1
Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over a person as long as that person lives?

2
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law that bound her to her husband.

3
So then, while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress if she becomes another man’s wife; but if her husband has died, she is free from that law, so that she is not an adulteress if she becomes another man’s wife.

4
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

5
For when we were still living in the flesh, the sinful passions, stirred up by the law, were at work in our members, so that we bore fruit for death.

6
But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to that which held us captive, so that we now serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

7
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting is, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

8
But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting; for apart from the law sin is dead.

9
I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life,

10
and I died. And the commandment that was meant to bring life, I found to bring death.

11
For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

12
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13
Did that which is good then become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be shown to be sin, it used what is good to bring death to me, so that through the commandment sin might become even more sinful.

14
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under the power of sin.

15
For I do not understand what I do. For I do not do what I want, but what I hate, that I do.

16
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.

17
Then it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

18
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good. For the desire is present in me, but not the doing of what is good.

19
For the good that I want, I do not do; but the evil that I do not want, that I practice.

20
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21
So I find this law: when I want to do what is good, evil is present with me.

22
For in my inner being I delight in the law of God,

23
but in my members I see another law at work, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.

24
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

25
Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. (7-26) So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

📖 Romans 7 – The Law and Sin: The Struggle Within

🧾 Summary of the Content

In Romans 7, Paul discusses the believer’s relationship to the law of Moses. He explains that, just as a wife is free to marry again after her husband dies, so we are free from the law after dying with Christ. Paul also reveals a deep inner conflict: the desire to do what is right, yet being bound by sin in the flesh. This describes the struggle of faith and humanity’s inability to obey fully without the help of Christ.

✨ Explanation by Section

1. Freed from the Law (Verses 1–6)

“Therefore, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ…” (Romans 7:4)

• The law binds a person as long as he lives, like the bond of marriage.
• In Christ, we have died to the law, so that we may live in the Spirit and bear fruit for God.
• The law makes us aware of sin, but does not give power to overcome it.

💡 Lesson: We are not justified or sanctified by the law, but by our relationship with Christ.

2. The Law Reveals Sin (Verses 7–13)

“So what shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not!” (Romans 7:7)

• The law is holy, but it opens our eyes to sin.
• For example: without the law “Do not covet,” we would not know that desire is wrong.
• Sin uses the law to tempt and destroy.
• The law is not evil; sin is evil and makes use of the law.

💡 Lesson: The law is a mirror, not soap — it shows the dirt, but it cannot cleanse it.

3. The Struggle Within (Verses 14–25)

“For what I want to do, I do not do; but what I hate, that I do.” (Romans 7:15)

• Paul describes an inner conflict: wanting to do good, but being unable.
• Sin still remains in the bodily life, even though the heart wants to please God.
• Within him, there are two laws: the law of God and the law of sin, which are in conflict with each other.
• Paul cries out: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The answer: Jesus Christ!

💡 Lesson: Without Christ, we keep losing the battle against sin. Only His grace gives victory.

📘 Main Teachings of Romans 7

1. Believers have died to the law and live in the Spirit.
2. The law is not sinful; it opens our eyes to sin.
3. Sin is very cunning and can use what is good (the law) for evil purposes.
4. There is an inner struggle in every believer: between the desire to obey and the weakness of the body.
5. Victory over sin does not come from self-effort, but from Jesus Christ.

✨ The Spiritual Meaning of Romans 7

Romans 7 is an honest picture of the inner reality of believers. Even though we have been saved, we still live in weak bodies. We desire what is good, yet often fail to do it. This is not a sign of failure in faith, but an awareness of the need for total surrender to Christ. Paul is showing that without Christ, human will remain trapped in a cycle of sin and only in Christ is there true freedom.