Romans 7
7
No Longer Bound to the Law
1Now, dear brothers and sisters#7:1 Greek brothers; also in 7:4.—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? 2For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. 3So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
4So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5When we were controlled by our old nature,#7:5 Greek When we were in the flesh. sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
God’s Law Reveals Our Sin
7Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”#7:7 Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21. 8But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
13But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
Struggling with Sin
14So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.#7:18 Greek my flesh; also in 7:25. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22I love God’s law with all my heart. 23But there is another power#7:23 Greek law; also in 7:23b. within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
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Romans 7: NLT
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Romans 7
7
Released from the Law through Death
1 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is master of a person for as long a time as he lives? 2For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the husband. 3Therefore as a result, if she belongs to another man while#*Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“is living”) which is understood as temporal her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she#*Here “if” is supplied as a component of the participle (“belongs”) which is understood as conditional belongs to another man. 4So then, my brothers, you also were brought to death with respect to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5For when we were in the flesh, sinful desires were working through the law in our members, to bear fruit for death. 6But now we have been released from the law, because we#*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have died”) which is understood as causal have died to that by which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter of the law.
Knowledge of Sin Comes through the Law
7What then shall we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”#A quotation from Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21 8But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9And I was alive once, apart from the law, but when#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“came”) which is understood as temporal the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Internal Conflict with Sin
13Therefore, did that which is good become death to me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be recognized as sin, producing death through what is good for me, in order that sin might become sinful to an extraordinary degree through the commandment. 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into slavery to sin#Literally “sold under sin”. 15For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do. 16But if what I do not want to do, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17But now I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18For I know that good does not live in me, that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want to do, this I do. 20But if what I do not want to do, this I am doing, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that lives in me.
21Consequently, I find the principle with me, the one who wants to do good, that evil is present with me.#Or “in me” 22For I joyfully agree with the law of God in my inner person, 23but I observe another law in my members, at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that exists in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be#Some manuscripts have “But thanks be” to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself with my mind am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.
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