Romans 7 - Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

An Example From Marriage

7 Brothers and sisters, you all understand the Law of Moses. So surely you know that the law rules over people only while they are alive. 2 It’s like what the law says about marriage: A woman must stay married to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is made free from the law of marriage. 3 But if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if her husband dies, she is made free from the law of marriage. So if she marries another man after her husband dies, she is not guilty of adultery.

4 In the same way, my brothers and sisters, your old selves died and you became free from the law through the body of Christ. Now you belong to someone else. You belong to the one who was raised from death. We belong to Christ so that we can be used in service to God. 5 In the past we were ruled by our sinful selves. The law made us want to do sinful things. And those sinful desires controlled our bodies, so that what we did only brought us spiritual death. 6 In the past the law held us as prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way, not in the old way, with the written rules. Now we serve God in the new way, with the Spirit.

Our Fight Against Sin

7 You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin means. I would never have known it is wrong to want something that is not mine. But the law said, “You must not want what belongs to someone else.”[a] 8 And sin found a way to use that command and make me want all kinds of things that weren’t mine. So sin came to me because of the command. But without the law, sin has no power. 9 Before I knew the law, I was alive. But when I heard the law’s command, sin began to live, 10 and I died spiritually. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death. 11 Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me die.

12 Now the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. 13 Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No, it was sin that used the good command to bring me death. This shows how terrible sin really is. It can use a good command to produce a result that shows sin at its very worst.

The War Inside Us

14 We know that the law is spiritual, but I am not. I am so human. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. 15 I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate. 16 And if I don’t want to do what I do, that means I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one doing the evil. It is sin living in me that does it. 18 Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is not spiritual. I want to do what is good, but I don’t do it. 19 I don’t do the good that I want to do. I do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 So if I do what I don’t want to do, then I am not really the one doing it. It is the sin living in me that does it.

21 So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. 22 In my mind I am happy with God’s law. 23 But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. 24 What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? 25 I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin.

Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:7 Quote from Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21.

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Romans 7 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

7 Are ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth? 2 for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband; 3 so, then, the husband b...
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Romans 7 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

7 Brethren, whether ye know not; for I speak to men that know the law; for the law hath lordship in a man, as long time as he liveth? 2 For that woman that is under an husband, is bound to the law, while the husband liveth; but if her husband is dead, she is delivered from the law of the husband [so...
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Romans 7 - Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

7 My brothers, I am saying this to you people who know the law. Do you not know that the law is master over a person only while he lives? 2 A married woman belongs to her husband by law as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law that made her belong to her husband. 3 So i...
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Romans 7 - World English Bible (WEB)

7 Or don’t you know, brothers[a] (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 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 So then ...
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Romans 7 - The Voice (VOICE)

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Romans 7 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Two Laws at War7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I speak to those who know law), that the law is master over a person as long as he lives? 2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives; but if the husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husban...
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Romans 7 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

An Analogy from Marriage7 Do you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during his life? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the ...
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Romans 7 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

An Analogy from Marriage7 Do you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during his life? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies she is discharged from the law concerning the ...
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Romans 7 - Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)

7 Do you not know, brothers, (for I speak to those who know the Law) that the Law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who is in subjection to a man, is bound by the Law to the man, while he lives. But if the man is dead, she is released from the Law of the man. 3 So then...
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Romans 7 - New Testament for Everyone (NTE)

Dying to the Law7 Surely you know, my dear family – I am, after all, talking to people who know the law! – that the law rules a person as long as that person is alive? 2 The law binds a married woman to her husband during his lifetime; but if he dies, she is free from the law as regards her husband...
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Romans 7 - New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

An Analogy from Marriage7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is disch...
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Romans 7 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

An Analogy from Marriage7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters[a]—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during that person’s lifetime? 2 Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is disch...
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Romans 7 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

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