Romans 7:21
New International Version
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

New Living Translation
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

English Standard Version
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

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

Berean Literal Bible
So I find the principle in my desiring to do good, that evil is present with me.

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

New King James Version
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

New American Standard Bible
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

NASB 1995
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

NASB 1977
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

Legacy Standard Bible
I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good.

Amplified Bible
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.

Christian Standard Bible
So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me.

American Standard Version
I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I find, therefore, a law agreeing with my conscience which wants to do good, because evil is near me.

Contemporary English Version
The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me.

English Revised Version
I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So I've discovered this truth: Evil is present with me even when I want to do what God's standards say is good.

Good News Translation
So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have.

International Standard Version
So I find this to be a principle: when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me.

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

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

New American Bible
So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.

NET Bible
So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.

New Revised Standard Version
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

New Heart English Bible
I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

Webster's Bible Translation
I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Weymouth New Testament
I find therefore the law of my nature to be that when I desire to do what is right, evil is lying in ambush for me.

World English Bible
I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present.

Young's Literal Translation
I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Struggling with Sin
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.…

Cross References
Romans 7:23
But 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.

Romans 7:25
Thanks 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.

Romans 8:2
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.


Treasury of Scripture

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

a law.

Romans 7:23
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.

Romans 6:12,14
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof…

Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

evil.

2 Chronicles 30:18,19
For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one …

Psalm 19:12
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

Psalm 40:12
For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

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Romans 7
1. No law has power over a man longer than he lives.
4. But we are dead to the law.
7. Yet is not the law sin;
12. but holy, just and good;
16. as I acknowledge, who am grieved because I cannot keep it.














(21) I find then a law.--Of the many ways of taking this difficult verse, two seem to stand out as most plausible or possible. In any case "a law" should be rather "the law." This is taken by the majority of commentators, including Bishop Ellicott, in the sense of "rule," "habitually-repeated fact." "I find this law, or this rule, that when I would do good evil is present with me." Such is my constant and regular experience. The objection to this interpretation is that it gives to the word "law" an entirely different sense from that which it bears in the context, or in any other part of St. Paul's writings. The other view is that which is maintained by Dr. Vaughan. According to this we should have to assume an anacoluthon. The Apostle begins the sentence as if he were going to say, "I find therefore the Law (the Mosaic law), when I desire to do good, unable to help me;" but he changes somewhat the form of the sentence in the latter portion, and instead of saying "I find the Law unable to help me," he says, "I find that evil is at my side." "To me" is also repeated a second time, in the Greek superfluously, for the sake of greater clearness. Or perhaps a still simpler and better explanation would be that the Apostle had intended in the first instance to say, "I find the Law, when I wish to do good, putting evil before me," and then shrank (as in Romans 7:7) from using so harsh an expression, and softened it by turning the latter half of the sentence into a passive instead of an active form--"I find the Law, when I wish to do good--that evil is put before me."



Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
So
ἄρα (ara)
Conjunction
Strong's 686: Then, therefore, since. Probably from airo; a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive.

[this is] the
τὸν (ton)
Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

principle
νόμον (nomon)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551: From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.

I have discovered:
Εὑρίσκω (Heuriskō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2147: A prolonged form of a primary heuro, which heureo is used for it in all the tenses except the present and imperfect to find.

When I
ἐμοὶ (emoi)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

want
θέλοντι (thelonti)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

to do
ποιεῖν (poiein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

good,
καλὸν (kalon)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2570: Properly, beautiful, but chiefly good, i.e. Valuable or virtuous.

evil
κακὸν (kakon)
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2556: Bad, evil, in the widest sense. Apparently a primary word; worthless, i.e. depraved, or injurious.

is right there with
παράκειται (parakeitai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3873: To be at hand, be present with, rest with. From para and keimai; to lie near, i.e. Be at hand.

me.
ἐμοὶ (emoi)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.


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NT Letters: Romans 7:21 I find then the law that (Rom. Ro)
Romans 7:20
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