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 I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 23But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is 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 a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
• Romans 6:12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires,
• Romans 8:2For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
• Psalms 19:13Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant sins; do not allow such sins to control me. Then I will be blameless, and innocent of blatant rebellion.
• Psalms 119:133Direct my steps by your word! Do not let any sin dominate me!
• John 8:34Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.
• Ephesians 6:11Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• 2 Peter 2:19Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.
• 2 Chronicles 30:18The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive
• Psalms 19:12Who can know all his errors? Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of.
• Psalms 40:12For innumerable dangers surround me. My sins overtake me so I am unable to see; they outnumber the hairs of my head so my strength fails me.
• Psalms 65:3Our record of sins overwhelms me, but you forgive our acts of rebellion.
• Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes away from what is worthless! Revive me with your word!
• Isaiah 6:5I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.”
• Zechariah 3:1Next I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
• Luke 4:1Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River 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