An Illustration from Marriage
1 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. 2 A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. 3 So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. 4 That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. 5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. 6 Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
Law and Sin
7 Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. 8 But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing. 9 I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. 11 Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.
12 So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. 13 But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.
The Conflict in Us
14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. 16 Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. 17 So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.
21 So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. 22 My inner being delights in the law of God. 23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!
This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
Ava vaJesus Kristus ova manguluka momhango
1 Ile kamu shi shii, ovamwatate nye, ohandi popi kwaava va shiiva omhango, kutya omhango otai pangele omunhu fimbo e nomwenyo? 2 Omhango ngaashi tai mangele omukainhu omuhombolwa kumwe nomulumenhu waye fimbo ye e nomwenyo; ndele omulumenhu ngeenge a fi, opo nee omukainhu a manguluka momhango yomulumenhu. 3 Onghee hano, ngeenge te liyandje komulumenhu umwe fimbo omulumenhu waye e nomwenyo, ota ifanwa omunyoni wohombo, ndele omulumenhu ngeenge a fi, okwa manguluka momhango ei, ke fi omunyoni wohombo, ngeenge ta hombolwa komulumenhu umwe. 4 Osho nanye yo, ovamwatate, omwa fya mo momhango okolutu laKristus, mu ninge vaumwe, ovaau a nyumunwa movafi, opo tu imikile Kalunga oiimati. 5 Osheshi eshi twa kala mombelela, ouhalu woulunde ou hau tukululwa komhango, owa mona eenghono moinhimbu yetu okwiimikila efyo oiimati. 6 Ndelenee otwa manguluka momhango notwa fya mo muyo, ei kwa li ye tu kwatelela mo, ndele hatu kalele Kalunga omoupe wOmhepo hamoukulu weendada.
7 Paife ohatu ti shike hano? Omhango oyo oulunde? Nandenande. Osheshi ngeno hamhango ya li po, ngeno inandi shiiva oulunde; osheshi omhango ngeno inai tya: “Ino haluka”, ngeno inandi shiiva okahalu. 8 Ndelenee oulunde eshi wa mona omhito molwoshipango, owa tukulula mwaame ouhalu keshe; osheshi oulunde uhe nomhango owa fya. 9 Ndele ame onda kala nale ndihe nomhango, ndele oshipango eshi she uya, opo nee oulunde wa nyumuka, 10 ndele ame onda fya. Osho pa holoka nokutya, oshipango eshi sha li shi nokupa nge omwenyo, osha pa nge efyo. 11 Osheshi oulunde eshi wa mona omhito molwoshipango owa pukifa nge, ndele wa dipaifa nge koshipango. 12 Onghee tuu, omhango oyo iyapuki, noshipango osho oshiyapuki noshiyuki noshiwa.
13 Hano eshi shiwa osha etela nge efyo mbela? Nandenande. Ndelenee oulunde, opo u holoke oo oulunde wa etela nge efyo kwaashi shiwa, opo oulunde u ninge shili oulundelela okoshipango. 14 Osheshi tu shi shii omhango oyopamhepo, ndelenee ame owopambelela, nda landelwa oulunde, ndi kale koshi yao. 15 Osheshi eshi handi longo kandi shi shii, osheshi eshi nde shi hala, itandi shi wanifa, ndele eshi handi tondo, ohandi shi longo. 16 Ndele ngeenge handi longo eshi inandi shi hala, ohandi itavele nokutya, omhango oyo iwa. 17 Hano paife, haame mwene vali handi shi longo, ndelenee oulunde ou wa kala mwaame. 18 Shaashi ondi shi shii mwaame, nokutya, mombelela yange kamu na ouwa nande washa. Ehalo ondi li kwete, ndelenee eenghono dokuwanifa ouwa, ahowe; 19 shaashi ouwa ou nde u hala, ihandi u longo, ndele owii ou inandi u hala, ohandi u longo. 20 Hano ngeenge ohandi longo eshi shii, haame vali handi shi longo, ndelenee oulunde ou wa kala mwaame.
21 Ame, ou nda hala okulonga ouwa, ondi wete mwaame omhango ei: Owii wa kanyatela nge. 22 Shaashi kombinga yomunhu ou womeni onda dimina nehafo omhango yaKalunga, 23 ndele moinhimbu yange ondi wete omhango ikwao tai kondjifa omhango yomadiladilo ange, ndele otai pikile nge momhango youlunde i li moinhimbu yange. 24 Aame omunhu mwii, olyelye ta mangulula nge molutu eli lefyo? 25 Kalunga na pandulwe omolwaJesus Kristus, Omwene wetu! Osho hano ame mwene nomadilongo ange handi longele omhango yaKalunga, ndele nombelela omhango youlunde.
