Passage

Romans 7

Book: Romans · NASB95

Key verses

NASB95 text pending. Anchor verses: Rom 7:14-15 ("the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate"), Rom 7:24 ("Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?"), and Rom 7:25 ("Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!").

Paul's argument from Romans 6:1 forward asks how the gospel relates to law, sin, and the believer's experience of moral struggle. Chapter 7 takes up the law and answers a sharpened version of the question: if the law produced sin's exposure and even sin's increase (5:20), is the law itself sin? Paul's answer is no; the law is holy, righteous, and good (7:12), but sin uses the law as a beachhead to provoke, magnify, and reveal itself. The chapter's notorious "I" passage in 7:14-25 then dramatizes the interior division of the unaided self under law: the will wants what is right, the flesh delivers what it hates, and the cry "wretched man that I am" climaxes in the Christ-mediated rescue of 7:25 and the freedom from condemnation of 8:1. Whose "I" this is, exactly, is one of the most-disputed exegetical questions in the New Testament: Augustine and the Reformers (Luther, Calvin) read it as the regenerate believer still wrestling with indwelling sin; the Greek Fathers, Erasmus, and many modern commentators (Moo, Dunn, Cranfield with qualifications) read it as the unregenerate person under law, viewed from Paul's Christian retrospect.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead. 9. And I was alive apart from the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; 10. and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death: 11. for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. 12. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. 13. 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. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15. 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. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. 18. 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. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise. 20. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. 21. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23. 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. Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? 25. 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." (Romans 7:1-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Or don’t you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? 2. For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. 3. So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. 4. Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God. 5. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring out fruit to death. 6. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn’t have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn’t have known coveting, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8. But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10. The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death; 11. for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12. Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. 13. Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by producing death in me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. 15. For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. 16. But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 17. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 18. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. 19. For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. 20. But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 21. I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 22. For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, 23. 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. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law." (Romans 7:1-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. ^{motions: Gr. passions} 6. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. ^{that being: or, being dead to that} 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. ^{lust: or, concupiscence} 8. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. 9. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. ^{allow: Gr. know} 16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23. 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ^{the body: or, this body of death} 25. 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." (Romans 7:1-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Are ye ignorant, brethren, for to those knowing law I speak, that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth? 2. for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband; 3. so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's. 4. So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God; 5. for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that [are] through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death; 6. and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter. 7. What, then, shall we say? the law [is] sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said: 8. 'Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness, for apart from law sin is dead. 9. And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died; 10. and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death; 11. for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay [me]; 12. so that the law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good. 13. That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command, 14. for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin; 15. for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do. 16. And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good, 17. and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me, 18. for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find, 19. for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise. 20. And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me. 21. I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present, 22. for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, 23. and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members. 24. A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? 25. I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin." (Romans 7:1-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: Christian believers in Rome, a mixed Jewish-Gentile congregation; Paul presses the question of law on hearers who include former synagogue adherents
Location: composed in Corinth during the three-month winter stay (Acts 20:3); carried to Rome by Phoebe (Rom 16:1)
Time period: c. AD 57, late in Paul's third missionary journey

Theological reading

The chapter opens with a marriage analogy (7:1-6): law binds a wife to her husband only while he lives, and the believer, having died with Christ, is now free to be "joined to another," the risen Lord. This sets up the question of 7:7 ("Is the Law sin?") with the categorical rejection ("May it never be!") and the dissection of how the holy commandment becomes a foothold for sin. Paul's example, the tenth commandment against coveting, makes the point sharp: the prohibition both names the disorder and inflames it. Sin, personified, "seized opportunity through the commandment" and "deceived me." The law thus diagnoses and even provokes; it does not save.

The crux is 7:14-25 and its identity question. The Augustinian/Reformed reading takes the present-tense verbs ("I am doing," "I delight in the Law of God") as Paul's current experience as a regenerate apostle wrestling with indwelling sin still resident in the flesh; this reading feeds into the Reformed simul iustus et peccator (simultaneously justified and sinner) and the Lutheran spiritual-struggle theology. The advantage is the present tense and the delight in God's law (which the unregenerate cannot have, per Rom 8:7). The disadvantage is that Romans 7's "wretched man" appears defeated under sin in a way that Romans 8:2 ("the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death") explicitly negates.

The patristic and revisionist reading (Origen, Chrysostom, Erasmus, Wesley, more recently Moo and N.T. Wright) takes the "I" as a rhetorical persona, Paul speaking either as Adam, or as ethnic Israel under Torah, or as the awakened-but-unconverted seeker, viewed from his Christian standpoint. The disjunction in 7:14-25 then describes the genuine but unaided moral struggle of life under law without the indwelling Spirit; 8:1-17 is the contrasting Christian reality. The advantage is the smooth flow into chapter 8 and the canonical parallel with Galatians 5:17 (flesh and Spirit warring in the believer is described, but never with the despairing "wretched" cry). The disadvantage is making the present-tense verbs dramatically rhetorical.

