Thanks 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I 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.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
- NLT Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
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 thanks God that deliverance comes through Jesus Christ, even while he acknowledges the present tension between serving God's law and sin. Rescue is found in Christ, though the struggle continues until glory.
Overview
The cry of despair gives way to thanksgiving as Paul names Jesus Christ as the deliverer. He then summarizes the ongoing reality: with his mind he serves God's law, but the flesh still serves sin's law. This both answers the longing of verse 24 and honestly frames the believer's experience awaiting full redemption.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Gal 5:17–24For 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.
- Col 3:17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
- 2 Cor 12:9–10But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- 1 Pet 2:5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- Ps 107:15–16Let them give thanks to the LORD for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.
- Isa 49:13Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; break forth in song, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, and He will have compassion on His afflicted ones.
- Rom 6:17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Rom 7:15–24I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.
- Rom 6:14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- Matt 1:21She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
- Eph 5:20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Cor 15:57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
- 2 Cor 9:15Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
- Phil 3:3For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
- Isa 49:9to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.
- Isa 12:1In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.
- Ps 116:16–17Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
- Phil 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
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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 7:25 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.