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.
• 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 that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20But if I do the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, 23but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts.

Romans 7:21 word by word

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

• I findεὑρίσκωheuriskō · to find/meetG2147
• thenἄραara · thereforeG686
• principleνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• that evilκακόςkakos · evil/harm: evilG2556
• is presentπαράκειμαιparakeimai · be presentG3873
• in me, the one who wantsθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
• to doποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• goodκαλόςkalos · goodG2570

Cross-references for Romans 7:21

• Romans 7:23but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts.
• Romans 6:12Therefore sin is not to reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
• Romans 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
• Psalms 19:13Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be innocent, And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing.
• Psalms 119:133Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any wrongdoing have power over me.
• John 8:34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
• Ephesians 6:11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
• 2 Peter 2:19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
• 2 Chronicles 30:18For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim and Manasseh, and Issachar and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon
• Psalms 19:12Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
• Psalms 40:12For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My guilty deeds have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me.
• Psalms 65:3Wrongdoings prevail against me; As for our offenses, You forgive them.
• Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes away from looking at what is worthless, And revive me in Your ways.
• Isaiah 6:5Then I said, “Woe to me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.”
• Zechariah 3:1Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right to accuse him.
• Luke 4:1Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around 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