{o 17}Now if we are children, then we are heirs^p—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings^q in order that we may also share in his glory.^r

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.^{s 19}For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God^t to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it,^u in hope ²¹that^h the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay^v and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.^w

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning^x as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^y groan^z inwardly as we wait eagerly^a for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.^{b 24}For in this hope we were saved.^c But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^d Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.^e

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit^f himself intercedes for us^g through wordless groans. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts^h knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedesⁱ for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good^j of those who love him, whoⁱ have been called^k according to his purpose.^{l 29}For those God foreknew^m he also predestinedⁿ to be conformed to the image of his Son,^o that he might be the firstborn^p among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰And those he predestined,^q he also called;^r those he called, he also justified;^s those he justified, he also glorified.^t

More Than Conquerors

³¹What, then, shall we say in response to these things?^u If God is for us,^v who can be against us?^{w 32}He who did not spare his own Son,^x but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge^y against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who then is the one who condemns?^z No one. Christ Jesus who died^a—more than that, who was raised to life^b—is at the right hand of God^c and is also interceding for us.^{d 35}Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?^e Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?^{f 36}As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^jg

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors^h through him who loved us.^{i 38}For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^k neither the present nor the future,^j nor any powers,^{k 39}neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God^l that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.^m