Romans 7:7-19

⁷Someone might object, saying, “◄The laws that God gave Moses must be evil if our sinful desires are increased because of our knowing those laws. MTY/Are not the laws that God gave Moses evil if they stir up our sinful desires?►” MTY, RHQ I would reply that they certainly are not evil, even though our sinful desires are increased. What I would reply is that I, for example, realized that what I was doing was sinful only because of what is written { Moses wrote} in those laws. For example, I realized that coveting is sinful only because he wrote in those laws PRS, “You must not covet.”

⁸And because of what that commandment stated, my sinful desire to have things that belong to others PRS caused me to covet in many ways. Our desire to sin is not stimulated MET when there is no law that prohibits our doing sinful things.

⁹Formerly, when I did not know what God's laws required, I used to live without worrying about what I was doing. But when I became aware that God commanded, “You must not covet,” I suddenly realized PRS that I was sinning,

¹⁰and I realized that I was separated from God. The laws that I thought would enable me to live eternally as a result of my obeying them caused me to realize that I was separated from God!

¹¹My desire to sin found a way PRS to deceive me by making me think wrongly that I could keep on sinning and at the same time obey those laws enough so that I would live eternally, and thus it caused me to be separated from God PRS.

¹²So we conclude that the laws that God gave to Moses are holy. What God commanded about not coveting, along with all the other things that he commanded, is also holy, and it is just and good.

¹³So, if someone were to object saying, “ The laws that God gave Moses, which are good, ◄resulted in my being separated from God!/did they result in my being separated from God?► RHQ” I would reply, “Certainly they did not do that!” But instead, those laws, which are good, stimulated my desire to sin. I knew that the result was that I was separated from God. And also, because I learned what God had commanded, I knew that what I was doing was truly sinful.

¹⁴We know that the laws that God gave Moses came from God's Spirit. But as for me, I am influenced by my self-directed nature. It is as though I have been forced to become a slave of my desire to sin MET.

¹⁵The things that I do, I often HYP do not understand. That is, sometimes HYP it is the good things that I want to do that I do not do. And sometimes HYP it is the evil things that I detest that I do.

¹⁶Since I do the evil things that I do not want to do, I agree that the laws of God are good.

¹⁷So, it is not that I do evil things because I wish to do them. Instead, what happens is that I do sinful things because the desire to sin causes me to do them. The desire to sin ◄is within/permeates► me PRS.

¹⁸I know that my self-directed nature will not let me PRS do anything that is good. I know this because I want to do what is good, but I do not do what is good.

¹⁹I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, it is evil things that I do not want to do that I do.