Romans 7 explores the believer's relationship to the law. Using a marriage analogy, Paul argues that death releases one from legal obligations — believers have died to the law through Christ's body to belong to the risen Christ. He then defends the law itself: the law is not sin, but sin used the law's commandment to provoke desire and bring death. The chapter's second half (vv. 14-25) contains Paul's famous description of inner conflict — wanting to do good but doing evil instead — culminating in the cry 'Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?'
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
The identity of the 'I' in verses 14-25 is one of the most debated questions in Pauline scholarship. Is Paul describing (1) his pre-conversion experience as a Jew under the law, (2) the ongoing struggle of the Christian believer, (3) Adam's fall, or (4) unregenerate humanity seen from a Christian perspective? The shift from past tense (vv. 7-13) to present tense (vv. 14-25) is the primary evidence for reading it as present Christian experience, though this is not conclusive. The passage has resonated profoundly with readers across centuries precisely because the struggle it describes is universally recognizable.
Translation Friction
We render the present tense of vv. 14-25 as present tense without resolving whether Paul describes Christian or pre-Christian experience. The marriage analogy (vv. 1-4) has been criticized as imprecise — in the analogy, the husband dies; in the application, the believer dies — but Paul's point is the legal principle (death ends obligation), not a precise one-to-one correspondence.
Connections
The marriage analogy connects to 2 Corinthians 11:2 and Ephesians 5:25-32. The 'I' passage echoes Ovid's Medea ('I see and approve the better, I follow the worse') and similar Greco-Roman moral psychology. The cry of verse 24 is answered by 8:1-2. The role of the law in provoking sin connects to Galatians 3:19-24. The 'law of sin' (v. 25) anticipates the 'law of the Spirit' (8:2).
Or 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 only as long as that person lives?
KJV 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?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The parenthetical 'those who know the law' (ginōskousin nomon) addresses hearers familiar with Torah, likely Jewish Christians or God-fearers in the Roman church. The verb kyrieuei ('has authority, exercises lordship') echoes 6:9 and 6:14 — the question is who or what has mastery. Paul's principle is basic: legal obligations bind the living, not the dead.
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 regarding the husband.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The adjective hypandros ('under a man, married') is a legal term for a woman under marital authority. The verb katērgētai ('is released, discharged, freed') is the same word used for 'rendered powerless' in 6:6. Death dissolves legal bonds. The illustration draws on the Torah's own marriage laws.
So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb chrēmatisei ('will be designated, called, publicly labeled') is a formal, official designation — not mere gossip but a legal status. Paul's point is established: death changes legal relationships. The analogy is imperfect by design — Paul is illustrating a principle, not constructing an allegory.
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.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
In the application, it is the believer who dies (to the law), not the law itself. The phrase dia tou sōmatos tou Christou ('through the body of Christ') refers to Christ's physical death on the cross, in which believers participate (6:3-6). The word heteros ('another') is the second husband in the analogy — the risen Christ. The purpose of the new union is fruitfulness (karpophorēsōmen, 'bear fruit'), contrasting with the 'fruit of death' in verse 5.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
σάρξsarx
"flesh"—flesh, body, human nature, sinful nature, physical existence
Here sarx carries its fully negative moral sense — not merely the physical body but the entire orientation of unredeemed human existence opposed to God. Paul's usage of sarx ranges from neutral ('according to the flesh' = physically, 1:3) to deeply negative (the power that opposes the Spirit, 8:5-8).
Translator Notes
The phrase en tē sarki ('in the flesh') describes the pre-conversion state dominated by the sinful nature, not merely physical existence. The explosive phrase ta dia tou nomou ('those through the law') directly states that the law aroused sinful passions — a claim Paul will develop in verses 7-13. The fruit imagery is inverted: instead of fruit for God (v. 4), the old life produced fruit for death.
