Romans 7:4-10

English Standard Version

⁴ Likewise, my brothers, ^(A)you also have died ^(B)to the law ^(C)through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, ^(D)in order that we may bear fruit for God. ⁵ For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^(E)in our members ^(F)to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^(G)new way of ^(H)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.^[a]

The Law and Sin

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(I)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(J)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(K)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(L)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(M)that promised life proved to be death to me.