Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:8
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead.
8. But ] This word refers to the statement “I had not known lust;” and this verse explains the action of the law in causing (indirectly) the knowledge of sin.
sin ] As a principle, “working” evil desires as its result.
occasion ] The Gr. word = the French point d’appui. The positive inexorable precept, presented to the fallen will, became the fulcrum for the energy of the evil principle.
concupiscence ] The same word as that just rendered “lust.” The verb is aorist; wrought; but the reference is not necessarily to any single crisis of the past. St Paul probably views the whole past action of the Commandment and of Sin respectively as, in idea, one thing. Not, however, that there may not have been a crisis of “fierce temptation” in his recollection. These remarks apply to Rom 7:9-11 also.
sin was dead ] The context explains this phrase. Sin, as sin, as resistance to God, (see fourth note on Rom 7:7,) was torpid till the Law called it out. It was present; for certainly he does not mean that he was once sinless; but it was present as a blind negative bias rather than otherwise.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But sin – To illustrate the effect of the Law on the mind, the apostle in this verse depicts its influence in exciting to evil desires and purposes. Perhaps no where has he evinced more consummate knowledge of the human heart than here. He brings an illustration that might have escaped most persons, but which goes directly to establish his position that the Law is insufficient to promote the salvation of man. Sin here is personified. It means not a real entity; not a physical subsistence; not something independent of the mind, having a separate existence, and lodged in the soul, but it means the corrupt passions, inclinations, and desires of the mind itself. Thus, we say that lust burns, and ambition rages, and envy corrodes the mind, without meaning that lust, ambition, or envy are any independent physical subsistences, but meaning that the mind that is ambitious, or envious, is thus excited.
Taking occasion – The word occasion aphormen properly denotes any material, or preparation for accomplishing anything; then any opportunity, occasion, etc. of doing it. Here it means that the Law was the exciting cause of sin; or was what called the sinful principle of the heart into exercise. But for this, the effect here described would not have existed. Thus, we say that a tempting object of desire presented is the exciting cause of covetousness. Thus, an object of ambition is the exciting cause of the principle of ambition. Thus, the presentation of wealth, or of advantages possessed by others which we have not, may excite covetousness or envy. Thus, the fruit presented to Eve was the exciting cause of sin; the wedge of gold to Achan excited his covetousness. Had not these objects been presented, the evil principles of the heart might have slumbered, and never have been called forth. And hence, no one understand the full force of their native propensities until some object is presented that calls them forth into decided action. The occasion which called these forth in the mind of Paul was the Law crossing his path, and irritating and exciting the native strong inclinations of the mind.
By the commandment – By all law appointed to restrain and control the mind.
Wrought in me – Produced or worked in me. The word used here means often to operate in a powerful and efficacious manner. (Doddridge.)
All manner of – Greek, All desire. Every species of unlawful desire. It was not confined to one single desire, but extended to everything which the Law declared to be wrong.
Concupiscence – Unlawful or irregular desire. Inclination for unlawful enjoyments. The word is the same which in Rom 7:7 is rendered lust. If it be asked in what way the Law led to this, we may reply, that the main idea here is, that opposition by law to the desires and passions of wicked men only tends to inflame and exasperate them. This is the case with regard to sin in every form. An attempt to restrain it by force; to denounce it by laws and penalties; to cross the path of wickedness; only tends to irritate, and to excite into living energy, what otherwise would be dormant in the bosom. This it does, because,
(1) It crosses the path of the sinner, and opposes his intention, and the current of his feelings and his life.
(2) The Law acts the part of a detector, and lays open to view that which was in the bosom, but was concealed.
(3) Such is the depth and obstinacy of sin in man, that the very attempt to restrain often only serves to exasperate, and to urge to greater deeds of wickedness. Restraint by law rouses the mad passions; urges to greater deeds of depravity; makes the sinner stubborn, obstinate, and more desperate. The very attempt to set up authority over him throws him into a posture of resistance, and makes him a party, and excites all the feelings of party rage. Anyone may have witnessed this effect often on the mind of a wicked and obstinate child.
(4) This is particularly true in regard to a sinner. He is calm often, and apparently tranquil. But let the Law of God be brought home to his conscience, and he becomes maddened and enraged. He spurns its authority, yet his conscience tells him it is right; he attempts to throw it off, yet trembles at its power; and to show his independence, or his purpose to sin, he plunges into iniquity, and becomes a more dreadful and obstinate sinner. It becomes a struggle for victory; in the controversy with God he re solves not to be overcome. It accordingly happens that many a man is more profane, blasphemous, and desperate when under conviction for sin than at other times. In revivals of religion it often happens that people evince violence, and rage, and cursing, which they do not in a state of spiritual death in the church; and it is often a very certain indication that a man is under conviction for sin when he becomes particularly violent, and abusive, and outrageous in his opposition to God.
(5) The effect here noticed by the apostle is one that has been observed at all times, and by all classes of writers. Thus, Cato says (Livy, xxxiv. 4,) Do not think, Romans, that it will be hereafter as it was before the Law was enacted. It is more safe that a bad man should not be accused, than that he should be absolved; and luxury not excited would be more tolerable than it will be now by the very chains irritated and excited as a wild beast. Thus, Seneca says (de Clementia, i. 23,) Parricides began with the law. Thus, Horace (Odes, i. 3,) The human race, bold to endure all things, rushes through forbidden crime. Thus, Ovid (Amor. iii. 4,) We always endeavour to obtain what is forbidden, and desire what is denied. (These passages are quoted from Tholuck.) See also Pro 9:17, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. If such be the effect of the Law, then the inference of the apostle is unavoidable, that it is not adapted to save and sanctify man.
