But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.
Parallel translations
- WEB but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts.
- NLT But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
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
Paul sees another law in his body warring against his mind and taking him captive to sin. An inner war rages between the renewed mind and indwelling sin.
Overview
Paul describes a battle between the law of his mind, which delights in God, and the law of sin in his members. This opposing principle wages war and brings him into a painful captivity. The imagery conveys the seriousness of the ongoing conflict with sin that he cannot overcome by himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Gal 5:17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
- Jas 4:1What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?
- Rom 8:2For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
- Rom 6:19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to escalating wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
- 1 Pet 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
- Rom 7:25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
- Heb 12:4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
- 1 Tim 6:11–12But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
- 2 Tim 2:25–26He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
- Eccl 7:20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- Rom 7:21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
- Rom 6:13Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.
- Rom 7:5For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.
- Ps 142:7Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because of Your goodness to me.
- Rom 7:14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
- Jas 3:2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
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 7:23 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.