Romans 7 (NET)

The Believer’s Relationship to the Law

1 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters1 (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person2 as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her3 husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.4 3 So then,5 if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her6 husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 So, my brothers and sisters,7 you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.8 5 For when we were in the flesh,9 the sinful desires,10 aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body11 to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died12 to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.13

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I14 would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else15 if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”16 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.17 For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive 10 and I died. So18 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!19 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.20 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? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual – but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.21 15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate.22 16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good.23 17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it.24 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.

21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be25 to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then,26 I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but27 with my flesh I serve28 the law of sin.

1tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13. 2sn Here person refers to a human being. 3tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215). 4tn Grk “husband.”sn Paul’s example of the married woman and the law of the marriage illustrates that death frees a person from obligation to the law. Thus, in spiritual terms, a person who has died to what controlled us (v. 6) has been released from the law to serve God in the new life produced by the Spirit. 5tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing. 6tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215). 7tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13. 8tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.” 9tn That is, before we were in Christ. 10tn Or “sinful passions.” 11tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning. 12tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apoqanonte") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle. 13tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” 14sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9). 15tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.” 16sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21. 17tn Or “covetousness.” 18tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not. 19tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.” 20tn Or “and through it killed me.” 21tn Grk “under sin.” 22tn Grk “but what I hate, this I do.” 23tn Grk “I agree with the law that it is good.” 24tn Grk “For to wish is present in/with me, but not to do it.” 25tc ‡ Most mss (א* A 1739 1881 Ï sy) read “I give thanks to God” rather than “Now thanks be to God” (א¹ [B] Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), the reading of NA²⁷. The reading with the verb (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ, eucaristw tw qew) possibly arose from a transcriptional error in which several letters were doubled (TCGNT 455). The conjunction δέ (de, “now”) is included in some mss as well (א¹ Ψ 33 81 104 365 1506 pc), but it should probably not be considered original. The ms support for the omission of δέ is both excellent and widespread (א* A B D 1739 1881 Ï lat sy), and its addition can be explained as an insertion to smooth out the transition between v. 24 and 25. 26tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing. 27tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English. 28tn The words “I serve” have been repeated here for clarity.