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 would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which 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

• findεὑρίσκωheuriskō · to find/meetG2147
• thenἄραara · thereforeG686
• lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551
• thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
• Iἐμοίemoi · IG1698
• wouldθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
• doποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• goodκαλόςkalos · goodG2570
• evilκακόςkakos · evil/harm: evilG2556
• presentπαράκειμαιparakeimai · be presentG3873

Cross-references for Romans 7:21

• Romans 7:23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
• Romans 6:12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in its lusts.
• Romans 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 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 innocent from the great transgression.
• Psalms 119:133Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
• John 8:34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say to you, Whoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
• Ephesians 6:11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
• 2 Peter 2:19While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he 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 they ate the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one
• Psalms 19:12Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults .
• Psalms 40:12For innumerable evils have surrounded me: my iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head: therefore my heart faileth me.
• Psalms 65:3Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
• Psalms 119:37Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and revive thou me in thy way.
• 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 my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
• Zechariah 3:1And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
• Luke 4:1And Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into 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