Romans 7:2 - Forerunner Commentary

Romans 7:2

Freed from the Law

1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law¹ has dominion over a man as long as he lives?

2 For ^athe woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

3 So then ^aif, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^adead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^bbear fruit to God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^awere at work in our members ^bto bear fruit to death.

6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^ain the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^aI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^b“You shall not covet.”

8 But ^asin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^bapart from the law sin was dead.

9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

10 And the commandment, ^awhich was to bring life, I found to bring death.

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

12 Therefore ^athe law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^asold under sin.

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^aFor what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.

16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

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

18 For I know that ^ain me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

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

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

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

22 For I ^adelight in the law of God according to ^bthe inward man.

23 But ^aI see another law in ^bmy 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 will deliver me ^afrom this body of death?

25 ^aI 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.

Verse Comparison: Romans 7:2

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American Standard Version
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.

Amplified® Bible
For [instance] a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is loosed {and} discharged from the law concerning her husband.

Contemporary English Version
For example, the Law says that a man's wife must remain his wife as long as he lives. But once her husband is dead, she is free

Darby English Version
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive; but if the husband should die, she is clear from the law of the husband:

Good News Bible
A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him.

International Standard Version
For a married woman is bound by the law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning her husband.

King James Version
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.

New American Standard Bible
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.

New International Version
For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

New King James Version
For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband.

N.A.S.B. in E-Prime
For the married woman has bound herself by law to her husband while he lives; but if her husband dies, she will become released from the law concerning the husband.

Young's Literal Translation
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;

New English Translation
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her¹ husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.²

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