Romans 7

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
1 Or do you not know, brothers, (now I am speaking to those who know the law) that the law has dominion over a man only so long as he lives?	1 Do you not know, brethren--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only during his life?
2 For example, a woman who is subject to a husband is obligated by the law while her husband lives. But when her husband has died, she is released from the law of her husband.	2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the husband.
3 Therefore, while her husband lives, if she has been with another man, she should be called an adulteress. But when her husband has died, she is freed from the law of her husband, such that, if she has been with another man, she is not an adulteress.	3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 And so, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law, through the body of Christ, so that you may be another one who has risen from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.	4 Likewise, my brethren, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him 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, which were under the law, operated within our bodies, so as to bear fruit unto death.	5 While we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been released from the law of death, by which we were being held, so that now we may serve with a renewed spirit, and not in the old way, by the letter.	6 But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.
7 What should we say next? Is the law sin? Let it not be so! But I do not know sin, except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting, unless the law said: “You shall not covet.”	7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
8 But sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.	8 But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead.
9 Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived,	9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died;
10 and I died. And the commandment, which was unto life, was itself found to be unto death for me.	10 the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me.
11 For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me.	11 For sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me.
12 And so, the law itself is indeed holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.	12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Then was what is good made into death for me? Let it not be so! But rather sin, in order that it might be known as sin by what is good, wrought death in me; so that sin, through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure.	13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin.	14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what I do.	15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good.	16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
17 But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me.	17 So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
18 For I know that what is good does not live within me, that is, within my flesh. For the willingness to do good lies close to me, but the carrying out of that good, I cannot reach.	18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
19 For I do not do the good that I want to do. But instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.	19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
20 Now if I do what I am not willing to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but the sin which lives within me.	20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
21 And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me.	21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man.	22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self,
23 But I perceive another law within my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me with the law of sin which is in my body.	23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.
24 Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?	24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord! Therefore, I serve the law of God with my own mind; but with the flesh, the law of sin.	25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.