Rom.7.7

But I can hear you say, "If the law code was as bad as all that, it's no better than sin itself." That's certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, "You shall not covet," I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

Rom.7.7

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

Rom.7.7

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."

Rom.7.7

Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is evil? Of course not! The law is not sinful, but it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

Rom.7.8

Don't you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of "forbidden fruit" out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless,

Rom.7.8

But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.

Rom.7.8

But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

Rom.7.8

But sin took advantage of this law and aroused all kinds of forbidden desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power.

Rom.7.9

and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it.

Rom.7.9

Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Rom.7.9

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

Rom.7.9

I felt fine when I did not understand what the law demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die.

Rom.7.10

The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong.

Rom.7.10

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

Rom.7.10

And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

Rom.7.10

So the good law, which was supposed to show me the way of life, instead gave me the death penalty.

Rom.7.11

So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead.

Rom.7.11

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

Rom.7.11

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Rom.7.11

Sin took advantage of the law and fooled me; it took the good law and used it to make me guilty of death.

Rom.7.12

But the law code itself is God's good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.

Rom.7.12

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

Rom.7.12

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Rom.7.12

But still, the law itself is holy and right and good.

Rom.7.13

I can already hear your next question: "Does that mean I can't even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?" No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God's good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

Rom.7.13

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

Rom.7.13

Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

Rom.7.13

But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my doom? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commandment for its own evil purposes.

Rom.7.14

I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself--after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison.

Rom.7.14

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

Rom.7.14

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Rom.7.14

The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master.

Rom.7.15

What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise.

Rom.7.15

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Rom.7.15

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

Rom.7.15

I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate.

Rom.7.16

So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

Rom.7.16

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

Rom.7.16

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

Rom.7.16

I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good.

Rom.7.17

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!

Rom.7.17

As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Rom.7.17

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Rom.7.17

But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.

Rom.7.18

I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it.

Rom.7.18

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

Rom.7.18

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

Rom.7.18

I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't.

Rom.7.19

I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway.

Rom.7.19

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

Rom.7.19

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

Rom.7.19

When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.

Rom.7.20

My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

Rom.7.20

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.

Rom.7.20

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Rom.7.20

But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it.

Rom.7.21

It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.

Rom.7.21

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

Rom.7.21

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

Rom.7.21

It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

Rom.7.22

I truly delight in God's commands,

Rom.7.22

For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

Rom.7.22

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

Rom.7.22

I love God's law with all my heart.

Rom.7.23

but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

Rom.7.23

but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Rom.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.

Rom.7.23

But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Rom.7.24

I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

Rom.7.24

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Rom.7.24

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Rom.7.24

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?

Rom.7.25

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

Rom.7.25

Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Rom.7.25

I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Rom.7.25

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.