Romans 7 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 An ignoratis, fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor), quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit?
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 Nam quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, soluta est a lege viri.
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 Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est a lege viri, ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.
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 Itaque fratres mei, et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi: ut sitis alterius, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificemus Deo.
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 Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quæ per legem erant, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti.
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 Nunc autem soluti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus, et non in vetustate litteræ.
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 Quid ergo dicemus? lex peccatum est? Absit. Sed peccatum non cognovi, nisi per legem: nam concupiscentiam nesciebam, nisi lex diceret: Non concupisces.
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 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.
8 But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
9 Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando: sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit.
9 I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 Ego autem mortuus sum: et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.
10 The commandment which was for life, this I found to be for death;
11 Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.
11 for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
12 Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum, et justum, et bonum.
12 Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.
13 Quod ergo bonum est, mihi factum est mors? Absit. Sed peccatum, ut appareat peccatum, per bonum operatum est mihi mortem: ut fiat supra modum peccans peccatum per mandatum.
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 Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
15 Quod enim operor, non intelligo: non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.
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 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.
16 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
17 Nunc autem jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Nam velle, adjacet mihi: perficere autem bonum, non invenio.
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 Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.
19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
20 Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.
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 Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adjacet:
21 I find then the law that, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
22 condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:
22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward person,
23 video autem aliam legem in membris meis, repugnantem legi mentis meæ, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quæ est in membris meis.
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 Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?
25 gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei: carne autem, legi peccati.
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, …