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The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, Chapter 7
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1 |
Know 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?
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2 |
For 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.
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3 |
So 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.
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4 |
Wherefore, 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.
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5 |
For 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.
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6 |
But 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.
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7 |
What 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.
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8 |
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
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9 |
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died.
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10 |
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be
unto death.
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11 |
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by
it slew me.
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12 |
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good.
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13 |
Was 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.
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14 |
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
under sin.
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15 |
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not;
but what I hate, that do I.
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16 |
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that
it is good.
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17 |
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
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18 |
For 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.
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19 |
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would
not, that I do.
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20 |
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin
that dwelleth in me.
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21 |
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me.
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22 |
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
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23 |
But Isee 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.
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24 |
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?
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25 |
I 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.
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