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.

Are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to those knowing law,) that law rules over a man as long as he lives?

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 married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear 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, the husband being alive, she shall be called an adulteress if she be to another man; but if the husband should die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, though she be 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.

So that, my brethren, ye also have been made dead to the law by the body of the Christ, to be to another, who has been raised up from among dead, in order that we might bear fruit to 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 passions of sins, which by the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit to 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 are clear from the law, having died in that in which we were held, so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of 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? the law sin? Far be the thought. But I had not known sin, unless by law: for I had not had conscience also of lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust;

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, getting a point of attack by the commandment, wrought in me every lust; for without law sin 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.

But I was alive without law once; but the commandment having come, sin revived, but I died.

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

And the commandment, which for life, was found, to me, itself 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, getting a point of attack by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew.

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

So that the law indeed holy, and the commandment holy, and just, 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 to me? Far be the thought. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death to me by that which is good; in order that sin by the commandment 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 fleshly, 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 do not own: for not what I will, this I do; but what I hate, this I practise.

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 do not will, this I practise, I consent to the law that right.

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

Now then no longer I do it, but the sin that dwells 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, good does not dwell: for to will is there with me, but to do right 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 I do not practise the good that I will; but the evil I do not will, that I do.

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 do not will, this I practise, no longer I do it, but the sin that dwells 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 upon me who will to practise what is right, that with me evil is there.

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

For I delight in the law of God according to 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 another law in my members, warring in opposition to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which exists in my members.

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

O wretched man that I! who shall deliver me out of this body of 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 myself with the mind serve God's law; but with the flesh sin's law.