For without the law – Before it was given; or where it was not applied to the mind.
Sin was dead – It was inoperative, inactive, unexcited. This is evidently in a comparative sense. The connection requires us to under stand it only so far as it was excited by the Law. Peoples passions would exist; but without law they would not be known to be evil, and they would not be excited into wild and tumultuous raging.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Sin, taking occasion by the commandment] I think the pointing, both in this and in the 11th verse, to be wrong: the comma should be after occasion, and not after commandment. But sin taking occasion, wrought in me by this commandment all manner of concupiscence. There are different opinions concerning the meaning of the word , which we here translate occasion. Dr. Waterland translates the clause, Sin, taking ADVANTAGE. Dr. Taylor contends that all commentators have mistaken the meaning of it, and that it should be rendered having received FORCE. For this acceptation of the word I can find no adequate authority except in its etymology-, from, and , impetus. The word appears to signify, in general, whatsoever is necessary for the completion or accomplishment of any particular purpose. Xenophon uses to signify whatever is necessary for the support of life. There is a personification in the text: sin is, represented as a murderer watching for life, and snatching at every means and embracing every opportunity to carry his fell purpose into effect. The miserable sinner has a murderer, sin, within him; this murderer can only destroy life in certain circumstances; finding that the law condemns the object of his cruelty to death, he takes occasion from this to work in the soul all manner of concupiscence, evil and irregular desires and appetites of every kind, and, by thus increasing the evil, exposes the soul to more condemnation; and thus it is represented as being slain, Ro 7:11. That is, the law, on the evidence of those sinful dispositions, and their corresponding practices, condemns the sinner to death: so that he is dead in law. Thus the very prohibition, as we have already seen in the preceding verse, becomes the instrument of exciting the evil propensity; for, although a sinner has the general propensity to do what is evil, yet he seems to feel most delight in transgressing known law: stat pro ratione voluntas; “I will do it, because I will.”
For without the law, sin was dead.] Where there is no law there is no transgression; for sin is the transgression of the law; and no fault can be imputed unto death, where there is no statute by which such a fault is made a capital offence.
Dr. Taylor thinks that , without the law, means the time before the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, which took in the space of 430 years, during which time the people were under the Abrahamic covenant of grace; and without the law that was given on Mount Sinai, the sting of death, which is sin, had not power to slay the sinner; for, from the time that Adam sinned, the law was not re-enacted till it was given by Moses, Ro 5:13. The Jew was then alive, because he was not under the law subjecting him to death for his transgressions; but when the commandment came, with the penalty of death annexed, sin revived, and the Jew died. Then the sting of death acquired life; and the Jew, upon the first transgression, was dead in law. Thus sin, the sting of death, received force or advantage to destroy by the commandment, Ro 7:8; Ro 7:11.
All manner of concupiscence.] It showed what was evil and forbade it; and then the principle of rebellion, which seems essential to the very nature of sins rose up against the prohibition; and he was the more strongly incited to disobey in proportion as obedience was enjoined. Thus the apostle shows that the law had authority to prohibit, condemn, and destroy; but no power to pardon sin, root out enmity, or save the soul.
The word , which we render concupiscence, signifies simply strong desire of any kind; but in the New Testament, it is generally taken to signify irregular and unholy desires. Sin in the mind is the desire to do, or to be, what is contrary to the holiness and authority of GOD.
For without the law, sin was dead.] This means, according to Dr. Taylor’s hypothesis, the time previous to the giving of the law. See before. But it seems also consistent with the apostle’s meaning, to interpret the place as implying the time in which Paul, in his unconverted Jewish state, had not the proper knowledge of the law-while he was unacquainted with its spirituality. He felt evil desire, but he did not know the evil of it; he did not consider that the law tried the heart and its workings, as well as outward actions. This is farther explained in the next verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But sin; i.e. the corruption of our nature, the depraved bent and bias of the soul, called before lust.
Taking occassion by the commandment; i.e. being stirred up or drawn forth by the prohibition of the law. The law did not properly give occasion, but sin took it. The law (as before) is not the cause of sin, though by accident it is the occasion of it. In a dropsy, it is not the drink that is to be blamed for increasing the disease, but the ill habit of body. Such is the depravedness of mans nature, that the things which are forbidden are the more desired: the more the law would dam up the torrent of sinful lusts, the higher do they swell. The law was given to restrain sin, but through our corruption it falls out contrarily. The law inhibiting sin, and not giving power to avoid it, our impetuous lusts take occasion or advantage from thence, the more eagerly to pursue it.
Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence; i.e. inordinate affections and inclinations of all sorts.
For without the law; i.e. without the knowledge of the law.
