Throughout this entire section (vv. 14-25) Paul uses familiar Jewish terminology when he speaks of the two impulses, the good and the evil, which are constantly struggling for supremacy over man. He introduces his discussion with a general principle with which all his readers will agree: we know that the Law is spiritual.

In some languages there seems to be no term more difficult to translate adequately than spiritual. In some contexts it applies to the work of the Holy Spirit. In others it relates primarily to man’s spirit, and in still others it seems to be so general as to suggest merely something of “divine origin.” In this particular context the most satisfactory equivalent is, in some languages, “the Law is for our spirits but I am just a body” or “… I am a person with a body,” in other words, a physical being. One may also translate, in some languages, “the Law concerns our spirits.” However, in this particular context in which the emphasis of spiritual is in contrast with mortal man (or “a person of flesh”), it is probably better to relate “spiritual” to God but not specifically to the Holy Spirit. For that reason some translators employ the expression “the Law is from God” or “the Law relates to God.”

On the other hand, Paul contrasts himself with the nature of the Law: I am mortal man, sold as a slave to sin. The word rendered mortal man by the Good News Translation is obviously used in contrast with the word spiritual. But there is a question as to the exact contrast that is intended, and the problem is intensified by the observation that Paul uses “flesh” in at least two senses in his writings (mortal man actually translates an adjective made from the noun “flesh”). Sometimes “flesh” is used to describe human existence in its frailty, whereas at other times it is used to describe human nature in its sinful rebellion against God. Most translations evidently take the adjective translated mortal man in the latter sense, and so render the word either by “carnal” (Revised Standard Version, Phillips), “unspiritual” (New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible), or “weak flesh” (New American Bible). An American Translation* (“the Law is spiritual, but I am physical”) takes “flesh” in the same sense as the Good News Translation, that is, as a description of the physical aspect of human life apart from any evil connotations. So many translators understand this word to have overtones of evil in the present context because of its connection with what follows: sold as a slave to sin. However, this is not a necessary conclusion. It is equally acceptable to understand Paul to be speaking of himself as a mortal man, that is, a man who is exposed to all of the temptations that can come to one because he is a physical being, and who has now come under the power of sin.

The final phrase sold as a slave to sin is difficult to render in languages which cannot employ a passive without indicating agent, and in this type of context one certainly would not want to say “God sold me as a slave to sin” or “I sold myself as a slave to sin.” Under such circumstances it is better to omit the concept of sold rather than to employ a rendering which would be wrongly understood. One may therefore simply translate as “I am a slave to sin” in the sense of “I am a slave who obeys sin” or “I have become like a slave, obedient to sin.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .