7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, aI would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, b“You shall not covet.”
8 But asin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all mannerofevil desire. For bapart from the law sin was dead.
9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 And the commandment, awhich was to bring life, I found to bring death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
12 Therefore athe law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Law Cannot Save from Sin
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, asold under sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. aFor what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that itis good.
17 But now, itis no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that ain me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will todo, I do not do; but the evil I will not todo, that I practice.
20 Now if I do what I will not todo, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22 For I adelight in the law of God according to bthe inward man.
23 But aI see another law in bmy members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me afrom this body of death?
25aI thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Paul once lived without knowledge of what the law meant, but when the commandment came, he understood. At that point, he recognized he was as good as dead because he had broken the law. It was not the law that killed him but sin; sin slew him. The law itself was ordained to life, being holy, just, good, and spiritual. Before conversion, Paul did not even understand what sin is, as he admitted he did not know until the Word came. Upon conversion, for the first time, he gained a clear and true understanding of what sin is. When he said "I died," it means he repented and was baptized in the water, buried.
Romans 7:9
What Paul means by "I was alive once without the law" is that, at one time, he without the knowledge of what the law meant. It was "when the commandment came" that he understood. At this point, Paul knew that he was as good as dead because he had broken the law (Romans 6:23).
Notice that it was not the law that killed him but sin! Plain, simple truth—sin slew him. By contrast, Paul says that the law was ordained to life. It is holy, just, good, and spiritual. That is very clear.
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Paul once lived without knowledge of what the law meant, but when the commandment came, he understood. At that point, he recognized he was as good as dead because he had broken the law. It was not the law that killed him but sin; sin slew him. The law itself was ordained to life, being holy, just, good, and spiritual. Before conversion, Paul did not even understand what sin is, as he admitted he did not know until the Word came. Upon conversion, for the first time, he gained a clear and true understanding of what sin is. When he said "I died," it means he repented and was baptized in the water, buried.