Romans 7–8

Freed from the Law

7Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ¹has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ²For ^athe woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³So then ^bif, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^cdead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^dbear fruit to God. ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^ewere at work in our members ^fto bear fruit to death. ⁶But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^gin the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^hI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ⁱ“You shall not covet.” ⁸But ^jsin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^kapart from the law sin was dead. ⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰And the commandment, ^lwhich was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹²Therefore ^mthe law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ⁿsold under sin. ¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^oFor what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸For I know that ^pin me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²²For I ^qdelight in the law of God according to ^rthe inward man. ²³But ^sI see another law in ^tmy members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ^ufrom this body of death? ^25vI thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Free from Indwelling Sin

8There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, ^awho ¹do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ²For ^bthe law of ^cthe Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from ^dthe law of sin and death. ³For ^ewhat the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, ^fGod did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who ^gdo not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For ^hthose who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, ⁱthe things of the Spirit. ⁶For ^jto be ²carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷Because ^kthe ³carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, ^lnor indeed can be. ⁸So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of ^mHim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, ⁿHe who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies ⁴through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Sonship Through the Spirit

^12oTherefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³For ^pif you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you ^qput to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For ^ras many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵For ^syou did not receive the spirit of bondage again ^tto fear, but you received the ^uSpirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ^v“Abba, ⁵Father.” ^16wThe Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then ^xheirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, ^yif indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

From Suffering to Glory

¹⁸For I consider that ^zthe sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ¹⁹For ^athe earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For ^bthe creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of ⁶corruption into the glorious ^cliberty of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation ^dgroans and labors with birth pangs together until now. ²³Not only that, but we also who have ^ethe firstfruits of the Spirit, ^feven we ourselves groan ^gwithin ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the ^hredemption of our body. ²⁴For we were saved in this hope, but ⁱhope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

²⁶Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For ^jwe do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but ^kthe Spirit Himself makes intercession ⁷for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷Now ^lHe who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints ^maccording to the will of God.

²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those ⁿwho are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹For whom ^oHe foreknew, ^pHe also predestined ^qto be conformed to the image of His Son, ^rthat He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰Moreover whom He predestined, these He also ^scalled; whom He called, these He also ^tjustified; and whom He justified, these He also ^uglorified.

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹What then shall we say to these things? ^vIf God is for us, who can be against us? ^32wHe who did not spare His own Son, but ^xdelivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? ^yIt is God who justifies. ^34zWho is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, ^awho is even at the right hand of God, ^bwho also makes intercession for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written:

^c“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

^37dYet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor ^eprincipalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.