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.
Taka'da ni Lagyeogye yasi
1 Endaro tase ma oyebe atane ono minina tana ndi, ädrupii maro, tana ami cini mini ta ota ro ndi. Ota ka lidri miri toto tu oriro ànyaro si. 2 Taka'dana anjioko, toko se, agyebe, embete ota si ago anyaro ri tu ori ro ndaro si, oko ondro nda kodra bete, 'dooko anya te dritai ro ni ota se kembe anya be ndäri ana yasi. 3 Kpa inye, ondro anya kurudrite mano aza be 'dooko ago anyaro dri orivoya lidri ro, äzina anya te taoye'ba ago drisi, oko ondro ago anyaro kodrate, ota voro anya orivoya dritai ro ye takozi ko ago drisi ago ondro anya kuru ago aza ca owo. 4 Ami kpa orivoya oso inye, ädrupii maro. Ta ota rosi, midra kpate tana ami ni telesi lomvo Kristo ro, ago yauono ami ni nda se eŋgate ni avo yasi ro tana ma'do robe kadoro ruindu Lu ri ya. 5 Tana ondro ka'do màrite oso a'do amaro lomvo ro voro, eteŋga takozi leme lomvo amaro ya te Ota se kabe losi oye ama lomvo si, ago màte ruindu odra ri oyena ayani. 6 Caoko, yauono ama orivoya dritai ro ni Ota ri, tana màdrate ŋgase kembe ama be kamba'bai ro ri. Minduru kote tona liti uku ota egyi egyi ro ya, oko te tase to'di Tori ro ri.
Ota ndi Takozi be
7 Ka'do inye, màtana ndi màkye, Ota andivo orivoya takozi yi ya? Ko inye! Oko Ota 'ba ma te takozi unine. Ondro aba ota kata ko ekye: “Mi'ba ya ko ŋga 'diaza rota,” aba mänina ko ta yao'ba ro nonye ono tana unine. 8 Oko Ota se ana si takozi usu kandrakado anyaro te yao'ba se cini ma ya ono drî na teŋgane. Ota ako takozi orivoya avo yi. 9 Sedri andivo maro lidriidriro ota ako owo, oko ondro ota kikyite oko, takozi adrite, 10 ago madrate. Ago ota se usu tana be kabe ni adri ezi ono, ta maro ta ezite odra ayani. 11 Takozi usu kandrakado iro te, ago ta ota rosi anya odo ma te ago fu ma te.
12 Ka'do inye, Ota andivo orivoya alokado, ago ota orivoya alokado, ŋgye ago kado. 13 Oko inye'do tase orivoya kado ono 'ba ma ni odrane ya? Ko inye! Takozi owo; anya ezi odra te mädri ŋgase kado si, tana aka'da takozi robe takozi ro. Ago ndi inye, ota si aka'da takozi te a'done koziekyero ndra.
Ruufu Ya Lidri roya
14 Mänite anjioko Ota orivoya tori ro, oko ma orivoya mano oŋgwaoŋgwa ro yi, agyete iyeäṛi ro takozi ri. 15 Mäni tase mabe oyena ko, tana maye tase malebe oyene kote, oko maye ṛo tase ya maro osoro lomvoigye ayani vona ro. 16 Ondro ma tase male ko oyene oyena ayani, 'do ka'date anjioko male tadrite anjioko Ota orivoya kado. 17 Ago ma ko ni nda se kabe ŋga ono oyena owo; oko ni takozi se kabe ori ma ya owo. 18 Mänite anjioko takado ri ko ma ya, anjioko a'do lidri ro maro ya. Tana ole takado oyero gica orivoya ma ya, caoko ma mbaraako oyene. 19 Maye takado se malebe oyene kote, mago maye ṛo tase undiro male ko oyene ayani. 20 Ondro ma tase male ko oyene oyena, 'do ka'date anjioko ma kote ni 'dise kabe oyena owo, oko takozi se kabe ori ma ya ono owo.
21 Ago musuvote anjioko ota se ono orivoya losi oyevoya! Ondro malete tase orivoya kado oyene, tase orivoya kozi mabe sina manji toto ayani. 22 Ya yasi maro le ota Lu ro. 23 Oko mandre ota to aza te orivoya losi oyevoya lomvo maro ya, ota se kabe kyila oye ota se tauni drî maro ro kolebe be. Anya ka ma o'ba kamba'ba ro ota takozi ro se orivoya losi oyevoya lomvo maro ya ri. 24 Ma mano riyä ako yi! A'di opana ma gini lomvo se ka ugu ma o'ba odrane ono risi ya? 25 Aro'boya ka'do Lu ri, se ka ta ono oye Opi amaro Yesu Kristo si!
Ono ni, taoye maro, modo maro si mäni ndi ruindune ota Lu ro ri tauni drî maro rosi, oko lomvo maro ka ruindu ota takozi ro ri.