If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
- BSB And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.
- NKJV If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.
- NASB However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good.
- NLT But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When Paul does what he does not want, he thereby agrees that the law is good. His very frustration testifies to the law's goodness.
Overview
Paul draws an inference: hating his sinful actions shows his inward consent to the law's standard. His conscience sides with the law even as his conduct violates it. This confirms that the problem lies not in the law but in the sin that dwells within.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Rom 7:12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
- 1 Tim 1:8But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
- Rom 7:14For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
- Rom 7:22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- Ps 119:127–128Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 7:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.