Parallel Bible results for "romans 7"

Romans 7

The Message Bible MSG

1 You shouldn't have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law - how it works and how its power touches only the living.

2 For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she's free.

3 If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she's obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one's disapproval.

4 So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to "marry" a resurrection life and bear "offspring" of faith for God.

5 For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths.

6 But now that we're no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we're free to live a new life in the freedom of God.

7 But I can hear you say, "If the law code was as bad as all that, it's no better than sin itself." That's certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, "You shall not covet," I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

8 Don't you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of "forbidden fruit" out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless,

9 and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it.

10 The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong.

11 So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead.

12 But the law code itself is God's good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.

13 I can already hear your next question: "Does that mean I can't even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?" No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God's good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

14 I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself - after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison.

15 What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.

16 So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

17 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!

18 I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it.

19 I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.

20 My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21 It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.

22 I truly delight in God's commands,

23 but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24 I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

The Latin Vulgate VUL

1 an ignoratis fratres scientibus enim legem loquor quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit

2 nam quae sub viro est mulier vivente viro alligata est legi si autem mortuus fuerit vir soluta est a lege viri

3 igitur vivente viro vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro si autem mortuus fuerit vir eius liberata est a lege ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro

4 itaque fratres mei et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi ut sitis alterius qui ex mortuis resurrexit ut fructificaremus Deo

5 cum enim essemus in carne passiones peccatorum quae per legem erant operabantur in membris nostris ut fructificarent morti

6 nunc autem soluti sumus a lege morientes in quo detinebamur ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus et non in vetustate litterae

7 quid ergo dicemus lex peccatum est absit sed peccatum non cognovi nisi per legem nam concupiscentiam nesciebam nisi lex diceret non concupisces

8 occasione autem accepta peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat

9 ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando sed cum venisset mandatum peccatum revixit

10 ego autem mortuus sum et inventum est mihi mandatum quod erat ad vitam hoc esse ad mortem

11 nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum seduxit me et per illud occidit

12 itaque lex quidem sancta et mandatum sanctum et iustum et bonum

13 quod ergo bonum est mihi factum est mors absit sed peccatum ut appareat peccatum per bonum mihi operatum est mortem ut fiat supra modum peccans peccatum per mandatum

14 scimus enim quod lex spiritalis est ego autem carnalis sum venundatus sub peccato

15 quod enim operor non intellego non enim quod volo hoc ago sed quod odi illud facio

16 si autem quod nolo illud facio consentio legi quoniam bona

17 nunc autem iam non ego operor illud sed quod habitat in me peccatum

18 scio enim quia non habitat in me hoc est in carne mea bonum nam velle adiacet mihi perficere autem bonum non invenio

19 non enim quod volo bonum hoc facio sed quod nolo malum hoc ago

20 si autem quod nolo illud facio non ego operor illud sed quod habitat in me peccatum

21 invenio igitur legem volenti mihi facere bonum quoniam mihi malum adiacet

22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem

23 video autem aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae et captivantem me in lege peccati quae est in membris meis

24 infelix ego homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius

25 gratia Dei per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei carne autem legi peccati