Sin was dead; i.e. comparatively dead. Sin hath not so much power, either to terrify the conscience, or to stir up inordinate affections; it is like a sleepy lion, that stirs not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. For without the lawthatis, before its extensive demands and prohibitions come to operateupon our corrupt nature.
sin wasrather, “is”
deadthat is, thesinful principle of our nature lies so dormant, so torpid, that itsvirulence and power are unknown, and to our feeling it is as good as”dead.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But sin taking occasion by the commandment,…. By “the commandment” is meant, either the whole moral law, or that particular commandment, “thou shalt not covet”, Ex 20:17, which, the Jews say, comprehends all;
“God, (say they f,) caused them (the Israelites) to hear the ten words, which he concluded with this word, “thou shalt not covet”; , “for all of them depend on that”: and to intimate, that whoever keeps this commandment, it is as if he kept the whole law, and whoever transgresses this, it is all one as if he transgressed the whole law;”
and no doubt but it does refer to any unlawful thought of, desire after, and inclination to anything forbidden in the other commandments. By “sin” is meant, not the devil, as some of the ancients thought; but the vitiosity and corruption of nature, indwelling sin, the law in the members that took “occasion” by the law of God; so that the law at most could only be an occasion, not the cause of sin, and besides, this was an occasion not given by the law, but taken by sin; so that it was sin, and not the law, which
wrought in [him] all manner of concupiscence. The law forbidding every unclean thought, and covetous desire of unlawful objects, sin took an occasion through these prohibitions to work in him, stir up and excite concupiscence, evil desire after all manner of things forbidden by the law; hence it is clear that not the law, but sin, is exceeding sinful:
for without the law sin was dead; not that, before the law of Moses was given, sin lay dead and unexerted, for during that interval between Adam and Moses sin was, and lived and reigned, and death by it, as much as at any other time; but when the apostle was without the law, that is, without the knowledge of the spirituality of it, before it came with power and light into his heart and conscience, sin lay as though it was dead; it was so in his apprehension, he fancied himself free from it, and that he was perfectly righteous.
f Abkath Rochel, l. 1. par. 1. p. 3. Ed. Huls.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Finding occasion ( ). See 2Cor 5:12; 2Cor 11:12; Gal 5:13 for , a starting place from which to rush into acts of sin, excuses for doing what they want to do. Just so drinking men use the prohibition laws as “occasions” for violating them.
Wrought in me ( ). First aorist active middle indicative of the intensive verb , to work out (to the finish), effective aorist. The command not to lust made me lust more.
Dead (). Inactive, not non-existent. Sin in reality was there in a dormant state.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sin. Personified.
Occasion [] . Emphatic, expressing the relation of the law to sin. The law is not sin, but sin found occasion in the law. Used only by Paul. See 2Co 5:12; Gal 5:13; 1Ti 5:14. The verb ajformaw means to make a start from a place. Aformh is therefore primarily a starting – point, a base of operations. The Lacedaemonians agreed that Peloponnesus would be ajformhn iJkanhn a good base of operations (Thucydides, 1, 90). Thus, the origin, cause, occasion, or pretext of a thing; the means with which one begins. Generally, resources, as means of war, capital in business. Here the law is represented as furnishing sin with the material or ground of assault, “the fulcrum for the energy of the evil principle.” Sin took the law as a base of operations. Wrought [] . The compound verb with kata down through always signifies the bringing to pass or accomplishment. See ch. Rom 2:9; 1Co 5:3; 2Co 7:10. It is used both of evil and good. See especially vers. 15, 17, 18, 20. “To man everything forbidden appears as a desirable blessing; but yet, as it is forbidden, he feels that his freedom is limited, and now his lust rages more violently, like the waves against the dyke” (Tholuck).
Dead. Not active.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,” (aphormen de labousa he hamartia dia tes entoles) “But lawless-sin taking occasion through the commandment; by or through the commandment that forbad lust, covetousness, pride, greed, etc. revealed that I was a transgressor, 1Jn 3:4.
2) “Wrought in me,” (kateirgasato en emoi) “Wrought (down) in me”; the motions of even covetous lust, working like maggots, in the carnal nature, works as sinfulness in every man, Mat 5:27-28, Pro 6:25; Mat 15:18-19.
3) “All manner of concupiscence,” (pasan epithumian) “Every kind or manner of lust,” all forms of covetousness, greed, etc. Deu 5:21; Rom 5:12-13
4) “For without the law sin was dead,” (Choris gar nomou hamartia nekra) “For apart from (the jurisdiction of) law, sin (exists as) dead;” unrealized, unrecognized as wrong or evil, with no conscious recognition of its holy and just and good standards, Rom 4:15; Rom 5:20; Rom 7:12. It is said by explorers that many black tribes of the Islands have been discovered who did not know they were black until after they had seen white men. Discovery and recognition of each other as white and black did not make them so –it only revealed to them what they were. So was the law to man.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. For without the law, etc. He expresses most clearly the meaning of his former words; for it is the same as though he had said, that the knowledge of sin without the law is buried. It is a general truth, which he presently applies to his own case. I hence wonder what could have come into the minds of interpreters to render the passage in the preterimperfect tense, as though Paul was speaking of himself; for it is easy to see that his purpose was to begin with a general proposition, and then to explain the subject by his own example.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Taking occasion.The word in the Greek implies originally a military metaphor: taking as a base of operations, i.e., an advanced post occupied as the starting-point and rendezvous for further advances. Sin is unable to. act upon man without the co-operation of law, without being able to hold up law before him, and so show itself in its true colours.
The words by the commandment may either go with taking occasion or with wrought in me. The sense would, in either case, be very much the same, taking advantage of the commandment, or wrought in me by the help of the commandment. The first is the construction usually adopted, as in the Authorised version, but there seem to be reasons of some force for preferring the second. The phrase wrought in me coveting by the commandment would thus be parallel to working death in me by that which is good, below.