But now we have been released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb katērgēthēmen ('we have been released, discharged') echoes verses 2-3. The contrast between 'newness of Spirit' (kainotēti pneumatos) and 'oldness of letter' (palaiotēti grammatos) parallels 2:29 and anticipates 8:2-4. The Spirit replaces the written code as the governing principle of the believer's life. This does not mean the law's content is abandoned but that the mode of obedience has changed.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Paul defends the law against the implication of verse 5. The law is not sinful but diagnostic — it reveals sin. The tenth commandment (ouk epithymēseis, 'you shall not covet,' Exodus 20:17) is chosen because covetousness is an internal desire, not an external act. This suggests that the law's deepest function is to expose the interior disposition of the heart, not merely to regulate behavior. The switch to first person 'I' (egō) begins here.
[TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Exodus 20:17. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.
But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
KJV But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word aphormēn ('opportunity, base of operations, launching point') is a military term for a beachhead from which to mount an attack. Sin is personified as a strategist who uses the commandment as a base of operations. The paradox is that the good commandment became the instrument of evil. The phrase chōris nomou hamartia nekra ('apart from the law, sin is dead') does not mean sin does not exist without law but that it lies dormant, unactivated.
I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life,
KJV For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase 'I was alive apart from the law' likely alludes to Adam's pre-fall state in Eden or to Paul's pre-bar-mitzvah childhood before conscious moral accountability. The verb anezēsen ('came back to life, revived') implies sin was dormant and the commandment reawakened it. The language echoes Genesis 2-3: a command given, a prohibition, and sin exploiting the prohibition.
[TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes Genesis 2-3:. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.
I died — and the commandment, which was ordained to life, I discovered to be to death.
KJV And I died: and the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The ironic reversal: the commandment was eis zōēn ('toward life') by design but eis thanaton ('toward death') in effect. Leviticus 18:5 promises 'the one who does these things will live by them,' but in the hands of sin, the commandment became an instrument of death. Paul is not blaming the law but the power of sin that hijacks it.
[TCR Cross-Reference] This verse quotes Leviticus 18:5 — see the TCR rendering of that passage for the Hebrew source text and translation decisions.
For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
KJV For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb exēpatēsen ('deceived, thoroughly deluded') echoes Genesis 3:13, where Eve says 'the serpent deceived me.' Paul presents sin as the true serpent — the commandment is the tree, and sin is the deceiver who uses the prohibition to entice. The verb apekteinen ('killed') makes sin a murderer who uses the law as its weapon.
[TCR Cross-Reference] Quotes Genesis 3:13. The TCR rendering of that OT passage preserves the Hebrew source text and documents the translation decisions behind it.
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
KJV Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Paul's conclusion exonerates the law completely. Three adjectives defend the commandment: hagia ('holy' — set apart by God), dikaia ('righteous' — in accord with God's character), and agathē ('good' — beneficial in purpose). The problem is not the law but sin's exploitation of it. This is Paul's most positive statement about the law in Romans.
Did what is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! It was sin — in order that sin might be exposed as sin — producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The double purpose clause is important: the law exposes sin's true nature. By using something good (the commandment) to produce something evil (death), sin reveals itself as kath' hyperbolēn hamartōlos ('exceedingly sinful, sinful beyond measure'). The law functions as a diagnostic that makes the disease visible in its full severity.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
KJV For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The shift to present tense begins here and continues through verse 25. The adjective pneumatikos ('spiritual') affirms the law's divine origin. The adjective sarkinos ('made of flesh, fleshly') describes the human condition in stark contrast. The phrase pepramenos hypo tēn hamartian ('sold under sin') uses slave-market language — a person sold into slavery to a master called Sin. This echoes 1 Kings 21:20, 25 (LXX), where Ahab is said to have 'sold himself to do evil.'
