Romans 7
7
Release from the Law
1 Or are you ignorant, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the Law—that the Law gains mastery over a man for as long as he lives?* 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is alive; but if her* husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.* 3 So then, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress, if she is married to another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law,* so that she is not an adulteress, though she is married to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also have been put to death with respect to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the One who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins were operating through the Law in our members, to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were held in bondage, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
The Law and Sin
7 What 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 coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”* 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, brought about in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the Law, sin is dead. 9 And I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life, 10 and I died; and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and through it, killed me. 12 Therefore, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? May it never be! Rather, it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, producing death in me through that which is good, so that sin might become sinful to the full extent through the commandment.
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly,* having been sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am working out. For what I want to work out, this I do not practise, but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if I do that which I do not want, I consent to the Law that it is good. 17 But now I am no longer the one who is working it out, but the sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. 19 For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want, this I practise. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who is working it out, but sin which dwells in me.
21 So I find the law* that evil is present with me—the one who wants to do good. 22 For I take pleasure in the law of God according to the inward man.* 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 24 Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?* 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself with the mind am serving God’s law, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Notes
1 Greek for as long a time as he lives
2 Greek the. Here, the Greek definite article assumes a pronominal role, contextually equivalent to the English possessive pronoun her
2 Greek the law of the husband
3 Some ancient manuscripts read the law of the husband
7 Quoted from Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21
14 Or carnal
21 Or principle
22 Or For I delight in the law of God in the inner man
24 Or the body of this death
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Romans 7
7
Release from the Law
1 Or are you ignorant, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the Law—that the Law gains mastery over a man for as long as he lives?* 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is alive; but if her* husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.* 3 So then, while the husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress, if she is married to another man; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law,* so that she is not an adulteress, though she is married to another man.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also have been put to death with respect to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to the One who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins were operating through the Law in our members, to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were held in bondage, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
The Law and Sin
7 What 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 coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”* 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, brought about in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the Law, sin is dead. 9 And I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life, 10 and I died; and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and through it, killed me. 12 Therefore, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? May it never be! Rather, it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, producing death in me through that which is good, so that sin might become sinful to the full extent through the commandment.
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly,* having been sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am working out. For what I want to work out, this I do not practise, but what I hate, this I do. 16 But if I do that which I do not want, I consent to the Law that it is good. 17 But now I am no longer the one who is working it out, but the sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. 19 For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want, this I practise. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who is working it out, but sin which dwells in me.
21 So I find the law* that evil is present with me—the one who wants to do good. 22 For I take pleasure in the law of God according to the inward man.* 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 24 Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?* 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself with the mind am serving God’s law, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Notes
1 Greek for as long a time as he lives
2 Greek the. Here, the Greek definite article assumes a pronominal role, contextually equivalent to the English possessive pronoun her
2 Greek the law of the husband
3 Some ancient manuscripts read the law of the husband
7 Quoted from Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21
14 Or carnal
21 Or principle
22 Or For I delight in the law of God in the inner man
24 Or the body of this death
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).