An Illustration from Marriage
1 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. 2 A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. 3 So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. 4 That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. 5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. 6 Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
Law and Sin
7 Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. 8 But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing. 9 I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. 11 Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.
12 So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. 13 But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.
The Conflict in Us
14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. 16 Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. 17 So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.
21 So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. 22 My inner being delights in the law of God. 23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!
This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
VII.
Atbreivōšona nu Moizeša lykuma.
1 Brōļi, vai jyus nazynot, — es runoju lykuma zynōtōjim, — ka lykums par cylvāku volda tik iļgi koleidz tys ir dzeivs? 2 Tai pracāta sīvīte ar lykumu ir saisteita koleidz veirs ir dzeivs. Ar veira nōvi jei ir breiva nu tō lykuma, kas jū saisteja ar veiru. 3 Jo veiram dzeivam asūt, ītu pi cyta veira, jei byutu lauleibas lauzēja. Bet jo veirs nūmērst, tod jei nu lykuma ir breiva, un, jo īt pi cyta veira, nav nikaida lauleibas lauzēja. 4 Arī jyus, muni brōli, caur Kristus mīsu lykumam asat nūmyruši un pīdarat vīnam cytam, tys ir tam, kas ir pīsacēlis nu myrūnim, lai nastu augļus Dīvam. 5 Koleidz mes dzeivōjom mīsai, myusu lūcekļūs dorbōjōs caur lykumu izsauktōs grēceigōs kōreibas tai, ka mes nōvei nesem augļus. 6 Bet tagad nu lykuma mes asam atbreivōti, un myruši tam, kas myusus kalpynōja. Tōpēc mes tagad kolpojam jaunā gorā, bet na pēc nūvacōjušō lykuma burta.
7 Kū tad lai sokom? Vai lykums ir grāks? Nimoz nē. Bet gon tikai caur lykumu es pazynu grāku. Par kōreibu es nikō nazynōtu, jo lykums nasaceitu: Tev nabyus īkōrōt! 8 Caur lykumu rodōs grākam izdeveiba un manī uzmūdynōja dažaidas kaisleibas. Bez lykuma grāks ir miris. 9 Agrōk es dzeivōju bez lykuma, kad nōce bausleiba, grāks atsadzeivynōja, 10 bet es nūmyru. Un tai iznōce, ka bausleiba, kas beja dūta dzeivei, mani vede uz nōvi. 11 Pēc tam grāks, caur bausleibu atradis izdeveibu, mani apmōneja un caur tū nūdeve nōvei. 12 Tai tad, kai svāts ir lykums, tai svāta, taisneiga un loba ir bausleiba. 13 Vai tad lobais man ir palicis par nōvi? Nikod nē! Bet gon grāks, lai jys pasarōdeitu kai grāks, caur lobu man nese nōvi. Un caur lykumu jys pasarōdeja sovā brīsmeigajā grēceibā.
14 Kai mes zynom, lykums ir goreigs, bet es asmu mīseigs, padūts grākam. 15 Tō, kū doru, es nasaprūtu; es nadoru tō, kū grybu, bet gon doru tū (ļaunu), kū naīradzu. 16 Bet jo es doru tū, kō nagrybu, tod ar tū es pīkreitu, ka lykums ir lobs. 17 Tai tad, na es vairs dorbojūs, bet gon grāks, kas manī dzeivoj. 18 Es zynu, ka manī, tys ir mūnā mīsā, lobais nadzeivoj; lobu gribēt man veicās vīgli, bet tū dareit es naspēju. 19 Es nadoru loba, kō es grybu, bet gon doru ļaunu, kō es nagrybu. 20 Un jo es doru tū, kō nagrybu, tod doru jau na es, bet gon manī asūšais grāks. 21 Tai tad, es atrūnu lykumu: Jo es grybu dareit lobu, arī ļaunais man ir klōtu. 22 Pēc sovas īkšejōs pōrlīceibas es pīkreitu Dīva lykumam, 23 bet sovūs lūcekļūs es monu cytu lykumu, kas muna prōta lykumam nūsastōj pretim un mani pakļaun zam grāka lykuma, kas mit munūs lūcekļūs.
24 Es nalaimeigais cylvāks! Kas mani atbreivōs nu šōs nōvi nasūšōs mīsas? 25 — Dīva žēlesteiba caur myusu Kungu Jezu Kristu. Tai tad, es ar prōtu kolpoju Dīva lykumam, bet ar mīsu — grāka lykumam.
