Rô-ma

Release from the Law

1Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

2For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

3So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4Therefore, my brothers, 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 to God.

5For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

6But now, having died to what 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.

God’s Law Is Holy

7What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

8But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

10So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

11For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Struggling with Sin

13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

16And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.

17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

1Are ye ignorant, brethren — for to those knowing law I speak — that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?

2for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;

3so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.

4So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;

5for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that [are] through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;

6and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

7What, then, shall we say? the law [is] sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:

8'Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness — for apart from law sin is dead.

9And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;

10and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;

11for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay [me];

12so that the law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.

13That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,

14for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;

15for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.

16And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good,

17and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,

18for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,

19for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.

20And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.

21I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,

22for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,

23and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members.

24A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

25I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.