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But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.(A)

Acquaintance with Sin Through the Law. [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.”(B) But sin, finding an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law sin is dead.(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.

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law(A) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.(B)

The Law and Sin

What shall we say, then?(C) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(D) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(E) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a](F) But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,(G) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21