Pastorally, both readings agree on the practical upshot: the law cannot defeat sin; only Christ through the Spirit can. The chapter is therefore a foundational text for sanctification doctrine (Sanctification), for the Reformation's law-gospel distinction, and for any apologetic on the impotence of moralism. The "wretched man" cry is the necessary precondition of the gospel: until the depth of the disease is felt, the cure of 8:1 cannot be received. See Concupiscence for the doctrine of disordered desire that this passage anchors, and Sin for the doctrinal frame.

Key words

G0266 - hamartia, hamartia (Strong's G266). Also appears in: Matthew 1.21, Matthew 9.4-8, Matthew 12.31-32.
G1096 - ginomai, ginomai (Strong's G1096). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Matthew 5.17-18, Matthew 8.16.
G1097 - ginosko, ginosko (Strong's G1097). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Mark 4.11-12, Mark 6.
G1342 - dikaios, dikaios (Strong's G1342). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Matthew 9.13, Matthew 23.
G1453 - egeiro, egeiro (Strong's G1453). Also appears in: Matthew 8.26, Matthew 9.4-8, Matthew 17.1-8.
G1510 - eimi, eimi (Strong's G1510). Also appears in: Matthew 8.5-12, Matthew 14.22-33, Matthew 18.20.
G2198 - zao, zao (Strong's G2198). Also appears in: Matthew 16.16, Matthew 26.57-68, Mark 12.
G2222 - zoe, zoe (Strong's G2222). Also appears in: Matthew 7.13-14, Matthew 19, Matthew 25.46.
G2288 - thanatos, thanatos (Strong's G2288). Also appears in: Matthew 15, Matthew 16.28, Matthew 26.37-40.
G2316 - theos, theos (Strong's G2316). Also appears in: Matthew 1.23, Matthew 3.16, Matthew 5.9.
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous (Strong's G2424). Also appears in: Matthew 1.1, Matthew 1.16, Matthew 1.18.
G2673 - katargeo, katargeo (Strong's G2673). Also appears in: Luke 13.6-9, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Corinthians 13.
G2722 - katecho, katecho (Strong's G2722). Also appears in: Romans 1.18, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 15.
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios (Strong's G2962). Also appears in: Matthew 1.20, Matthew 1, Matthew 6.24.
G3498 - nekros, nekros (Strong's G3498). Also appears in: Matthew 23, Matthew 28.1-10, Mark 6.
G3551 - nomos, nomos (Strong's G3551). Also appears in: Matthew 5.17, Matthew 5.17-18, Matthew 22.37-40.
G3563 - nous, nous (Strong's G3563). Also appears in: Luke 24.45-46, Romans 1, Romans 11.
G3956 - pas, pas (Strong's G3956). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Matthew 2.1-6, Matthew 2.16.
G4151 - pneuma, pneuma (Strong's G4151). Also appears in: Matthew 1.18, Matthew 1.20, Matthew 3.16.
G4561 - sarx, sarx (Strong's G4561). Also appears in: Matthew 19, Matthew 26.41, Mark 14.
G4983 - soma, soma (Strong's G4983). Also appears in: Matthew 6.25-26, Matthew 10.28, Matthew 27.59-60.
G5547 - christos, christos (Strong's G5547). Also appears in: Matthew 1.1, Matthew 1.16, Matthew 1.

Theological themes

Law as diagnostic, not curative. The commandment exposes sin and even provokes it, but cannot defeat it; the law is "holy, righteous, and good" (7:12) yet powerless against the flesh.
Indwelling sin. "Sin that dwells in me" (7:17, 20) names a resident principle that wars against the renewed will; Paul personifies it as an internal adversary.
The divided self. The interior split between approving and doing, willing and accomplishing, is the moral phenomenon the chapter renders most acutely.
The "wretched man" cry as precondition. Felt impotence under law is the gate to the gospel rescue announced in 7:25 and 8:1; collapse the diagnosis and the cure becomes unintelligible.
Christ as deliverer. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" is the structural pivot from chapter 7 despair to chapter 8 freedom; the chapter exists to set up the contrast.

Cross-references

Galatians 5.17, "the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh," the canonical parallel to the inner conflict.
Romans 8.1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," the immediate resolution.
Romans 6.6, the old self crucified with Christ; the standing reality behind the experiential struggle of chapter 7.
Philippians 3.6, Paul's pre-Christian self-assessment as "blameless according to the righteousness which is in the Law," contrasted with the chapter 7 diagnosis.
1 Corinthians 15:56, "the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law," compresses chapter 7 into a single line.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.