Romans 7

Read the chapter

¹Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ✦ ²For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ✦ ³So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ✦ ⁴Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. ✦ ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. ✦ ⁶But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. ✦ ⁷What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” ✦ ⁸But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. ✦ ⁹I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ✦ ¹⁰And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ✦ ¹¹For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ✦ ¹²Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. ✦ ¹³Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ✦ ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ✦ ¹⁵For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ✦ ¹⁶If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ✦ ¹⁷But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ✦ ¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ✦ ¹⁹For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ✦ ²⁰Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ✦ ²¹I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ✦ ²²For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ✦ ²³But 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. ✦ ²⁴O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ✦ ²⁵I 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. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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.

← Romans 6 Romans 8 →