Romans 7 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionaldashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

Released from the law — the marriage analogy 7:1–6

vv. 1–3 — the axiom and the illustration: law binds only the living

Or do you not know, brothers —independent — the diatribe question opens (cf. 6:3, 16)

for I am speaking to those who know law —cause — parenthesis — γάρ: he may assume the answer

that the law has authority over a personcontent — the axiom — law rules the living

for as long a time as he lives?relative — ἐφ' ὅσον χρόνον — the term of jurisdiction

For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives;independent — the illustration — γάρ grounds the axiom of v. 1

but if her husband dies,conditional — protasis — leans on the release below

she is discharged from the law of the husband.independent — apodosis — the bond annulled by death

So then, while her husband lives, she will be styled an adulteressindependent — verdict 1 — with the genitive absolute inside

if she becomes another man's;conditional — trailing protasis — anchored back on the verdict

but if her husband dies,conditional — protasis — leans on the second verdict below

she is free from that law,independent — verdict 2 — freedom by death

so that she is no adulteress though she becomes another man's.purpose — τοῦ μή + inf. — result: the new union no adultery

vv. 4–6 — the application: dead to the law, joined to the risen one

Likewise, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ,independent — the application — ὥστε; the twist: it is we who died, not the law

so that you might belong to another,purpose — εἰς τό + inf. — the death aims at a new union

to him who was raised from the dead,participial — apposition — the new husband is the risen Christ

in order that we might bear fruit for God.purpose — the union's offspring — fruit for God (contrast v. 5)

For while we were in the flesh,conditional — temporal frame (ὅτε) — leans on the main clause below

the sinful passions, aroused through the law, were at work in our membersindependent — the old regime — the law as sin's occasion

so as to bear fruit for death;purpose — the grim harvest — death the dark beneficiary

but now we have been discharged from the law,independent — νυνὶ δέ — the turn of the eras (cf. 3:21)

having died to that which held us captive,participial — the means of release — death to the captor

so that we serve in newness of Spirit and not in oldness of letter.purpose — ὥστε + inf. — result: Spirit's newness, not letter's oldness

Is the law sin? — the commandment seized by sin 7:7–13

vv. 7–8 — the objection denied: the law exposed sin, sin exploited the law

What then shall we say?independent — the diatribe formula (cf. 6:1)

Is the law sin?independent — the slander floated — verbless question

By no means!independent — the recoil

Yet I would not have known sinindependent — the counter-thesis — the law exposes, it is not the disease

except through the law;conditional — the exception — εἰ μή, elliptical

for indeed I would not have known covetingcause — τε γάρ — the concrete example: the tenth commandment

had the law not said:conditional — trailing protasis — anchored back on the knowing

'You shall not covet.'content — Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21 — the future as emphatic prohibition

But sin, seizing a base of operations through the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting,independent — the real culprit — ἀφορμή, a military bridgehead

for apart from law sin is dead.cause — verbless maxim — sin dormant without the command

vv. 9–12 — the narrative: the commandment came, sin sprang to life, I died

And I was once alive apart from the law;independent — the 'once' — life before the commandment

but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life,independent — the genitive absolute fronts the ambush — ἀνέζησεν

and I — I died;independent — the crash — emphatic ἐγώ against ἡ ἁμαρτία

and the commandment meant for life was found, for me, to be for death;independent — the tragic reversal — εἰς ζωήν … εἰς θάνατον

for sin, seizing a base of operations through the commandment, deceived mecause — how the reversal happened — ἐξηπάτησεν echoes Gen 3:13

and through it killed me.cause — coordinate with the deceiving — the command sin's weapon

So the law itself is holy,independent — the verdict — μέν (its δέ answered only by v. 13's argument)

and the commandment holy and righteous and good.independent — the commandment thrice praised — verbless

v. 13 — did the good kill? no — sin did, and was unmasked

Did the good, then, become death to me?independent — the objection sharpened

By no means!independent — the recoil

No — it was sin,independent — elliptical — the culprit named; supply 'became death'

that it might be exposed as sin,purpose — fronted before the participle it serves — sin unmasked

working death in me through what is good —participial — the modus operandi — death through the good itself

so that through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.purpose — the second design — καθ' ὑπερβολήν, sin's full exposure

The divided self — two laws at war 7:14–25

vv. 14–17 — sold under sin: willing one thing, doing another

For we knowindependent — the shared premise — οἴδαμεν frames the whole

that the law is spiritual;content — the law cleared — it belongs to the Spirit's side

but I — I am fleshly,independent — the antithesis — the famous present-tense ἐγώ begins

sold under sin.participial — the slave-market perfect — πιπράσκω

For what I bring about, I do not understand;independent — the riddle stated — headless relative inside

for it is not what I want that I practice,cause — the see-saw, limb 1 — οὐ … θέλω

but what I hate — that I do.cause — the see-saw, limb 2 — ἀλλά answers the οὐ

But if what I do not want — that I do,conditional — protasis — leans on the concession below

