1 ¶ ¿O ignoráis, hermanos (hablo con los que saben la ley), que la ley solamente se enseñorea del hombre entre tanto que vive?

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

2 P orque la mujer que está sujeta a marido, mientras el marido vive está obligada a la ley; mas muerto el marido, ella es libre de la ley del marido.

For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

3 A sí que, viviendo el marido, se llamará adúltera si fuere de otro varón; mas si su marido muriere, es libre de la ley (del marido); de tal manera que no será adúltera si fuere de otro marido.

So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

4 A sí también vosotros, hermanos míos, sois muertos a la ley en el cuerpo del Cristo, para que seáis de otro, del que resucitó de los muertos, para que fructifiquemos a Dios.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

5 P orque mientras vivíamos en la carne, los afectos de los pecados que eran por la ley, obraban en nuestros miembros fructificando a muerte.

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

6 P ero ahora somos libres de la ley de la muerte en la cual estábamos detenidos, para que sirvamos en novedad de Espíritu, y no en vejez de letra.

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Sin’s Advantage in the Law

7 ¶ ¿Qué pues diremos? ¿La ley es pecado? En ninguna manera. Pero yo no conocí el pecado sino por la ley; porque (tampoco) conocería la concupiscencia, si la ley no dijera: No codiciarás.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

8 E ntonces el pecado, cuando hubo ocasión, obró en mí por el mandamiento toda concupiscencia. Porque sin la ley el pecado estaba como adormecido.

But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

9 A sí que, yo sin la ley vivía por algún tiempo; mas venido el mandamiento, el pecado revivió, y yo morí;

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

10 y hallé que el mismo mandamiento, que era para vida, para mí era mortal;

And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

11 p orque el pecado, habida ocasión, me engañó por el mandamiento, y por él me mató.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

12 D e manera que la ley a la verdad es santa, y el mandamiento santo, y justo, y bueno.

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Law Cannot Save from Sin

13 ¿ Luego lo que es bueno, a mí me es hecho muerte? No; sino el pecado, que para mostrarse pecado por lo bueno, me obró la muerte, haciéndose pecado sobremanera pecaminoso por el mandamiento.

Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

14 ¶ Porque ya sabemos que la ley es espiritual; mas yo soy carnal, vendido a sujeción del pecado.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 P orque lo que cometo, no lo entiendo; y ni el (bien) que quiero, hago; antes lo que aborrezco, aquello hago.

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

16 Y si lo que no quiero, esto hago, apruebo que la ley es buena.

If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

17 D e manera que ya yo no obro aquello, sino el pecado que mora en mí.

But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

18 Y yo sé que en mí (es a saber, en mi carne) no mora el bien, porque tengo el querer, mas efectuar el bien no lo alcanzo.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

19 P orque no hago el bien que quiero; pero el mal que no quiero, éste hago.

For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

20 Y si hago lo que no quiero, ya no obro yo, sino el pecado que mora en mí.

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 A sí que, queriendo yo hacer el bien, hallo esta ley: Que el mal me es propio.

I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22 P orque con el hombre interior, me deleito con la ley de Dios;

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

23 m as veo otra ley en mis miembros, que se rebela contra la ley de mi mente, y que me lleva cautivo a la ley del pecado que está en mis miembros.

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.

24 ¡ Miserable hombre de mí! ¿Quién me librará del cuerpo de esta muerte?

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25 L a gracia de Dios, por Jesús, el Cristo, Señor nuestro. Así que, yo mismo con la mente sirvo a la ley de Dios, pero con la carne a la ley del pecado.

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.