1 ¶ Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to those that know the law), that the law has dominion over a man only as long as he lives?

Christian brothers, I am sure you understand what I am going to say. You know all about the Law. The Law has power over a man as long as he lives.

2 F or the woman who is subject to a husband is obligated to the law so long as the husband lives; but if the husband dies, she is free from the law of the husband.

A married woman is joined by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if he dies, she is free from the law that joined her to him.

3 S o then if, while her husband lives, she belongs to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress if she belongs to another man.

If she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is sinning by not being faithful in marriage. If her husband dies, she is free from the law that joined her to him. After that she can marry someone else. She does not sin if she marries another man.

4 L ikewise ye also, my brethren, are become dead to the law in the body of the Christ that ye should belong to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

My Christian brothers, that is the way it is with you. You were under the power of the Law. But now you are dead to it because you are joined to another. You are joined to Christ Who was raised from the dead. This is so we may be what God wants us to be. Our lives are to give fruit for Him.

5 F or while we were in the flesh, the affections of the sins which were by the law worked in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

When we lived to please our bodies, those sinful desires were pulling at us all the time. We always wanted to do what the Law said not to do. Living that kind of life brings death,

6 B ut now we are free from the law of death in which we were held, that we might serve in newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

but now we are free from the Law. We are dead to sin that once held us in its power. No longer do we follow the Law which is the old way. We now follow the new way, the way of the Spirit.

7 ¶ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? No, in no wise. But, I did not know sin except by the law; for neither would I have known lust if the law did not say, Thou shalt not covet.

Then what are we saying? Is the Law sinful? No, not at all! But it was the Law that showed me what sin is. I did not know it was sin to follow wrong desires, but the Law said, “You must not follow wrong desires.”

8 T hen sin, when there was occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of lust. For without the law sin was as if it were dormant.

The Law made me know how much I was sinning. It showed me how I had a desire for all kinds of things. For without the Law, sin is dead.

9 S o that without the law I lived for some time; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

I was once alive. That was when I did not know what the Law said I had to do. Then I found that I had broken the Law. I knew I was a sinner. Death was mine because of the Law.

10 A nd I found that the same commandment, which was unto life, was mortal unto me.

The Law was supposed to give me new life. Instead, it gave me death.

11 F or sin, having had occasion, deceived me by the commandment and by it killed me.

Sin found a way to trap me by working through the Law. Then sin killed me by using the Law.

12 S o the law is truly holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

The Law is holy. Each one of the Laws is holy and right and good.

13 W as then that which is good made death unto me? No, in no wise. But sin, to show itself sin by that which is good, worked death in me, making sin exceedingly sinful by the commandment.

Then does it mean that the Law, which is good, brought death to me? No, not at all! It was sin that did it. Sin brought death to me by the Law that is good. In that way, sin was shown to be what it is. So because of the Law, sin becomes much more sinful.

14 ¶ For we now know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold unto subjection by sin.

We know that the Law is right and good, but I am a person who does what is wrong and bad. I am not my own boss. Sin is my boss.

15 F or that which I do, I do not understand, and not even the good that I desire is what I do; but what I hate, that is what I do.

I do not understand myself. I want to do what is right but I do not do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate.

16 I f then I do that which I do not desire, I approve that the law is good.

When I do the thing I do not want to do, it shows me that the Law is right and good.

17 S o that it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.

So I am not doing it. Sin living in me is doing it.

18 A nd I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing; for I have the desire, but I am not able to perform that which is good.

I know there is nothing good in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do good but I do not.

19 F or I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not desire, that I do.

I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I am always doing the sinful things I do not want to do.

20 A nd if I do that which I do not desire, I am not working, but sin that dwells in me.

If I am always doing the very thing I do not want to do, it means I am no longer the one who does it. It is sin that lives in me.

21 S o that, desiring to do good, I find this law: evil is natural unto me.

This has become my way of life: When I want to do what is right, I always do what is wrong.

22 F or I delight with the law of God with the inward man,

My mind and heart agree with the Law of God.

23 b ut I see another law in my members which rebels against the law of my mind, bringing captive unto the law of sin which is in my members.

But there is a different law at work deep inside of me that fights with my mind. This law of sin holds me in its power because sin is still in me.

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

There is no happiness in me! Who can set me free from my sinful old self?

25 T he grace of God, by Jesus, the Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

God’s Law has power over my mind, but sin still has power over my sinful old self. I thank God I can be free through Jesus Christ our Lord!