Romans

Paul's letter explaining salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and the importance of living a holy life.

Chapter 7

1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

*Do you not understand, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), how the law controls a person's life while they are alive?

2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

*A married woman must obey her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she is free from his rules and laws.

3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

*If a woman is married and alive when she marries another person, it's considered cheating. But if her first husband has passed away, she is free to remarry without being called an adulteress.

4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

*So, brothers and sisters, you have stopped following the rules because of Christ's body. Now, you are joined with Him, who was brought back to life, so we can produce good things for God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

*When we used to live a sinful life, the desires of those sins, caused by the laws, made us do things that led to death.

6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

*But now, we're free from the rules that once controlled us, since they caused our spiritual death. Now, we serve with a fresh spirit, not by following old written rules strictly.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

*So, what can we say about this? The law isn't sinful. No way! I only understood what sin was because of the law. I didn't know about desire until the law told us not to covet.

8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

*But sin used the rule as an excuse to make me desire all kinds of wrong things. Because without the rule, sin didn't exist.

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

*Before the law, I lived, but when the commandments arrived, sin returned, and I died.

10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

*The rule meant for living actually led to death.

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

*Sin tricked me using the rule, and it led to my downfall.

12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

*Because the law is sacred, and the commandment is sacred, fair, and good.

13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

*Did goodness become death for me? No way. But sin used goodness to show itself as sin and cause death. This made sin even more wrong through the commandment.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

*We understand that the law is spiritual, but I am physical and controlled by sin.

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

*I don't let myself do bad things; I don't do the good things I want to; instead, I end up doing the bad things I hate.

16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

*If I do something I don't want to, I agree that the law says it's right.

17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

*Now, it's not me doing it anymore; it's the sin living inside me.

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

*I know that there's nothing good inside me, so I want to do good things, but I don't know how to actually do them.

19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

*I want to do good but can't; I do bad even though I don't want to.

20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

*If I act like that, it's not really me doing it; instead, it's the sin living within me.

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

*I discover a rule: whenever I try to do good, badness is also there with me.

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

*Because I really enjoy following God's rules from my heart:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

*I see a different law within me fighting against the law of my thoughts, and it captures me by making me follow the law of sin that's inside my body.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

*Oh, poor person that I am! Who can save me from this dying body?

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

*I am grateful to God because of Jesus. My mind helps me follow God's rules, but my body sometimes makes me follow sinful rules.

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