I agree with the lawindependent — apodosis — the divided will still sides with the law

that it is good.content — verbless content — καλός without copula

But as it is, it is no longer I who bring it aboutindependent — the inference — νυνὶ δέ logical, not temporal

but the sin dwelling in me.independent — elliptical — the indwelling tenant named

vv. 18–20 — the diagnosis repeated: the willing present, the doing absent

For I knowindependent — the diagnosis resumes

that good does not dwell in me — that is, in my flesh;content — with the self-correction τοῦτ' ἔστιν kept inside the clause

for the willing lies ready at hand for me,cause — the evidence — willing present

but the working out of the good is not.cause — elliptical — the verb gapped; doing absent

For the good that I want, I do not do,cause — the see-saw restated, limb 1 — v. 15 with ἀγαθόν named

but the evil I do not want — that I practice.cause — the see-saw restated, limb 2 — with κακόν named

But if what I do not want — that I do,conditional — protasis — v. 16 repeated, leaning on the verdict below

it is no longer I who bring it aboutindependent — apodosis — the verdict of v. 17 in identical words

but the sin dwelling in me.independent — elliptical — the refrain sealed

vv. 21–23 — the two laws at war

So I find this law, for me who wants to do the good:independent — the summary — τὸν νόμον read as 'the rule/regularity', not Torah

that evil lies ready at hand for me.content — epexegetic ὅτι — the 'law' defined

For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man,cause — the first datum — joy in God's law, κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον

but I see another law in my members,cause — the counter-datum — δέ pairs with v. 22 under Εὑρίσκω

waging war against the law of my mindparticipial — the campaign — ἀντιστρατεύομαι, military

and taking me captive by the law of sinparticipial — the outcome — αἰχμαλωτίζω, a prisoner of war

the law that is in my members.participial — attributive — the captor quartered in the members

vv. 24–25 — the cry, the thanksgiving, the verdict

Wretched man that I am!independent — the cry — verbless

Who will deliver me from this body of death?independent — the question — deliverance sought from outside

But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!independent — the answer — verbless thanksgiving, anticipating ch. 8

So then, I of myself with the mind serve the law of God,independent — the double-service summary — kept after the thanksgiving, not transposed

but with the flesh the law of sin.independent — elliptical — the δέ limb, verb gapped

Analysis. Romans 7 reads shallow and fast — nothing sinks past depth 3, because the chapter argues in short thrusts, not chained periods. Verses 1–6 are the marriage analogy: olive ἐάν protases lean forward on the verdicts beneath them (adulteress while he lives, free once he dies — the ἄρα οὖν double verdict of v. 3 at the margin), and the ὥστε application of v. 4 steps down through its purposes — belong to another, the risen one, fruit for God — before the νυνὶ δέ of v. 6 releases the whole. Verses 7–13 are diatribe again: flush-left purple questions and μὴ γένοιτο recoils, with the tenth commandment (Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις, Exod 20:17) the one quotation, three steps deep under ἔλεγεν, and the ambush narrative — sin seized a base of operations, deceived, killed — told in short main clauses with γάρ-grounds hanging beneath. Verses 14–25 put the divided self on the page: every limb of the οὐ/ἀλλά see-saw is its own line (what I want I do not practice / what I hate I do — stated in v. 15, restated in vv. 18b–19, the verdict drawn twice in the identical words of vv. 17 and 20), the εἰ δέ protases lean forward on their apodoses, and the war of vv. 22–23 hangs the two participles of the ἕτερος νόμος — waging war, taking captive — beneath the law Paul 'sees'. The cry of v. 24 is a dashed verbless line at the margin; the answer is the verbless thanksgiving of v. 25a; and the ἄρα οὖν double service closes flush-left, its flesh-limb elliptical. Choices the layout takes sides on: τὸν νόμον in v. 21 is read as 'this rule/regularity' with the ὅτι clause epexegetic, not as the Torah; the fronted ἵνα φανῇ of v. 13 is hung on ἡ ἁμαρτία though it serves the participle that follows; v. 25b is kept in its transmitted place as the sober summary after the thanksgiving, not transposed before v. 24. The identity of the ἐγώ of vv. 7–25 — Paul's pre-Christian past, Adam, Israel under the law, or the believer's continuing struggle — is deliberately left open: the layout displays the divided grammar and lets the reader adjudicate.