Concupiscence.Rather, coveting; the same word which had been used above. Sin and the Commandment togetherSin, the evil principle in men, acting as the primary cause, and the Commandment as the secondary causeled their unfortunate victim into all kinds of violation of the Law. This is done in two ways: (1) the perverseness of human nature is such that the mere prohibition of an act suggests the desire to do that which is prohibited; (2) the act, when done, is invested with the character of sin, which hitherto it did not possess. It becomes a distinct breach of law, where previously there had been no law to break. This is what the Apostle means by saying that without the Law sin was dead. Until there was a written prohibition, Sin (the evil principle) was powerless to produce sinful actions.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Wrought concupiscence Commentators generally understand that the apostle here describes the reaction that sometimes takes place, with which the fractious soul sins the worse from its very spite against the restraints of law. It will not only sin when it is forbidden, but sin all the more rampantly because it is forbidden. Prohibition provokes transgression, and transgression ramps and rages out of vengeance against prohibition. Now this may be the meaning; and yet the idea seems hardly called for, or relevant to the train of thought. The demanded meaning is that sin, by means of law, brought every variety of concupiscence or unlawful heart-sin into revelation and visible existence; for the apostle more than once vividly describes a bringing into sight as a bringing into existence.
Dead Dead to all visibility or phenomenal existence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting.’
And from that time of illumination onwards he had found himself coveting more and more, because the principle of sin was at work within him. Sin had taken the opportunity of his new knowledge, which in itself was so worthy, to arouse within him his fleshly desires and cause him to covet more and more. To a man who had striven so earnestly to be perfect by the standard of the Law it must have come as a huge shock. And it had then made him recognise that, in accordance with that Law, he was now under sentence of death.
Sin is like that in us all. For a long time there can be a certain sin at work within us of which we are unconscious, until the word of God speaks to us, either through a preacher or in our private reading, and we then suddenly recognise how awful it is. But we do not necessarily immediately abjure it. Rather we may become obsessed by it, and find ourselves indulging in it more and more because it has become a habit in our lives, with ‘sin’ driving us on as a result of our sinful desires. Many Christians have been caught up with indecency on the internet, where they can keep it under cover, only to be convicted of it, and then, rather than abjuring it, to continue enjoying it more and more because it has been exposed to them ‘by the Law’ (by God’s word) as a desire of the flesh, even as they fight against it. That is the nature of man, even of Christians.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘For apart from the law sin is dead.’
For until the Law comes on the scene sin is able to continue its work unnoticed. It is as though it was dead. It lies there unnoticed and seemingly dormant, yet working all kinds of things within people, until suddenly it is exposed. And then they are faced with the decision as to whether they should repent and seek God’s mercy. This activity of sin of which they are unaware, is something experienced by all people, although sadly in many cases they die with it unnoticed, and therefore die without hope. But most of us can look back to sins that we had committed for years without recognising that they were sins, and to the moment of illumination when we said, ‘God forgive me, what have I been doing?’. Without the intervention of the Law sin remains unexposed and seemingly ‘dead’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 7:8. Sin, taking occasion, &c. Taking advantage. This is the proper signification of the Greek word ‘ . Observe, that in this and the three following verses, the Apostle comments upon, or at least explains those words, 1Co 15:56. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; and those also of this Epistle, chap. Rom 5:13. Sin is not imputed when there is no law. Death, in a figurative way of speaking, is represented as armed with a dreadful sting; that sting is sin; but death would have no power to thrust that sting into the sinner’s heart, were it not for the law of God condemning him to death: for did not the law, or constitution of the lawgiver, condemn him to death, he might, notwithstanding his sin, live for ever, because his sin might from time to time be passed over. Therefore the law is the force, bywhich the terrible sting is plunged into the sinner’s vitals: for without the law, sin, the sting of death, is itself dead, and quite unable to slay the sinner. Hence it is that the Jew (Rom 7:9.) was alive without law once; , when law was set aside; namely, before the giving of thelaw from mount Sinai; for before the giving of the law, or the Sinai covenant, he was for the space of 430 years under the Abrahamic covenant, or the covenant of grace by itself (Gal 3:16-17.) without having the law subsisting at the same time: for from the time Adam sinned and broke the law, the law was not re-enacted till it was given by Moses, as appears from chap. Rom 5:13-14. The Jew was then alive, because he was not under the law subjecting him to death for every transgression; but when the commandment came, with the penalty of death annexed, sin revived, and the Jew died. Then the sting of death acquired life, and the Jew, upon the first transgression, was dead in law. Thus sin, the sting of death, received force or advantage to destroy by the commandment, (Rom 7:8; Rom 7:11.); and whereas sin works concupiscence in all men, and deceives all men, it wrought concupiscence in the Jew, and deceived him under this singular and extraordinary circumstance of having received a destructive power from the law, and so rendered him a dead man in law; which was not the case of the rest of mankind, who then were, as they had always been from the time of the promise (Gen 3:15.), under the general covenant of grace, given first to Adam, and afterwards to Noah. The reader will observe, that the stress of the Apostle’s affirmation lies in these words, having received force, because he adds, for without law sin is dead, which is manifestlygiving the reason of sin’s receiving a destructive force by the commandment of the law. In me, is emphatical: “In me distinguished from other men who were not under the law.” See Doddridge, and Dunlop’s Sermons, vol. 2: p. 46.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 7:8 . ] placing over against the negative declaration of Rom 7:7 the description of the positive process, by which the consciousness of desire of Rom 7:7 emerged: but indeed sin took occasion , etc. In this placed first emphatically, not in (Th. Schott), lies the point of the relation.
