Romans 7 Parallel Bible Translations

Romans 7 ▼
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1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction [to rule] over a person as long as he lives? Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 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?
2 For the married woman [as an example] is bound and remains bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if her husband dies, she is released and exempt from the law concerning her husband. For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 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.
3 Accordingly, she will be designated as an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law [regarding marriage], so that she is not an adulteress if she marries another man. 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. 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.
4 Therefore, my fellow believers, you too died to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. Likewise, my brothers, you also 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. 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.
5 When we were living in the flesh [trapped by sin], the sinful passions, which were awakened by [that which] the Law [identifies as sin], were at work in our body to bear fruit for death [since the willingness to sin led to death and separation from God]. For 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. 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.
6 But now we have been released from the Law and its penalty, having died [through Christ] to that by which we were held captive, so that we serve [God] in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter [of the Law]. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 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.
7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, if it had not been for the Law, I would not have recognized sin. For I would not have known [for example] about coveting [what belongs to another, and would have had no sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 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.”
8 But sin, finding an opportunity through the commandment [to express itself] produced in me every kind of coveting and selfish desire. For without the Law sin is dead [the recognition of sin is inactive]. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
9 I was once alive without [knowledge of] the Law; but when the commandment came [and I understood its meaning], sin became alive and I died [since the Law sentenced me to death]. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 And the very commandment which was intended to bring life, actually proved to bring death for me. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, beguiled and completely deceived me, and using it as a weapon killed me [separating me from God]. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good [the Law], then become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, in order that it might be revealed as sin, was producing death in me by [using] this good thing [as a weapon], so that through the commandment sin would become exceedingly sinful. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing 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. 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.
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control]. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent). Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 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.
19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 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.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 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.
21 So I find it to be the law [of my inner self], that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For I joyfully delight in the law of God in my inner self [with my new nature], For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
23 but I see a different law and rule of action in the members of my body [in its appetites and desires], waging war against the law of my mind and subduing me and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is within my members. but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 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.
24 Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]? Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 Thanks be to God [for my deliverance] through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind serve the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness, my sinful capacity—I serve] the law of sin. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 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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