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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Romans 7:1 Context: Or don't you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001a.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451a.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../vmenus/romans/7-1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc/romans/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="//biblehub.com/crossref/">Cross Refs</a> > Romans 7:1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../romans/6-23.htm" title="Romans 6:23">◄</a> Romans 7:1 <a href="../romans/7-2.htm" title="Romans 7:2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Context</div><font color="#000000"><b><i>Believers United to Christ</i></b></font><p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-1.htm" target="_top"><b>1</b></a></span>Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-2.htm" target="_top"><b>2</b></a></span>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. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-3.htm" target="_top"><b>3</b></a></span>So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-4.htm" target="_top"><b>4</b></a></span>Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-5.htm" target="_top"><b>5</b></a></span>For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were <i>aroused</i> by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-6.htm" target="_top"><b>6</b></a></span>But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-7.htm" target="_top"><b>7</b></a></span>What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, Y<font size="1">OU</font> <font size="1">SHALL NOT</font> <font size="1">COVET</font>. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-8.htm" target="_top"><b>8</b></a></span>But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin <i>is</i> dead. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-9.htm" target="_top"><b>9</b></a></span>I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-10.htm" target="_top"><b>10</b></a></span>and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-11.htm" target="_top"><b>11</b></a></span>for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-12.htm" target="_top"><b>12</b></a></span>So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-13.htm" target="_top"><b>13</b></a></span>Therefore did that which is good become <i>a cause</i> <i>of</i> death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. <p><font color="#000000"><b><i>The Conflict of Two Natures</i></b></font><p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-14.htm" target="_top"><b>14</b></a></span>For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-15.htm" target="_top"><b>15</b></a></span>For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I <i>would</i> like to <i>do,</i> but I am doing the very thing I hate. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-16.htm" target="_top"><b>16</b></a></span>But if I do the very thing I do not want <i>to do,</i> I agree with the Law, <i>confessing</i> that the Law is good. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-17.htm" target="_top"><b>17</b></a></span>So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-18.htm" target="_top"><b>18</b></a></span>For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good <i>is</i> not. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-19.htm" target="_top"><b>19</b></a></span>For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-20.htm" target="_top"><b>20</b></a></span>But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. <p>      <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-21.htm" target="_top"><b>21</b></a></span>I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-22.htm" target="_top"><b>22</b></a></span>For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-23.htm" target="_top"><b>23</b></a></span>but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-24.htm" target="_top"><b>24</b></a></span>Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/7-25.htm" target="_top"><b>25</b></a></span>Thanks 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 the law of sin. <p><br /><br /><a href="//www.lockman.org" target="_top">NASB ©1995</a><div class="vheading2">Parallel Verses</div><span class="versiontext"><a href="/asv/romans/7.htm">American Standard Version</a></span><br />Or 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?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/drb/romans/7.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a></span><br />KNOW you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as it liveth? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/dbt/romans/7.htm">Darby Bible Translation</a></span><br />Are ye ignorant, brethren, (for I speak to those knowing law,) that law rules over a man as long as he lives?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/erv/romans/7.htm">English Revised Version</a></span><br />Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he liveth?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wbt/romans/7.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a></span><br />Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/wey/romans/7.htm">Weymouth New Testament</a></span><br />Brethren, do you not know--for I am writing to people acquainted with the Law--that it is during our lifetime that we are subject to the Law?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/web/romans/7.htm">World English Bible</a></span><br />Or don't you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives?<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="versiontext"><a href="/ylt/romans/7.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a></span><br /> Are ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?<div class="vheading2">Library</div><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/all_saints_day_and_other_sermons/sermon_v_advent_lessons.htm">Advent Lessons</a><br></span><span class="snippet">Westminster Abbey, First Sunday in Advent, 1873. Romans vii. 22-25. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is the first Sunday in Advent. To-day we have prayed that God would give us grace to put away the works <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kingsley/all_saints_day_and_other_sermons/sermon_v_advent_lessons.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Charles Kingsley—</span><span class="citation2">All Saints' Day and Other Sermons</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/simpson/days_of_heaven_upon_earth_/july_24_the_righteousness_of.htm">July 24. "The Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us" (Rom. vii. 4). </a><br></span><span class="snippet">"The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom. vii. 4). In our earlier experiences we know the Holy Ghost only at a distance, in things that happen in a providential direction, or in the Word alone, but after awhile we receive Him as an inward Guest, and He dwells in our very midst, and He speaks to us in the innermost chambers of our being. But then the external working of His power does not cease, but it only increases, and seems the more glorious. The Power that dwells within us <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/simpson/days_of_heaven_upon_earth_/july_24_the_righteousness_of.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Rev. A. B. Simpson—</span><span class="citation2">Days of Heaven Upon Earth </span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/the_original_and_the_actual.htm">The Original and the Actual Relation of Man to Law. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">ROMANS vii. 10.--"The commandment which, was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." The reader of St. Paul's Epistles is struck with the seemingly disparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. In one place, he tells his reader that "the law entered that the offence might abound;" in another, that "the law worketh wrath;" in another, that "sin shall not have dominion" over the believer because he is "not under the law;" in another, that Christians "are become dead to the law;" in <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/the_original_and_the_actual.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">William G.T. Shedd—</span><span class="citation2">Sermons to the Natural Man</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/sin_is_spiritual_slavery.htm">Sin is Spiritual Slavery</a><br></span><span class="snippet">John viii. 34.