Romans 7:21

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.
• New King James Version (NKJV)I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
• New Living Translation (NLT)I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

Context of Romans 7:21

19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Romans 7:21 word by word

εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• I findεὑρίσκωheuriskō · to find/meetG2147
• thenἄραara · thereforeG686
• a lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• whenθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
• Iἐγώegō · I/weG1473
• doποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• goodκαλόςkalos · goodG2570
• evilκακόςkakos · evil/harm: evilG2556
• is presentπαράκειμαιparakeimai · be presentG3873

Cross-references for Romans 7:21

• Romans 7:23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
• Romans 6:12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
• Romans 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
• Psalms 19:13Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
• Psalms 119:133Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
• John 8:34Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
• Ephesians 6:11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• 2 Peter 2:19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
• 2 Chronicles 30:18For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good Lord pardon everyone
• Psalms 19:12Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
• Psalms 40:12For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
• Psalms 65:3When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
• Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
• Isaiah 6:5And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"
• Zechariah 3:1Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
• Luke 4:1And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by 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

• Conscience
• Depravity of Man
• Good and Evil
• Justification
• Man
• Stoicism

In the dictionaries

• Appear
• Captivity
• Concupiscence
• Condescend
• Consent
• Delight
• Member
• Mind
• Occasion
• Revive

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