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Romans 7 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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No Longer Bound to the Law
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:1 - Now, dear brothers and sisters[fn]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living?
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:2 - For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:3 - So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:4 - So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:5 - When we were controlled by our old nature,[fn] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:6 - But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
God’s Law Reveals Our Sin
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:7 - Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:8 - But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:9 - At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:10 - and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:11 - Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:12 - But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:13 - But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
Struggling with Sin
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:14 - So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:15 - I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:16 - But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:17 - So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:18 - And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[fn] I want to do what is right, but I can’t.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:19 - I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:20 - But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:21 - I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:22 - I love God’s law with all my heart.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:23 - But there is another power[fn] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 7:24 - Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Unchecked Copy BoxRom 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.
NLT Footnotes
Greek brothers; also in 7:4.
Greek When we were in the flesh.
Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21.
Greek my flesh; also in 7:25.
Greek law; also in 7:23b.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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