--"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." The word [Greek: doulos] which is translated "servant," in the text, literally signifies a slave; and the thought which our Lord actually conveyed to those who heard Him is, "Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin." The apostle Peter, in that second Epistle of his which is so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled sensuality upon the human will, <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/sin_is_spiritual_slavery.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">William G.T. Shedd—</span><span class="citation2">Sermons to the Natural Man</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/the_impotence_of_the_law.htm">The Impotence of the Law. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">HEBREWS vii. 19.--"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God." It is the aim of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to teach the insufficiency of the Jewish Dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of God and the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel Dispensation to do this. Hence, the writer of this Epistle endeavors with special effort to make the Hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much esteemed religion, <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/shedd/sermons_to_the_natural_man/the_impotence_of_the_law.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">William G.T. Shedd—</span><span class="citation2">Sermons to the Natural Man</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_5_1859/the_fainting_warrior.htm">The Fainting Warrior</a><br></span><span class="snippet">Now, humble Christians are often the dupes of a very foolish error. They look up to certain advanced saints and able ministers, and they say, "Surely, such men as these do not suffer as I do; they do not contend with the same evil passions as those which vex and trouble me." Ah! if they knew the heard of those men, if they could read their inward conflicts, they would soon discover that the nearer a man lives to God, the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart, and the more his Master <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/spurgeon/spurgeons_sermons_volume_5_1859/the_fainting_warrior.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Charles Haddon Spurgeon—</span><span class="citation2">Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/luther/a_treatise_on_good_works/thou_shalt_not_commit_adultery.htm">Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">In this Commandment too a good work is commanded, which includes much and drives away much vice; it is called purity, or chastity, of which much is written and preached, and it is well known to every one, only that it is not as carefully observed and practised as other works which are not commanded. So ready are we to do what is not commanded and to leave undone what is commanded. We see that the world is full of shameful works of unchastity, indecent words, tales and ditties, temptation to which <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/luther/a_treatise_on_good_works/thou_shalt_not_commit_adultery.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Dr. Martin Luther—</span><span class="citation2">A Treatise on Good Works</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/murray/absolute_surrender/o_wretched_man_that_i.htm">"O Wretched Man that I Am!"</a><br></span><span class="snippet">"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24, 25). You know the wonderful place that this text has in the wonderful epistle to the Romans. It stands here at the end of the seventh chapter as the gateway into the eighth. In the first sixteen verses of the eighth chapter the name of the Holy Spirit is found sixteen times; you have there the description and promise of the life that a child of God can live in the <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/murray/absolute_surrender/o_wretched_man_that_i.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Andrew Murray—</span><span class="citation2">Absolute Surrender</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/brown/christ_the_way_the_truth_and_the_life/chapter_xxii_how_christ_is.htm">How Christ is to be Made Use of as Our Life, in Case of Heartlessness and Fainting through Discouragements. </a><br></span><span class="snippet">There is another evil and distemper which believers are subject to, and that is a case of fainting through manifold discouragements, which make them so heartless that they can do nothing; yea, and to sit up, as if they were dead. The question then is, how such a soul shall make use of Christ as in the end it may be freed from that fit of fainting, and win over those discouragements: for satisfaction to which we shall, 1. Name some of those discouragements which occasion this. 2. Show what Christ <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/brown/christ_the_way_the_truth_and_the_life/chapter_xxii_how_christ_is.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">John Brown (of Wamphray)—</span><span class="citation2">Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kempis/imitation_of_christ/chapter_lv_of_the_corruption.htm">Of the Corruption of Nature and the Efficacy of Divine Grace</a><br></span><span class="snippet">O Lord my God, who hast created me after thine own image and similitude, grant me this grace, which Thou hast shown to be so great and so necessary for salvation, that I may conquer my wicked nature, which draweth me to sin and to perdition. For I feel in my flesh the law of sin, contradicting the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the obedience of sensuality in many things; nor can I resist its passions, unless Thy most holy grace assist me, fervently poured into my heart. 2. There <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/kempis/imitation_of_christ/chapter_lv_of_the_corruption.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Thomas A Kempis—</span><span class="citation2">Imitation of Christ</span><p><span class="headingtext"><a href="//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the_law_and_the_saint/the_positive_side.htm">The Positive Side</a><br></span><span class="snippet">What is the relation of the Law (the Ten Commandments) to Christians? In our previous chapter we pointed out how that three radically different answers have been returned to this question. The first, that sinners become saints by obeying the Law. This is Legalism pure and simple. It is heresy of the most dangerous kind. All who really believe and act on it as the ground of their acceptance by God, will perish eternally. Second, others say that the Law is not binding on Christians because it has been <a href="//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the_law_and_the_saint/the_positive_side.htm" title="continued">…</a><br></span><span class="citation">Arthur W. Pink—</span><span class="citation2">The Law and the Saint</span><p><div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/niv/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 ESV</a> • <a href="/nasb/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 NASB</a> • <a href="/kjv/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 KJV</a> • <a href="//bibleapps.com/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 Bible Apps</a> • <a href="/romans/7-1.htm">Romans 7:1 Parallel</a> • <a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../romans/6-23.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Romans 6:23"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Romans 6:23" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../romans/7-2.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Romans 7:2"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Romans 7:2" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mp/romans/7-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /><iframe src="//biblemenus.com/adframebhbl.htm" width="122" height="250" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div> <div id="bot"><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span><script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><br /><br /></div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhparnew.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></body></html>