[TCR Cross-Reference] Echoes 1 Kings 21:20. See the TCR's OT rendering for the Hebrew behind this passage and the translation rationale.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
KJV For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb katergazomai ('accomplish, produce, carry out') describes the actual result of one's actions. The verb ginōskō ('know, understand') here means 'comprehend, recognize as mine' — the 'I' is bewildered by its own behavior. The three-part confession — I do not do what I want; I do what I hate — describes the fragmentation of the will that sin produces. The language resonates with Ovid's Medea: 'video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor' ('I see the better and approve it; I follow the worse').
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.
KJV If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb symphēmi ('agree, consent, concur') means that the divided will of the 'I' — wanting the good but doing the evil — proves that the law is kalos ('good, beautiful, admirable'). The desire for good, even when unfulfilled, is itself a testimony to the law's goodness.
But as it is, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
KJV Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Paul distinguishes the 'I' (the willing self that approves the good) from 'sin dwelling in me' (the alien power that produces the evil). This is not an evasion of responsibility but an analysis of the human predicament: sin has colonized the self. The verb oikousa ('dwelling, residing') presents sin as a resident alien occupying the territory of the self.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is right is present with me, but the ability to carry it out is not.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The crucial qualifier tout' estin en tē sarki mou ('that is, in my flesh') limits the claim. Paul does not say the self is entirely devoid of good — the inner self desires the good (v. 22) — but the flesh (the unredeemed human condition) is incapable of producing it. The verb parakeitai ('is present, lies at hand') means the will is available but the execution is not.
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want — that is what I keep doing.
KJV For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
A restatement of verse 15 with heightened intensity. The verb prassō (present tense, 'I keep doing') emphasizes the repetitive, habitual nature of the failure. The parallel structure — 'the good I want / I do not do' and 'the evil I do not want / I practice' — creates a rhetorical cage from which the 'I' cannot escape.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
KJV Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
A repetition of verse 17, reinforcing the conclusion: the true 'I' and indwelling sin are distinguishable. This is not philosophical dualism (two equal powers) but a description of the enslaved will — the self wants the good but is overpowered by sin's occupation.
So I find this principle at work: when I want to do good, evil lies close at hand.
KJV I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word nomos ('law') here means 'principle' or 'pattern' rather than the Torah — a regularity Paul has discovered through experience. The verb parakeitai ('lies close at hand, is present') from verse 18 now applies to evil rather than the desire for good. Evil is always the closer companion.
KJV For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb synēdomai ('I delight in, rejoice with') expresses genuine joy in God's law — this is not reluctant compliance but heartfelt approval. The phrase esō anthrōpon ('inner person, inner self') describes the deepest part of the self, the part that aligns with God's purposes. This inner delight in the law echoes Psalm 1:2 and 119:97.
[TCR Cross-Reference] Draws on Psalm 1:2. Consult the TCR rendering of that passage for the underlying Hebrew and the rationale for key translation choices.
However, I see another law in my members, warring opposed to the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three 'laws' (principles) are in play: the law of God (v. 22), the law of the mind (tō nomō tou noos, the rational self that approves God's law), and the law of sin (tō nomō tēs hamartias, sin's governing principle operating in the body). The military metaphors antistrateuomenon ('waging war against') and aichmalōtizonta ('capturing, taking prisoner') depict an internal battle the 'I' is losing. This sets up the desperate cry of verse 24.
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
KJV O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The exclamation talaipōros ('wretched, miserable, pitiable') is a cry of anguish, not self-pity. The phrase sōmatos tou thanatou toutou ('this body of death') may mean 'this body doomed to death,' 'this body in which death operates,' or 'this deathly body.' The question 'who?' (tis) is the crucial word — the 'I' has exhausted all self-rescue options and can only look outside itself for deliverance.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
KJV 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.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The thanksgiving answers the question of verse 24: deliverance comes through Jesus Christ. The summary statement that follows describes the dual reality: the mind (nous) serves God's law, while the flesh (sarx) serves sin's law. This tension, unresolved in chapter 7, is resolved in chapter 8 through the Spirit. The phrase autos egō ('I myself') emphasizes that this divided condition describes the same person — not two people but one person in two simultaneous states.