Romans 7

Paul explains that believers are dead to the law through the body of Christ, freed to serve in newness of spirit. He describes the inner struggle with sin: the law is holy and good, but sin dwelling in the flesh wages war against the mind, so that the good he would do he does not, and the evil he would not do he practices.

v	King James Version	Modern English
1	Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?	Do You not know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law has authority over a person only as long as He lives?
2	For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.	A married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as He lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
3	So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.	So if she joins with another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.
4	Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.	Likewise, my brothers, You also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that You may belong to another — to Him who was raised from the dead — that we might bear fruit for God.
5	For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.	When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
6	But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.	But now we have been released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
7	What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.	What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Not at all! I would not have known sin except through the law. I would not have known what it was to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
8	But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.	But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin is dead.
9	For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.	I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10	And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.	The very commandment that was meant to bring life proved to bring death to me.
11	For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.	Sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12	Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.	So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
13	Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.	Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? Not at all! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, so that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become extremely sinful.
14	For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.	We know that the law is spiritual. But I am fleshly, sold under sin.
15	For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.	I do not understand what I am doing. I do not do what I want to do, but I do what I hate.
16	If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.	If I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17	Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.	So it is no longer I who do it, but sin that lives in me.
18	For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.	I know that nothing good lives in me — that is, in my flesh. The desire to do good is present in me, but I cannot carry it out.
19	For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.	I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — I keep on doing it.
20	Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.	If I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me that does it.
21	I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.	So I find this law at work: whenever I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22	For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:	I delight in the law of God in my inner being,
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.	but I see another law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin that is at work in my members.
24	O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?	What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
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.	Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.