Romans · Catholic Public Domain Version
Romans 7 Catholic Public Domain Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
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 Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?
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 For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of 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 So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
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 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to 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 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to 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 have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
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 shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting unless the law had 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 occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived,
9 I was alive apart from the law once, 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 commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death;
11 For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me.
11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
12 And so, the law itself is indeed holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, 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 then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, was producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, 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 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
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 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
17 But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in 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 in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.
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 the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
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 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me.
21 I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
22 For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man.
22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward person,
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 a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
24 Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this 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 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, sin’s law.
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Romans 6:14; Romans 7:6; Romans 6:3; Proverbs 6:23; Romans 10:1
- 2 Genesis 2:23–24; 1 Corinthians 7:4; 1 Corinthians 7:39; Numbers 30:7–8
- 3 Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:32; Mark 10:6–12; 1 Timothy 5:11–14; John 8:3–5
- 4 1 Peter 2:24; Galatians 5:22–23; Isaiah 54:5; Ephesians 5:23–27; Romans 8:2
- 5 Ephesians 2:3; Galatians 5:16–17; Galatians 5:24; Galatians 3:10; Romans 6:13
- 6 Galatians 3:23–25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Romans 7:4; Romans 6:4; Galatians 2:19–20
- 7 Romans 3:20; Romans 4:15; Exodus 20:17; 1 Corinthians 15:56; Deuteronomy 5:21
- 8 Romans 7:11; 1 Corinthians 15:56; Romans 4:15; James 1:14–15; Romans 7:13
- 9 Galatians 3:10; Romans 8:7; Romans 7:4; James 2:10–11; Galatians 2:19
- 10 Leviticus 18:5; 2 Corinthians 3:7; Galatians 3:12; Romans 10:5; Ezekiel 20:21
- 11 Genesis 3:13; Romans 7:8; Jeremiah 17:9; Hebrews 3:13; James 1:26
- 12 1 Timothy 1:8; Psalm 119:137; Psalm 19:7–12; Romans 7:14; Psalm 119:172
- 13 James 1:13–15; Galatians 3:21; Romans 8:3; Romans 7:8–11; Romans 5:20
- 14 1 Kings 21:25; 2 Kings 17:17; Isaiah 52:3; 1 Kings 21:20; Romans 7:18
- 15 Galatians 5:17; Romans 7:19–20; Ecclesiastes 7:20; James 3:2; Nahum 1:7
- 16 Romans 7:12; 1 Timothy 1:8; Romans 7:14; Romans 7:22; Psalm 119:127–128
- 17 Romans 7:20; Romans 7:18; Philippians 3:8–9; James 4:5–6; Romans 4:7–8
- 18 John 3:6; Psalm 51:5; Galatians 5:17; Psalm 119:115–117; Romans 7:25
- 19 Romans 7:15
- 20 Romans 7:17
- 21 Ephesians 6:11–13; Romans 8:2; Romans 6:14; Romans 7:23; Romans 6:12
- 22 Psalm 1:2; Psalm 40:8; Psalm 119:35; Psalm 119:47–48; Hebrews 8:10
- 23 Galatians 5:17; James 4:1; Romans 8:2; Romans 6:19; Romans 7:25
- 24 Romans 6:6; 2 Timothy 4:18; Titus 2:14; Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 12:7–9
- 25 Galatians 5:17–24; Colossians 3:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; 1 Peter 2:5; Romans 6:17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
After having said that great evils had taken place, and that sin, taking occasion by the commandment, had grown stronger, and the opposite of what the Law mainly aimed at had been the result, and after having thrown the hearer into a great deal of perplexity, he goes on next to give the rationale of these events, after first clearing …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
… sign of our salvation, since it was the Lord Himself who saved them, because they could not be saved by their own instrumentality; and, therefore, when Paul sets forth human infirmity, he says: "For I know that there dwelleth in my flesh no good thing," showing that the "good thing" of our salvation is not from us, but from God.
For though a man "delight in the law of God after the inward man," what shall he do with that other law in his members which warreth against the law of his mind, and bringeth him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
The Devil had used the flesh as an instrument against us; and Paul knowing this, saith, But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity, and the rest.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
And again: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Then he introduces the Deliverer, [saying,] "The grace of Jesus Christ our Lord." And Isaiah declares this also, [when he says:] "Be ye strengthened, ye hands that hang down, and ye feeble knees; be ye encouraged, ye feeble-minded; be comforted, fear not: behold, …