1Know ye not , brethren , ( for I speak to them that know the law ,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth ? 2For 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 . 3So then if , while her husband liveth , she be married to another man , she shall be called an adulteress : but if her husband be dead , she is free from that law ; so that she is no adulteress , though she be married to another man . 4Wherefore , my brethren , ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another , even to him who is raised from the dead , that we should bring forth fruit unto God . 5For when we were in the flesh , the motions of sins , which were by the law , did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death . 6But now we are delivered from the law , that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit , and not in the oldness of the letter .
The Law and Sin
7What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid . Nay , I had not known sin , but by the law : for I had not known lust , except the law had said , Thou shalt not covet . 8But sin , taking occasion by the commandment , wrought in me all manner of concupiscence . For without the law sin was dead . 9For I was alive without the law once : but when the commandment came , sin revived , and I died . 10And the commandment , which was ordained to life , I found to be unto death . 11For sin , taking occasion by the commandment , deceived me , and by it slew me . 12Wherefore the law is holy , and the commandment holy , and just , and good . 13Was then that which is good made death unto me ? God forbid . But sin , that it might appear sin , working death in me by that which is good ; that sin by the commandment 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 allow not : for what I would , that do I not ; but what I hate , that do I . 16If then I do that which I would not , I consent unto the law that it is good . 17Now then it is no more I that do it , but sin that 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 how to perform that which is good I find not . 19For the good that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not , that I do . 20Now if I do that I would not , it is no more I that do it , but sin that dwelleth in me . 21I find then a law , that , when I would do good , evil is present with me . 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man : 23But I see another law in my members , warring against the law of my mind , and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members . 24O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 25I 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 .