] as in Rom 7:7 , not conceived as (Fritzsche); nor yet the sinful activity , as Reiche thinks; for that is the result of the (Jas 1:5 ), and the sin that first takes occasion from the law cannot be an action.
For examples of ., to take occasion , see Wetstein and Kypke. The principle of sin took occasion, not, as Reiche thinks, received occasion; for it is conceived as something revived (Rom 7:9 ), which works .
] through the command , namely, the . of Rom 7:7 . This interpretation is plainly necessary from the following . . . Reiche, following De Dieu and several others, erroneously (comp. Eph 2:15 ) takes as equivalent to . We must connect . . with . (Rckert, Winzer, Benecke, de Wette, Fritzsche, Tholuck, Umbreit, van Hengel, and Hofmann), not with . . (Luther and many others, including Reiche, Kllner, Olshausen, Philippi, Maier, and Ewald), because . is never construed with (frequently with , as in Polyb. iii. 32. 7, iii. 7. 5), and because Rom 7:11 ( .) and Rom 7:13 confirm the connection with .
. .] it brought about in me all manner of desire . Respecting ., see on Rom 1:27 . Even without the law there is desire in man, but not yet in the ethical definite character of desire after the forbidden , as is conceived of according to Rom 7:7 ; for as yet there is no prohibition, and consequently no moral antithesis existing to the desire in itself (“ignoti nulla cupido,” Ovid, A. A. 397), through which antithesis the inner conflict is first introduced. Every desire is, in accordance with the quite general , to be left without limitation. No desire (as respects category) was excluded. A reference to the desires, which the state of civilisation joined with a positive legislation calls forth (de Wette), is foreign to the connection. Comp. Pro 9:17 .
] sc . , not (Beza, Reiche, Krummacher), just because the omission of the verb betokens a general proposition: for without the law, i.e. if it do not enter into relation with the law, sin , the sinful principle in man, is dead, i.e. not active , because that is wanting, by which it may take occasion to be alive. The potentiality of the nitimur in vetitum is indeed there, but, lacking the veto of the ( , Theodoret), can exhibit no actual vital activity; it does not stir, because the antithesis is wanting. Hence the law becomes the , 1Co 15:56 , though it is not itself (Chrysippus in Plut. de Stoic. Rep . 33). Erroneous is the view held by Chrysostom, Calvin, Estius, Olshausen, and others, that implies the absence of knowledge of sin ( ). The is here, as throughout in this connection, the Mosaic law, which contains the (Rom 7:7 ; Rom 7:9 ; Rom 7:12 ). That this may be and is misused by the principle of sin, in the way indicated, arises from the fact, that it comes forward merely with the outward command (thou shalt, thou shalt not) , without giving the power of fulfilment; comp. Lipsius, Rechtfertigungsl . p. 63 ff. And the analogous application , which the general proposition admits of to the moral law of nature also, is indeed self-evident, but lies here aloof from the apostle’s sphere of thought.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Ver. 8. By the commandment ] Not commandments. Papists abolishing, or at least destroying, the sense of the second commandment, by making it a member of the first, that they may retain the number of ten words (so loth are heretics to have their asses’ ears seen) they divide this last; which yet Paul here calls the commandment; and sure he knew better than they the analysis of the law.
Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence ] The more the law would dam up the torrent of sinful lusts, the higher did they swell. ( Nitimur in vetitum. ) Corruption doth increase and begin by the law. The more God forbids sin, the more we bid for it: as if we did sin on purpose to provoke God; as if God had need deal with us as he did in the story, who was wont to command the contrary when he would have anything done, because he knew they would cross him. Howbeit, although sin thus take occasion by the law, yet this is per accidens, as in the dropsy, it is not the drink that is to be blamed for increasing the disease, but the ill distemper of the body.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] But (proceeding with the development of sin by means of the law) sin (the sinful principle or propensity, but without any conscious personification on the part of the Apostle, see some excellent remarks on personification in Tholuck) having found occasion ( , as its derivation shews, means more than mere opportunity, it indicates the furnishing the material and ground of attack, the wherewith and whence to attack. The words here are not to be joined, as Luth., Olsh., Meyer, with . [which belongs to , see below]: for (1) . would not express whence the is taken, as or , but only by what means some . is taken from some source, which would not here suit the Apostle’s meaning, seeing that the source itself was the commandment, and (2) Rom 7:13 , . ., decides the matter here, but absolutely , as frequently, see Wetst.) by means of the commandment (not = , but the tenth commandment , the prohibition in question) wrought in me (not ‘ wrought out ,’ ‘brought into action,’ but ‘ originated ’ [using this commandment as its instrument]) all (manner) of coveting; for without the law sin is (not ‘was:’ the omission of the verb substantive shews the sentence to be a locus communis , and compare ch. Rom 4:15 ) dead (powerless and inactive: compare 1Co 15:56 , . ).
