Outline
- I
ntroduction (1:1-15) Theme: Righteousness from God (1:16-17)The Unrighteousness of All People (1:18;3:20)Righteousness Imputed: Justification (3:21;5:21)- Righteousness Imparted: Sanctification (chs. 6-8)
Freedom from Sin's Tyranny (ch. 6)- Freedom from the Law's Condemnation (ch. 7)
Life in the Power of the Holy Spirit (ch. 8)God's Righteousness Vindicated: The Justice of His Way with Israel (chs. 9-11)Righteousness Practiced (12:1;15:13)Conclusion (15:14-33)Commendation, Greetings and Doxology (ch. 16)
Romans 7
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters —you who
are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a
person is living?
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.
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.
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.
5 When we were controlled by our old
nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil
desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
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.
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.”
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.
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,
10 and I died. So I discovered that the
law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death
instead.
11 Sin took advantage of those commands and
deceived me; it used the commands to kill me.
12 But still, the law itself is holy, and
its commands are holy and right and good.
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.
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.
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.
16 But if I know that what I am doing is
wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is
sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in
me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I
can’t.
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.
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.
21 I have discovered this principle of
life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
22 I love God’s law with all my
heart.
23 But there is another power within me
that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me.
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who
will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
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.
