An Illustration from Marriage
1Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters,7:1 Rm 1:13 don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?
2For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives.7:2 1Co 7:39 But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.
3So then, if she is married 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. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death7:4 Rm 6:2 in relation to the law7:4 Rm 8:2; Gl 2:19; 5:18 through the body of Christ7:4 Col 1:22 so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Sin’s Use of the Law
7What should we say then?7:7 Rm 3:5 Is the law sin? Absolutely not!7:7 Lk 20:16 But I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.7:7 Rm 4:15; 5:20 For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.7:7Ex 20:177:7 Ex 20:17
8And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,7:8 Rm 3:20 produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.7:8 1Co 15:56
9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again
10and I died. The commandment that was meant for life7:10 Lv 18:5; Lk 10:28; Rm 10:5; Gl 3:12 resulted in death for me.
The Problem of Sin in Us
14For we know that the law is spiritual,7:14 1Co 3:1 but I am of the flesh,7:14 Or unspiritual sold7:14 1Kg 21:20,25; 2Kg 17:17; Rm 6:6; Gl 4:3 as a slave under sin.7:14 Rm 3:9
15For I do not understand what I am doing,7:15 Jn 15:15 because I do not practice what I want to do,7:15 Gl 5:17 but I do what I hate.
16Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me.
18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.7:18 Jn 3:6; Rm 8:3 For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.
20Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.
21So I discover this law:7:21 Or principle7:21 Rm 8:2 When I want to do what is good,7:21 Or I find with respect to the law that when I want to do good evil is present with me.
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