Or do you not know, ^abrothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the ¹Law), that the ²Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? 2 For ^athe married woman is bound by law to her ¹husband as long as he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law ²concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is alive she ¹gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she ²gives herself to another man.

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were ^aput to death ^bin regard to the Law ^cthrough the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were ^ain the flesh, the sinful passions, which were ^bbrought to light by the Law, were at work ^cin ¹the parts of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been ^areleased from the Law, having ^bdied to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in ^cnewness of ^dthe ¹Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

7 ^aWhat shall we say then? Is the Law sin? ^1bFar from it! On the contrary, ^cI would not have come to know sin except ²through the Law; for I would not have known about ³coveting if the Law had not said, “^dYOU SHALL NOT ⁴COVET.” 8 But sin, ^ataking an opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, produced in me ¹coveting of every kind; for ^capart ²from the Law sin is dead. 9 I was once alive apart ¹from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died; 10 and this commandment, which was ^1ato result in life, proved ²to result in death for me; 11 for sin, ^ataking an opportunity ^bthrough the commandment, ^cdeceived me, and through it, killed me. 12 ^aSo then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? ^1aFar from it! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by bringing about my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

14 For we know that the Law is ^aspiritual, but I am ^bfleshly, ^csold ^1dinto bondage to sin. 15 For ^aI do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing ^bwhat I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with ^athe Law, that the Law is good. 17 But now, ^ano longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my ^aflesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For ^athe good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I do the very thing I do not want, ^aI am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then ^athe ¹principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully agree with the law of God ¹in ^athe inner person, 23 but I see ^aa different law in ¹the parts of my body waging war against the ^blaw of my mind, and making me a prisoner ²of ^cthe law of sin, the law which is in ³my body’s parts. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from ^1athe body of this ^bdeath? 25 ^aThanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh ^bthe law of sin.