1 C hristian 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.

Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth?

2 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.

For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband.

3 I f 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.

So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man.

4 M y 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.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.

5 W hen 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,

For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

6 b ut 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.

But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

7 T hen 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.”

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet:

8 T he 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.

but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead.

9 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.

And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died;

10 T he Law was supposed to give me new life. Instead, it gave me death.

and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death:

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

for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me.

12 T he Law is holy. Each one of the Laws is holy and right and good.

So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.

13 T hen 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.

Did then that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; --that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.

14 W e 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.

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

15 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.

For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do.

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

But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.

17 S o I am not doing it. Sin living in me is doing it.

So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

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

For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.

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

For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.

20 I f 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.

But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

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

I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.

22 M y mind and heart agree with the Law of God.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 B ut 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.

but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

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

Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

25 G od’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!

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.