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When we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, through the law, worked in our members to bear fruit leading to death. But now we are delivered from the law, having died to things in which we were bound, so that we may serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter of the law.

The Problem of Indwelling Sin

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I did not know sin, except through the law. I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a]

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For when we were in the realm of the flesh,[a](A) the sinful passions aroused by the law(B) were at work in us,(C) so that we bore fruit for death.(D) But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(E) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(F)

The Law and Sin

What shall we say, then?(G) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(H) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(I) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[b](J)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
  2. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21