New International Version NIV
New International Reader's Version NIRV
1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?
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Brothers and sisters, I am speaking to you who know the law. Don't you know that the law has authority over us only as long as we are alive?
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.
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For example, by law a married woman is joined to her husband as long as he is living. But suppose her husband dies. Then the marriage law no longer applies to her.
3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
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But suppose that married woman gets married again while her husband is still alive. Then she is called a woman who commits adultery. But suppose her husband dies. Then she is free from that law. She is not guilty of adultery even if she marries another man.
4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
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My brothers and sisters, when Christ died you also died as far as the law is concerned. Then it became possible for you to belong to him. He was raised from the dead. Now our lives can be useful to God.
5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.
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Our sinful nature used to control us. The law stirred up sinful longings in our bodies. So the things we did resulted in death.
6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
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But now we have died to what used to control us. We have been set free from the law. Now we serve in the new way of the Holy Spirit. We no longer serve in the old way of the written law.
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
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What should we say then? That the law is sin? Not at all! I wouldn't have known what sin was unless the law had told me. The law said, "Do not want what belongs to other people."(Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) If the law hadn't said that, I would not have known what it was like to want what belonged to others.
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
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But the commandment gave sin an opportunity. Sin caused me to want all kinds of things that belonged to others. No one can break a law that doesn't exist.
9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
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Before I knew about the law, I was alive. But then the commandment came. Sin came to life, and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
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I found that the commandment that was supposed to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
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When the commandment gave sin the opportunity, sin tricked me. It used the commandment to put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
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So the law is holy. The commandment also is holy and right and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
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Did what is good cause me to die? Not at all! Sin had to be recognized for what it really is. So it produced death in me through what was good. Because of the commandment, sin became totally sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
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We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
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I don't understand what I do. I don't do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
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I do what I don't want to do. So I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
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As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them.
18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
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I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't.
19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
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I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
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I do what I don't want to do. But I am not really the one who is doing it. It is sin living in me.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
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Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
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Deep inside me I find joy in God's law.
23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
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But I see another law working in the parts of my body. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls the parts of my body.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
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What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body?
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
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I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord. So in my mind I am a slave to God's law. But in my sinful nature I am a slave to the law of sin.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.