This deadness of sin without the law must not be understood as meaning that sin was committed but not recognized, the conscience being not informed nor awakened: such a statement would be true , but would not touch the matter argued here . Erasmus (Thol.) well explains the , ‘Quum ante legem proditam (but see below) qudam peccata nescirem, qudam ita scirem, ut mihi tamen licere putarem, quod vetita non essent, levius ac languidius sollicitabatur animus ad peccandum, ut frigidius amamus ea, quibus ubi libeat potiri fas sit. Cterum legis indicio proditis tot peccati formis, universa cupiditatum cohors irritata prohibitione cpit acrius ad peccandum sollicitare.’ Compare also Pro 9:17 , and (Wetst.) Ovid. Amor. ii. 19. 3, ‘Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet acrius urit:’ and ib. iii. 4. 17, ‘Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata:’ and Seneca, de Clem. i. 23 (Thol.), ‘Parricid cum lege cperunt, et illis facinus pna monstravit:’ and a remarkable passage from Cato’s speech in Livy xxxiv. 4, ‘Nolite eodem loco existimare, Quirites, futuram rem, quo fuit, antequam lex de hoc ferretur. Et hominem improbum non accusari tutius est, quam absolvi, et luxuria non mota tolerabilior esset, quam erit nunc, ipsis vinculis, sicut fera bestia, irritata, deinde emissa.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 7:8 . means “having received,” not “having taken” occasion. is sin as a power dwelling in man, of the presence of which he is as yet unaware. How it “receives occasion” is not stated; it must be by coming face to face with something which appeals to ; but when it has received it, it avails itself of the commandment ( viz. , the one prohibiting ) to work in us of every sort. It really is the commandment which it uses, for without law sin is dead. Cf. Rom 4:15 , Rom 5:13 : but especially 1Co 15:56 . Apart from the law we have no experience either of its character or of its vitality.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
occasions opportunity. Greek. aphorme. Here, Rom 7:11; 2Co 5:12; 2Co 11:12. Gal 1:5, Gal 1:13. 1Ti 5:14.
wrought = worked out. Greek. katergazomai; See Rom 1:27.
concupiscence. Same as “lust”, Rom 7:7.
without = apart from. Greek. choris.
was = is.
dead. App-139.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] But (proceeding with the development of sin by means of the law) sin (the sinful principle or propensity, but without any conscious personification on the part of the Apostle,-see some excellent remarks on personification in Tholuck) having found occasion (, as its derivation shews, means more than mere opportunity,-it indicates the furnishing the material and ground of attack, the wherewith and whence to attack. The words here are not to be joined, as Luth., Olsh., Meyer, with . [which belongs to , see below]:-for (1) . would not express whence the is taken, as or , but only by what means some . is taken from some source,-which would not here suit the Apostles meaning, seeing that the source itself was the commandment,-and (2) Rom 7:13, . ., decides the matter here,-but absolutely, as frequently, see Wetst.) by means of the commandment (not = , but the tenth commandment, the prohibition in question) wrought in me (not wrought out, brought into action, but originated [using this commandment as its instrument]) all (manner) of coveting; for without the law sin is (not was: the omission of the verb substantive shews the sentence to be a locus communis,-and compare ch. Rom 4:15) dead (powerless and inactive: compare 1Co 15:56, . ).
This deadness of sin without the law must not be understood as meaning that sin was committed but not recognized, the conscience being not informed nor awakened: such a statement would be true, but would not touch the matter argued here. Erasmus (Thol.) well explains the ,-Quum ante legem proditam (but see below) qudam peccata nescirem, qudam ita scirem, ut mihi tamen licere putarem, quod vetita non essent,-levius ac languidius sollicitabatur animus ad peccandum, ut frigidius amamus ea, quibus ubi libeat potiri fas sit. Cterum legis indicio proditis tot peccati formis, universa cupiditatum cohors irritata prohibitione cpit acrius ad peccandum sollicitare. Compare also Pro 9:17, and (Wetst.) Ovid. Amor. ii. 19. 3, Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet acrius urit: and ib. iii. 4. 17, Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata: and Seneca, de Clem. i. 23 (Thol.), Parricid cum lege cperunt, et illis facinus pna monstravit: and a remarkable passage from Catos speech in Livy xxxiv. 4, Nolite eodem loco existimare, Quirites, futuram rem, quo fuit, antequam lex de hoc ferretur. Et hominem improbum non accusari tutius est, quam absolvi, et luxuria non mota tolerabilior esset, quam erit nunc, ipsis vinculis, sicut fera bestia, irritata, deinde emissa.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 7:8. , by the commandment) The construction is with the following verb [, wrought concupiscence by the commandment. Not as Engl. V., Taking occasion by the commandment, here and at Rom 7:11]; as in Rom 7:11 twice.–, without-dead) A self-evident principle.-, dead) viz. was: it did not so much rage through concupiscence: or the word to be supplied may be, is.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 7:8
Rom 7:8
but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting:-The moment the command came to him, sin took the command as an occasion to stir up within him all manner of coveting. He longed for them now that they were forbidden. [The law, then, is not sin; nor does it cause those evil desires which induce it, but sin itself causes them. This is shown in the following verses, where similar expressions are used: For sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me. (Rom 7:11). But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good. (Rom 7:13). These passages teach that the effects of sin working through the law arouse evil passions and lead to the desire of the very things which the law forbids.] That is, when the heart was not purified from the love of sin, the effort to control it by penalties excited the more rebellious spirit.
