American Standard Version
Romans 7:21
21I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.
Romans 7:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
- New International Version (NIV)So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
- New King James Version (NKJV)I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
Context of Romans 7:21
19For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise. 20But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
Read all of Romans 7Romans 7:21 word by word
εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται.Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Romans 7:21
- Romans 7:23but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
- Romans 6:12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:
- Romans 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
- Psalms 19:13Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be clear from great transgression.
- Psalms 119:133Establish my footsteps in thy word; And let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
- John 8:34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.
- Ephesians 6:11Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
- 2 Peter 2:19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.
- 2 Chronicles 30:18For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Jehovah pardon every one
- Psalms 19:12Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults.
- Psalms 40:12For innumerable evils have compassed me about; Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; And my heart hath failed me.
- Psalms 65:3Iniquities prevail against me: As for our transgressions, thou wilt forgive them.
- Psalms 119:37Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, And quicken me in thy ways.
- Isaiah 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.
- Zechariah 3:1And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.
- Luke 4:1And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led in the Spirit in the wilderness
Commentaries on Romans 7:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21I find then a law - I am in such a condition and state of soul, under the power of such habits and sinful propensities, that when I would do good - when my will and reason are strongly bent on obedience to the law of God and opposition to the principle of sin, evil is present with me, , evil is at hand, it lies constantly before me. That, as the will to do good is constantly at hand, Romans 7:18, so the principle of rebellion exciting me to sin is equally…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21I find then a law - There is a law whose operation I experience whenever I attempt to do good. There have been various opinions about the meaning of the word “law” in this place. It is evident that it is used here in a sense somewhat unusual. But it retains the notion which commonly attaches to it of what binds, or controls. And though this to which he refers differs from a law, inasmuch as it is not imposed by a superior, which is the usual idea of a…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-22Verses 18-22 The more pure and holy the heart is, it will have the more quick feeling as to the sin that remains in it. The believer sees more of the beauty of holiness and the excellence of the law. His earnest desires to obey, increase as he grows in grace. But the whole good on which his will is fully bent, he does not do; sin ever springing up in him, through remaining corruption, he often does evil, though against the fixed determination of his will…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21the principle (literally law): Paul is referring to something that happens again and again. The struggle between wanting to do what is right and doing what is wrong shows a repeated pattern in human life.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 19-2119-21. For, &c.--The conflict here graphically described between a self that "desires" to do good and a self that in spite of this does evil, cannot be the struggles between conscience and passion in the unregenerate, because the description given of this "desire to do good" in Ro 7:22 is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renewed.Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 7:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
American Standard Version — 1901 — Public Domain
Commentaries