1Brothers and sisters (for here I am addressing those that know the law), you surely know that the law only has authority over a man as long as he lives.
2A married woman is only bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, she is freed from the law that binds her him.
3So that, as long as her husband lives, she would be guilty of adultery by marrying another man; but if her husband is dead, she is free from that law; and is not an adulteress, if she marries another man.
4Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the power of the law when you died with Christ; and now you are united to the may belong to another –One Who was raised from the dead. And so we may now produce a harvest of good fruit (as we live) for God.
5For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful impulses, which were aroused by the law, were at work in us to produce a harvest of sinful deeds unto death.
6But now, by dying to what once bound us, we are freed from the law; that we may now serve in newness of the Holy Spirit, and not in the oldness of the law. In verses 7-10, Paul points out that the law that reveals our sinful impulses, in one sense, sins (fails, misses the mark) by its inability to subdue these impulses, (and in some cases, because of our perverse nature, its prohibition only serves to intensify the desire); nor does the law provide the mercy or grace needed for relief. Paul endeavors to make that point without disparaging the law or offending its adherents. The irony here is that many of religious leaders, in their zeal to defend the law, would without hesitation stone, or otherwise severely punish, anyone who would dare to criticize the law; but that zeal far outweighs their own zeal to faithfully obey God’s law.
7What shall we say then? Is the law sinful? Absolutely not! And yet I would never have known what sin is, if not for the law. For example: I would not have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, ‘Thou shalt not covet’.
8But sin, bolstered by the prohibition of the commandment, produced in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, that sin had little appeal to me.
9For I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died.
10And I found that the very commandment that was meant to bring life, actually brought death.
11For sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me, and used those commands to kill me (separate me from God).
12But still, the law, itself, is holy, and its commands are holy, just, and good.
13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? God forbid. But sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation, so that sin might be exposed for what it is; it used God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
14For we know that the law is spiritual and good; the problem is with me, because I am carnal, a slave to sin.
15For I do not understand my own behavior: for what I want to do, I do not do; but instead, I do what I hate.
16If, then, I know that what I am doing is wrong, it just shows that I agree that the law is good.
17So, then, it is no more I that does wrong, but sin that lives within me that does it.
18For I know that within me (that is, in my flesh), no good thing resides; for while the will to do right is present with me; I do not find within me the ability to do right.
19For the good that I would like to do, I fail to do; but the evil which I do not want to do, that is what I do.
20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I that does it, but rather, the sin that dwells within me.
21And so I find this principle of life: that, when I would do good, evil is right there with me.
22For in my inner man (being), I delight in the law of God;
23But I see (sense) another law in me, that wars against the law of my mind, holding me captive to the law of sin that is at work within me.
24Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall rescue me from this body prone to sin and death?
25I thank God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So, then, within my mind I delight in serving the law of God; but within the flesh, the law of sin yet remains. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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