Romans 7:7-25
The
Law and Sin
7 "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, seizing the opportunity
afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For
apart from the law, sin was dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from the
law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment
that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 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, righteous and good.
13 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 unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For
what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to
do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself
who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 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 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 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 this law at
work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I
delight in GOD’s
law;
23 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 What a wretched man I am! Who will
rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 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.”