for apart from the law sin is dead.-For without law to bring it out, sin lies dead-inert and passive. [It is dead as regards the conscience. Sin did not fill the conscience with remorse until the law revealed what was sin.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 5:21”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sin: Rom 7:11, Rom 7:13, Rom 7:17, Rom 4:15, Rom 5:20
wrought: Jam 1:14, Jam 1:15
For without: etc. Rather, “For without a law sin is dead.” Where there is no law, there is no transgression; for sin is the transgression of the law: the very essence of sin consists in the violation of some positive law. Rom 4:15, Joh 15:22, Joh 15:24, 1Co 15:56
Reciprocal: Gen 4:7 – sin Gen 43:18 – seek occasion against us Deu 5:21 – General Deu 15:9 – Beware Jos 7:21 – I coveted 2Ch 15:3 – without law Pro 9:17 – Stolen Mat 5:28 – hath Mar 7:21 – out Rom 7:5 – did work Rom 7:7 – is the law Rom 13:9 – covet Gal 5:17 – and these Col 3:5 – evil
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:8
Rom 7:8. The purpose of this verse is to defend the law against unjust criticism. The revelation of sin by the law seemed to increase it, whereas it was the carnal disposition of man to crave that which he was forbidden to have, that brought about the apparent increase of sin.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 7:8. But sin. This approaches a personification of sin, as in chap. Rom 5:12-21. The excitement resulting from the pressure of the law is now described.
Taking occasion. This should be separated by a comma from what follows: It indicates the furnishing the material and ground of attack, the wherewith and whence to attack (Alford).
Through the commandment, namely, that mentioned in Rom 7:7, wrought in me all manner of evil desire; the same word as in Rom 7:7. To man everything forbidden appears as a desirable blessing; but yet, as it is forbidden, he feels that his freedom is limited, and now his lust rages more violently, like the waves against the dyke (Tholock). Philippi calls this, an immovably certain psychological fact, which man can more easily reason away and dispute away, than do away. The classic authors support the same principle: see the quotations given in the footnote, Lange, Romans, pp. 220, 210.
For apart from the law, or, independently of law, sin is dead. Not was, the proposition is a general one. Dead is here used in a relative, not an absolute, sense. Sin is relatively inoperative until excited into opposition by the law. A reference to its being unobserved, undetected, is less probable. The context shows that the Mosaic law is meant. That this may be and is misused by the principle of sin, in the way indicated, arises from the fact, that it comes forward merely with the outward command (thou shalt, thou shalt not), without giving the power of fulfilment (Meyer). This is also applicable to the law written in mens hearts, but because sin is essentially opposition to God, the revealed law of God with its sanctions arouses the greatest opposition.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, A concession or grant made by the apostle, that although the law was not the formal cause of sin, yet sin was an accidental event of the law, through the depravity and corruption of our natures; lust or concupiscence in us being stirred up more strongly, and breaking forth more violently in us, by being prohibited and restrained by the law. As things forbidden us are the more desired by us; the more the law would restrain sin through our corruption, the more it enrages sin: As the more you could dam up a torrent, the higher it swells. Thus sin takes occasion by the commandment to work all manner of concupiscence in us.
Learn hence, That such is the depravity and perverseness of our present natures, that there is found within us a propensity and inclination to all sin; and although the law of God doth not give the least countenance to sin, yet sin takes occasion, from the restraints of the law, to grow more impetuous, and is the more irritated by being prohibited; and consequently it is not from ourselves, but from God’s restraining grace, that those evil inclinations which are in our hearts do not break forth in our lives.
The apostle adds, Without the law sin was dead: that is, without the knowledge and due consideration of the law, sin is comparatively dead: that is, the corruption of nature lies hid, and is not so much known to be sin; nor had it so much power to terrify the conscience, and to stir up inordinate affections, as after the law is known and duly considered.
Learn hence, that such as either know not the word and law of God, or do not duly consider it, have very little sense of inward pollution. But their corruption lies, as it were, dead in them, and they in that without touching the conscience, or laying the soul under sensible apprehensions of its sin and danger: Without the law sin is dead. Sin in the conscience is like a lion asleep in his den; it awakes not, stirs not, terrifies and accuses not, till the law of God rouses it; and then the sinner sees himself under the curse, and liable to perdition.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 8. Then sin, taking occasion, wrought in me by the commandment all manner of concupiscence; for without the law sin is dead.
After revealing to him the presence of sin, the law itself intensified in him the force of this evil principle. This idea of progress is indicated by the , now, then, which makes the fact described in Rom 7:8 a sequel to that of which we are reminded in Rom 7:7. The word , which we translate by occasion, strictly signifies the point of support from which the spring or flight proceeds (, ). Some critics make the words , by the commandment, dependent on the participle , having taken. In this case we should not have to translate: Taking occasion from the commandment, which would require one of the prepositions or usual in such a case. The meaning would be: Taking occasion by means of the commandment. But it is more natural to make this clause depend on the principal verb wrought. For, in the other sense, there would have been no reason for inserting the subject between this clause and the participle which depended on it. The analogous construction of Rom 7:11 also leads us to make the clause: by the commandment, dependent on the principal verb wrought.
