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Romans 7:7-12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Acquaintance with Sin Through the Law. 7 [a]What then can we say? That the law is sin? Of course not![b] Yet I did not know sin except through the law, and I did not know what it is to covet except that the law said, “You shall not covet.”(A) 8 But sin, finding an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law sin is dead.(B) 9 I once lived outside the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive; 10 then I died, and the commandment that was for life turned out to be death for me.(C) 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death.(D) 12 So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.(E)

Sin and Death.[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 7:7–25 In this passage Paul uses the first person singular in the style of diatribe for the sake of argument. He aims to depict the disastrous consequences when a Christian reintroduces the law as a means to attain the objective of holiness pronounced in Rom 6:22.
  2. 7:7–12 The apostle defends himself against the charge of identifying the law with sin. Sin does not exist in law but in human beings, whose sinful inclinations are not overcome by the proclamation of law.
  3. 7:13–25 Far from improving the sinner, law encourages sin to expose itself in transgressions or violations of specific commandments (see Rom 1:24; 5:20). Thus persons who do not experience the justifying grace of God, and Christians who revert to dependence on law as the criterion for their relationship with God, will recognize a rift between their reasoned desire for the goodness of the law and their actual performance that is contrary to the law. Unable to free themselves from the slavery of sin and the power of death, they can only be rescued from defeat in the conflict by the power of God’s grace working through Jesus Christ.
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New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.