An ignoratis, fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor), quia lex in homine dominatur quanto tempore vivit?

Know you not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as it liveth?

You must surely be aware, brethren (I am speaking to men who have some knowledge of law) that legal claims are only binding on a man so long as he is alive.

Nam quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, soluta est a lege viri.

For the woman that hath an husband, whilst her husband liveth is bound to the law. But if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

A married woman, for instance, is bound by law to her husband while he lives; if she is widowed, she is quit of her husband’s claim on her;

Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera si fuerit cum alio viro: si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est a lege viri, ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.

Therefore, whilst her husband liveth, she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man: but if her husband be dead, she is delivered from the law of her husband; so that she is not an adulteress, if she be with another man.

she will be held an adulteress if she gives herself to another man during her husband’s lifetime, but once he is dead she is quit of his claim, and can give herself to another man without adultery.

Itaque fratres mei, et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi: ut sitis alterius, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificemus Deo.

Therefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law, by the body of Christ; that you may belong to another, who is risen again from the dead, that we may bring forth fruit to God.

Well, brethren, you too have undergone death, as far as the law is concerned, in the person of Christ crucified, so that you now belong to another, to him who rose from the dead. We yield increase to God,

Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quæ per legem erant, operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti.

For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death.

whereas, when we were merely our natural selves, the sinful passions to which the law bound us worked on our natural powers, so as to yield increase only to death.

Nunc autem soluti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus, et non in vetustate litteræ.

But now we are loosed from the law of death, wherein we were detained; so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Now we are quit of the claim which death had on us, so that we can do service in a new manner, according to the spirit, not according to the letter as of old.

Quid ergo dicemus? lex peccatum est? Absit. Sed peccatum non cognovi, nisi per legem: nam concupiscentiam nesciebam, nisi lex diceret: Non concupisces.

What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? God forbid. But I do not know sin, but by the law; for I had not known concupiscence, if the law did not say: Thou shalt not covet.

Does this mean that law and guilt are the same thing? God forbid we should say that. But it was only the law that gave me my knowledge of sin; I should not even have known concupiscence for what it is, if the law had not told me, Thou shalt not covet.

Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnem concupiscentiam. Sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.

But sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

But the sense of sin, with the law’s ban for its foothold, produced in me every sort of concupiscence. Without the law, the sense of sin is a dead thing.

Ego autem vivebam sine lege aliquando: sed cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit.

And I lived some time without the law. But when the commandment came, sin revived,

At first, without the law, I was alive; then, when the law came with its ban, the sense of sin found new life,

Ego autem mortuus sum: et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.

And I died. And the commandment that was ordained to life, the same was found to be unto death to me.

and with that, I died. The ban, which was meant to bring life, proved death to me;

Nam peccatum occasione accepta per mandatum, seduxit me, et per illud occidit.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, seduced me, and by it killed me.

the sense of sin, with the law’s ban for its foothold, caught me unawares, and by that means killed me.

Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum, et justum, et bonum.

Wherefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The law, to be sure, is something holy; the ban is holy, and right, and good.

Quod ergo bonum est, mihi factum est mors? Absit. Sed peccatum, ut appareat peccatum, per bonum operatum est mihi mortem: ut fiat supra modum peccans peccatum per mandatum.

Was that then which is good, made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it may appear sin, by that which is good, wrought death in me; that sin, by the commandment, might become sinful above measure.

A good thing, and did it prove death to me? God forbid we should say that. No, it was sin that produced death in me, using this good thing to make itself appear as sin indeed, sin made more sinful than ever by the ban imposed on it.

Scimus enim quia lex spiritualis est: ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato.

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.

The law, as we know, is something spiritual; I am a thing of flesh and blood, sold into the slavery of sin.

Quod enim operor, non intelligo: non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago: sed quod odi malum, illud facio.

For that which I work, I understand not. For I do not that good which I will; but the evil which I hate, that I do.

My own actions bewilder me; what I do is not what I wish to do, but something which I hate.

Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: consentio legi, quoniam bona est.

If then I do that which I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good.

Why then, if what I do is something I have no wish to do, I thereby admit that the law is worthy of all honour;

Nunc autem jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me peccatum.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

meanwhile, my action does not come from me, but from the sinful principle that dwells in me.

Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Nam velle, adjacet mihi: perficere autem bonum, non invenio.

For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is good. For to will, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not.

Of this I am certain, that no principle of good dwells in me, that is, in my natural self; praiseworthy intentions are always ready to hand, but I cannot find my way to the performance of them;

Non enim quod volo bonum, hoc facio: sed quod nolo malum, hoc ago.

For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do.

it is not the good my will prefers, but the evil my will disapproves, that I find myself doing.

Si autem quod nolo, illud facio: jam non ego operor illud, sed quod habitat in me, peccatum.

Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

And if what I do is something I have not the will to do, it cannot be I that bring it about, it must be the sinful principle that dwells in me.

Invenio igitur legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adjacet:

I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good, evil is present with me.

This, then, is what I find about the law, that evil is close at my side, when my will is to do what is praiseworthy.

condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem:

For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man:

Inwardly, I applaud God’s disposition,

video autem aliam legem in membris meis, repugnantem legi mentis meæ, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quæ est in membris meis.

But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members.

but I observe another disposition in my lower self, which raises war against the disposition of my conscience, and so I am handed over as a captive to that disposition towards sin which my lower self contains.

Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?

Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Pitiable creature that I am, who is to set me free from a nature thus doomed to death?

gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei: carne autem, legi peccati.

The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.

Nothing else than the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. If I am left to myself, my conscience is at God’s disposition, but my natural powers are at the disposition of sin.