1Or are ye ignorant, brethren ( for I speak to men who know the law ), that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth ? 2For 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 . 3So then if , while the husband liveth , she be joined to another man , she shall be called an adulteress : but if the husband die, she is free from the law , so that she is no adulteress , though she be joined to another man . 4Wherefore , my brethren , ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ ; that ye should be joined to another , even to him who was raised from the dead , that we might bring forth fruit unto God . 5For when we were in the flesh , the sinful passions , which were through the law , wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death . 6But now we have been discharged from the law , having died to that wherein we were held ; so that we serve in newness of the spirit , and not in oldness of the letter .
The Law and Sin
7What shall we say then ? Is the law sin? God forbid . Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law : for I had not known coveting , except the law had said , Thou shalt not covet : 8but sin, finding occasion , wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting : for apart from the law sin is dead . 9And I was alive apart from the law once : but when the commandment came , sin revived, and I died ; 10and the commandment , which was unto life , this I found to be unto death : 11for sin, finding occasion , through the commandment beguiled me , and through it slew me . 12So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous , and good . 13Did then that which is good become death unto me ? God forbid . But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good ;— that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful.
The Conflict of Two Natures
14For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For that which I do I know not : for not what I would , that do I practise; but what I hate , that I do . 16But if what I would not , that I do , I consent unto the law that it is good . 17So now it is no more I that do it , but sin which dwelleth in me . 18For I know that in me , that is , in my flesh , dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me , but to do that which is good is not . 19For the good which I would I do not : but the evil which I would not , that I practise. 20But if what I would not , that I do , it is no more I that do it , but sin which dwelleth in me . 21I find then the law , that , to me who would do good , evil is present . 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man : 23but I see a different law in my members , warring against the law of my mind , and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members . 24Wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death ? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord . So then I of myself with the mind , indeed , serve the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin.