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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
- Jas 4:1Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
- Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Rom 6:19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
- 1 Pet 2:11Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- Rom 7:25I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.
- Heb 12:4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;
- 1 Tim 6:11–12But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.
- 2 Tim 2:25–26in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,
- Eccl 7:20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn’t sin.
- Rom 7:21I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
- Rom 6:13Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
- Rom 7:5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
- Ps 142:7Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.
- Rom 7:14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin.
- Jas 3:2For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
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.