JMNT(i)
14 For you see, we have seen and are aware (or: on the one hand I recognize and know)
that the Law (= Torah; or: law; custom; principle)
constantly exists being spiritual (is pertaining to spirit; is having the qualities of a Breath-effect; is relating to attitude),
yet (or: on the other hand)
I [= Israel? or, Adam]
myself am (or: exist being)
fleshly (composed of flesh; carnal; flesh-oriented; or: = affected by the alienated self),
being one having been and now remaining sold under [the power and control of] the Sin (under failure and the miss of the Target [of Torah?]).
15 For what I am constantly producing (habitually working down to accomplish; [= keeping customs of the Torah])
I do not intimately know (experience in my understanding).
You see, that which I continually will (habitually intend and purpose),
this I do not habitually practice. But rather, that which I constantly hate, this I continue to do or repeatedly perform!
16 Now if what I am not continually willing (not habitually intending),
this I am habitually doing or producing, I am constantly concurring with (conceding; agreeing with; a prophetic voice with)
the Law [= the Torah],
that [
it is]
ideal (fine; excellent; beautiful).
17 Yet now (= as the case really stands)
I myself am no longer habitually producing (continuously working down and effecting)
this, but rather the Sin (the failure; the personified error of missing the Target; the deviation [from Torah and its boundary markers]) [
which is]
continuously housing herself (or: making its home; inhabiting; dwelling; = living)
within me.
18 For I have seen and thus know that good (or: virtue)
is not habitually making its home (housing itself; dwelling; = living)
within me – that is, within my flesh (= alienated self; or: = life under Torah) –
for the [
ability or condition]
to will (or: intend; purpose)
is continually lying near beside me, but the [
ability, condition or circumstance]
to constantly produce (work down, effect and accomplish)
the ideal (the fine; the excellent; the beautiful) [
is]
not.
19 For that which I constantly intend (will; purpose) –
a good thing (a noble deed; a virtuous act) –
I do not normally do (or: I am not consistently doing what I continually will, intend and purpose: [something] good),
but rather, that which I continuously do not intend (or: will) –
a worthless (ugly; ignoble; base; bad; evil)
thing – this I habitually put into practice!
20 Yet if that which I am not willing (intending),
this I am constantly doing, I, myself, am no longer producing (working down and effecting)
it, but rather, [
it is]
the Sin (the failure; the error; the missing of the Goal; the deviation [from Torah-keeping])
continuously housing herself (making its home; dwelling)
within me [= Adam, or an Israelite, personified].
21 Consequently I keep on finding the principle (or: this law)
in me – in the person normally willing (purposing; intending)
to habitually do (perform; produce)
the ideal (the beautiful; the fine) –
that in me (or: with me; for me)
the worthless (the ugly; the ignoble; the base; the evil)
is constantly lying close by.
22 For habitually I am pleased with (take enjoyment and delight with)
the principle and law which is God (or: the principle of God; or: the Law from God),
down in (or: in correspondence with; on the level of)
the inner human (or: the interior person within; the inside humanity),
23 yet I constantly see (or: observe)
a different principle (or: law),
within my members, [
which is]
by the Law (or: custom; or: [= Torah])
repeatedly taking the field to wage war against my mind (or: warring in opposition to, and in the place of, the law of, and which is, my mind),
and repeatedly taking me prisoner and leading me into captivity within the principle (or: in union with the Law)
of the Sin (the failure; the error; the miss of the Target; the deviation from [Torah-keeping]) –
the one continuously existing (or: now being)
within my members.
24 I [
am]
a wretched (callous-weighted [from hard work], miserable, distressed, enduring-severe-effort-and-hardship)
man (or: human)!
What will be progressively rescuing me from out of the body of this death (or: from out of this body of the death; out of this body which pertains to death and which has its origin, character and qualities in death)? [comment: Paul continues his rhetoric of personifying Adam's and Israel's predicament]
25 The Grace and joyous favor of God! – through Jesus Christ our Owner (Lord)! [other MSS: The grace of {the} Lord; other MSS: Yet {there is} grace and favor in God (or: by God; with God), through Jesus Christ our Lord (or: Master); other MSS: I habitually give thanks to, and speak of the goodness of grace in, God!]
Consequently then, I myself in (or: by; with)
the mind, indeed, (or: on the other hand)
continuously perform as a slave to and for the principle and law which is God (or: in God’s Law; by and with God’s principle),
yet in (or: by)
the flesh (= with the self which is oriented to society and the System; or: = customs and cultus of the Torah),
to, for and in a principle of failure (with a law of sin or error; or: for a law from missing the Target; or: by Sin’s law).