What is the occasion meant by the apostle? The usual answer is, the commandment itself: In lege est occasio, says Calvin. This meaning is not inadmissible. Sin, finding a series of prohibitions enumerated in the commandment, made use of this means to enkindle desire for the forbidden objects. But is it not more probable that Paul finds the occasion of which sin makes use, in those forbidden objects themselves, when they appear to the eye or imagination? Sin finding an occasion, in the view of one of those objects in regard to which God says to me: Thou shalt not covet, took advantage of the circumstance to kindle in my heart, through this very prohibition, the manifold lusts which are related to those different objects. The point in question here is the well-known experience already remarked by the ancients, that man always inclines to forbidden fruit. Comp. Pro 9:17. The prohibition has for its effect to fix the object strongly on the imagination, and thereby to lend it a new charm. The heart is as it were fascinated by it, and the latent desire changes into intense aspiration. Thus every word of the commandment has, so to speak, the property of awakening in the heart a new lust. But it must be constantly borne in mind that this is only so because sin, the egoistic instinct, already exists in the heart. The commandment of itself does not produce this result; it is sin which, so to speak, trades upon the commandment for its own profit. On a sound nature, the commandment would not have acted thus; witness the first temptation in which a foreign agent required to play the part here ascribed to sin.
Calvin, in his eagerness to exculpate the apostle completely from the charge of ascribing to the law the aggravation of sin, gives this verse a purely logical meaning. Paul means, according to him, that the law manifested the various lusts already present. Detexit in me omnem concupiscentiam. This is evidently to distort the meaning of the apostle’s words.
And in what state, then, was sin before the law had thus made it abound in all manner of particular lusts? It was dead, says Paul. This expression, far from signifying that it did not exist, proves, on the contrary, its presence, but, virtually, like the germ of a disease still slumbering, which the least circumstance may cause to break out so as to bring the malady to the acute state. And it is this malignant principle, already in existence, which bears all the responsibility of the disagreeable effects of the law. The literal translation would be: Without law sin is dead. It is not as Mosaic law, but as law, that is to say, as an external letter, that the code produces this pernicious effect on the sinful soul. And this is what warrants us in applying this description to the law of nature, and what explains how the nitimur in vetitum may also be a confession of the heathen conscience.
We must beware of understanding with Beza the verb , was: Without law sin was dead. The very ellipsis of the verb proves that we have here a general proposition.
The verses which follow initiate us more deeply still into the apostle’s moral experiences, when he was under the law.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from law sin is dead. [Those following the apostle through the last section would be apt to have confused views concerning the law, which would lead them to ask, “If it is such a blessed thing to be free from the law, is not the law evil? If God took as much pains to emancipate us from the law as he did to free us from sin, are not the law and sin equally evil, and practically synonymous, so that we can truly say, The law is sin?” Not at all, is the prompt denial of the apostle; but there is an apparent ground for such a question, for the law is an occasion of sin, for sin is not sin where it is not known to be sin, and in the law lies that revelation or knowledge of sin which makes it sinful, so that I had not experienced the sense of sin except through the law. For example, I would not have known that inordinate desire for the property of others was a sin called coveting if the law had not defined it, and made it a desire after the forbidden, and hence a sinful desire, by saying, Thou shalt not covet. But when the law thus spake, then sin, finding in the utterance of the law an opportunity or occasion to assert itself, stirred me up to desire all those things which were forbidden by the law, and filled me with the sense of my sinfulness by reason of the revelation of the law; for without this revelation the sense of sin would have been dead in me. Without the law sin was not roused to life and consciousness.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
8. For sin taking occasion through the commandment wrought out in me all antagonism; for without the law sin was dead. N. B. Sin so constantly repeated here is in the singular number, meaning the sin- principle, i. e., original sin and not actual sin, which is in the plural. Where there is no commandment sin is dead, because it has nothing to antagonize.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 8
Sin, taking occasion by the commandment; that is, it was not the law which is to be held accountable for the evil effects which result from its promulgation to the soul, but the sinfulness of the heart, taking occasion by the law,–the evil propensities being aroused by the opposition with which the prohibitions of the law confronted them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
7:8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] {p} dead.
(p) Though sin is in us, yet it is not known as sin, neither does it rage in the same way that it rages after the law is known.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
One illustration of what Paul had in mind here is the story of the temptation and Fall in Genesis 3. Whenever someone establishes a law prohibiting something, the natural tendency of people is to resist it. If you tell a small child, "Don’t do such-and-such," you may create a desire within him or her to do it, a desire that was not there before.
"Suppose a man determined to drive his automobile to the very limit of its speed. If . . . signs along the road would say, No Speed Limit, the man’s only thought would be to press his machine forward. But now suddenly he encounters a road with frequent signs limiting speed to thirty miles an hour. The man’s will rebels, and his rebellion is aroused still further by threats: Speed Limit Strictly Enforced. Now the man drives on fiercely, conscious both of his desire to ’speed,’ and his rebellion against restraint. The speed limit signs did not create the wild desire to rush forward: that was there before. But the notices brought the man into conscious conflict with authority." [Note: Newell, pp. 265-66. Cf. Barclay, p. 99.]
"Coveting" or "desire" covers a wide range of appetites, not just sexual desires, which the AV translation "lust" (and "concupiscence," Rom 7:8) implies. "Dead" here means dormant or inactive, but not completely impotent, as is clear from Rom 7:9 where this "dead" sin springs to life. The absence of the verb before "dead" in the Greek text indicates that what Paul was saying was a generalization rather than a specific historical allusion.