1 P uesto que hablo con quienes conocen la ley, les pregunto: ¿Acaso ignoran, hermanos, que la ley ejerce poder sobre alguien mientras esa persona vive?

Do you not know, brethren—for I am speaking to men who are acquainted with the Law—that legal claims have power over a person only for as long as he is alive?

2 P or ejemplo, por la ley una mujer casada está sujeta a su marido mientras éste vive; pero si el marido muere, ella queda libre de la ley que la sujetaba a él.

For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed and discharged from the law concerning her husband.

3 A sí que, si ella se une a otro hombre mientras su marido vive, comete adulterio, pero si su marido muere, ella queda libre de esa ley; de modo que, si se une a otro hombre, no comete adulterio.

Accordingly, she will be held an adulteress if she unites herself to another man while her husband lives. But if her husband dies, the marriage law no longer is binding on her; and if she unites herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.

4 A sí también ustedes, hermanos míos, por medio del cuerpo de Cristo han muerto a la ley, para pertenecer a otro, al que resucitó de los muertos, a fin de que demos fruto para Dios.

Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law through the body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.

5 P orque mientras vivíamos en la carne, las pasiones pecaminosas estimuladas por la ley actuaban en nuestros miembros y producían frutos que llevan a la muerte.

When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by the Law were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.

6 P ero ahora que hemos muerto a su dominio, estamos libres de la ley, y de ese modo podemos servir en la vida nueva del Espíritu y no bajo el viejo régimen de la letra. El pecado que mora en mí

But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under the old code of written regulations, but of the Spirit in newness.

7 ¿ Concluiremos entonces que la ley es pecado? ¡De ninguna manera! Sin embargo, de no haber sido por la ley, yo no hubiera conocido el pecado; porque si la ley no dijera: «No codiciarás», tampoco yo habría sabido lo que es codiciar.

What then do we conclude? Is the Law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning. I would not have known about covetousness if the Law had not said, You shall not covet and have an evil desire.

8 P ero el pecado se aprovechó del mandamiento y despertó en mí toda clase de codicia, porque sin la ley el pecado está muerto.

But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead.

9 E n un tiempo, yo vivía sin la ley, pero cuando vino el mandamiento, el pecado cobró vida y yo morí.

Once I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death).

10 E ntonces me di cuenta de que el mismo mandamiento que debía darme vida, me llevó a la muerte,

And the very legal ordinance which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved death.

11 p orque el pecado se aprovechó del mandamiento y me engañó, y por medio de él me mató.

For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it, killed me.

12 P odemos decir, entonces, que la ley es santa, y que el mandamiento es santo, justo y bueno.

The Law therefore is holy, and commandment is holy and just and good.

13 P ero entonces, ¿lo que es bueno, se convirtió en muerte para mí? ¡De ninguna manera! Más bien el pecado, para demostrar que es pecado, produjo en mí la muerte por medio de lo que es bueno, a fin de que por medio del mandamiento llegara a ser extremadamente pecaminoso.

Did that which is good then prove fatal to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing, in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.

14 S abemos que la ley es espiritual. Pero yo soy un simple ser carnal, que ha sido vendido como esclavo al pecado.

We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh, having been sold into slavery under sin.

15 N o entiendo qué me pasa, pues no hago lo que quiero, sino lo que aborrezco.

For I do not understand my own actions. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe '> which my moral instinct condemns].

16 Y si hago lo que no quiero hacer, compruebo entonces que la ley es buena.

Now if I do what is contrary to my desire, I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it.

17 D e modo que no soy yo quien hace aquello, sino el pecado que habita en mí.

However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin which is at home in me and has possession of me.

18 Y o sé que en mí, esto es, en mi naturaleza humana, no habita el bien; porque el desear el bien está en mí, pero no el hacerlo.

For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it.

19 P orque no hago el bien que quiero, sino el mal que no quiero.

For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am doing.

20 Y si hago lo que no quiero, ya no soy yo quien lo hace, sino el pecado que habita en mí.

Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it, but the sin which dwells within me '> fixed and operating in my soul].

21 E ntonces, aunque quiero hacer el bien, descubro esta ley: que el mal está en mí.

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

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

For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self.

23 p ero encuentro que hay otra ley en mis miembros, la cual se rebela contra la ley de mi mente y me tiene cautivo a la ley del pecado que está en mis miembros.

But I discern in my bodily members '> in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs '> in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

24 ¡ Miserable de mí! ¿quién me librará de este cuerpo de muerte?

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

25 D oy gracias a Dios, por medio de nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Así que yo mismo, con la mente, sirvo a la ley de Dios, pero con la naturaleza humana sirvo a la ley del pecado.

O thank God! through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.