Romans 7

Believers United to Christ

1 Or do you not know, 1brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law ), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
2 For 2the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
3 So 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.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were 3made to die 4to the Law 5through 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.
5 For while we were 6in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were 7aroused by the Law, were at work 8in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been 9released from the Law, having 10died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in 11newness of 12the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
7 13What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? 14May it never be! On the contrary, 15I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "16YOU SHALL NOT COVET."
8 But sin, 17taking opportunity 18through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for 19apart from the Law sin is dead.
9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;
10 and this commandment, which was 20to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
11 for sin, 21taking an opportunity 22through the commandment, 23deceived me and through it killed me.
12 24So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? 25May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

The Conflict of Two Natures

14 For we know that the Law is 26spiritual, but I am 27of flesh, 28sold 29into bondage to sin.
15 For what I am doing, 30I do not understand; for I am not practicing 31what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with 32the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, 33no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my 34flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For 35the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, 36I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then 37the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in 38the inner man,
23 but I see 39a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the 40law of my mind and making me a prisoner of 41the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from 42the body of this 43death?
25 44Thanks 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 45the law of sin.

Cross References 45

  • 1. Romans 1:13
  • 2. 1 Corinthians 7:39
  • 3. Romans 6:2; Romans 7:6
  • 4. Romans 8:2; Galatians 2:19; Galatians 5:18
  • 5. Colossians 1:22
  • 6. Romans 8:8; 2 Corinthians 10:3
  • 7. Romans 7:7
  • 8. Rom 6:13, 21, 23
  • 9. Romans 7:2
  • 10. Romans 6:2
  • 11. Romans 6:4
  • 12. Romans 2:29
  • 13. Romans 3:5
  • 14. Luke 20:16
  • 15. Romans 3:20; Romans 4:15; Romans 5:20
  • 16. Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21
  • 17. Romans 7:11
  • 18. Romans 3:20; Romans 7:11
  • 19. 1 Corinthians 15:56
  • 20. Leviticus 18:5; Luke 10:28; Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:12
  • 21. Romans 7:8
  • 22. Romans 3:20; Romans 7:8
  • 23. Genesis 3:13
  • 24. Romans 7:16; 1 Timothy 1:8
  • 25. Luke 20:16
  • 26. 1 Corinthians 3:1
  • 27. 1 Corinthians 3:1
  • 28. 1 Kings 21:20, 25; 2 Kings 17:17; Romans 6:6; Galatians 4:3
  • 29. Romans 3:9
  • 30. John 15:15
  • 31. Romans 7:19; Galatians 5:17
  • 32. Romans 7:12; 1 Timothy 1:8
  • 33. Romans 7:20
  • 34. John 3:6; Romans 7:25; Romans 8:3
  • 35. Romans 7:15
  • 36. Romans 7:17
  • 37. Romans 7:23, 25; Romans 8:2
  • 38. 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16; 1 Peter 3:4
  • 39. Romans 6:19; Galatians 5:17; James 4:1; 1 Peter 2:11
  • 40. Romans 7:25
  • 41. Romans 7:21, 25; Romans 8:2
  • 42. Romans 6:6; Colossians 2:11
  • 43. Romans 8:2
  • 44. 1 Corinthians 15:57
  • 45. Romans 7:21, 23; Romans 8:2

Footnotes 18

Romans 7 Commentaries

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