Romans 7

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¹Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the Law), that the Law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? ✦ ²For the married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. ✦ ³So then, if while her husband is alive she gives herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress if she gives herself to another man. ✦ ⁴Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ✦ ⁵For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were brought to light by the Law, were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death. ✦ ⁶But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. ✦ ⁷What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ✦ ⁸But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. ✦ ⁹I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died; ✦ ¹⁰and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; ✦ ¹¹for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me. ✦ ¹²So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. ✦ ¹³Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? Far from it! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by bringing about my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. ✦ ¹⁴For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold into bondage to sin. ✦ ¹⁵For I do not understand what I am doing; for I am not practicing what I want to do, but I do the very thing I hate. ✦ ¹⁶However, if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, that the Law is good. ✦ ¹⁷But now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. ✦ ¹⁸For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. ✦ ¹⁹For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. ✦ ²⁰But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. ✦ ²¹I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. ✦ ²²For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, ✦ ²³but 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. ✦ ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? ✦ ²⁵Thanks 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. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Rom 7 ·45 Ps 119 ·41 Rom 6 ·23 Rom 8 ·11 Gal 5 ·11 Matt 5 ·7 Gal 3 ·7 Phil 3 ·6

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoMike Winger — BibleThinkerMike Winger · Free · reformed
Free verse-by-verse studies through whole books plus careful apologetics — "learn to think biblically about everything." (Reformed-leaning, non-denominational.)

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Romans 7YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Romans 7David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Romans 7Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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