Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:11
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me.]
11. For sin, &c.] A reiteration of Rom 7:8, with more detail. The “deception” here is fully illustrated by the history of the Fall. (Cp. carefully Gen 3:4-5.) The Tempter “took occasion by” the prohibition to “deceive” the woman as to the character of God for truth and love; alienated her will from Him; and so brought in death. Since then, alas, he finds the human will ready-alienated to his hand.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For sin – This verse is a repetition, with a little variation of the sentiment in Rom 7:8.
Deceived me – The word used here properly means to lead or seduce from the right way; and then to deceive, solicit to sin, cause to err from the way of virtue, Rom 16:18; 1Co 3:18; 2Co 11:3, The serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, 2Th 2:3. The meaning here seems to be, that his corrupt and rebellious propensities, excited by the Law, led him astray; caused him more and more to sin; practiced a species of deception on him by urging him on headlong, and without deliberation, into aggravated transgression. In this sense, all sinners are deceived. Their passions urge them on, deluding them, and leading them further and further from happiness, and involving them, before they are aware, in crime and death. No being in the universe is more deladed than a sinner in the indulgence of evil passions. The description of Solomon in a particular case will apply to all, Pro 7:21-23.
With much fair speech she caused him to yield,
With the flattering of her lips she forced him.
He goeth after her straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Till a dart strike through his liver,
As a bird hasteth to the snare.
By it – By the Law, Rom 7:8.
Slew me – Meaning the same as I died, Rom 7:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Sin, taking occasion] Sin, deriving strength from the law, threatening death to the transgressor, (See Clarke on Ro 7:8,) deceived me, drew me aside to disobedience, promising me gratification honour, independence, c., as it promised to Eve for to her history the apostle evidently alludes, and uses the very same expression, deceived me, . See the preceding note; and see the Septuagint, Ge 3:13.
And by it slew me.] Subjected me to that death which the law denounced against transgressors; and rendered me miserable during the course of life itself. It is well known to scholars that the verb signifies not only to slay or kill, but also to make wretched. Every sinner is not only exposed to death because he has sinned, and must, sooner or later, die; but he is miserable in both body and mind by the influence and the effects of sin. He lives a dying life, or a living death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment: see the notes on Rom 7:8.
Deceived me; i.e. seduced and drew me aside, Heb 3:13; Jam 1:14.
And by it slew me; i.e. it drove me into despair, or delivered me over to death and damnation, and made me obnoxious thereunto.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For sin taking occasion by the commandment,…. As in Ro 7:8,
deceived me; either by promising pleasure or impunity: the same effect is ascribed by the Jews to the evil imagination or corruption of nature, which they say is called an enticer, , “that deceives man” g:
and by it slew me; mortally wounded me: not the law, but sin by the law, deceived and slew him; so that as before, the law is cleared from being the cause of sin, so here, from being the cause of death; for though the law is a killing letter, the ministration of condemnation and death, yet it is not the cause of it; but sin, which is a transgression of the law, is that which deceives or leads out of the way, as the word signifies, and then kills. The metaphor is taken from a thief or a robber, who leads a man out of the way into some bypath, and then murders him.
g Tzeror Hammor, fol. 141. 3. & 150. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Beguiled me ( ). First aorist active indicative of , old verb, completely () made me lose my way ( privative, , to walk). See on 1Cor 3:18; 2Cor 11:3. Only in Paul in N.T.
Slew me (). First aorist active indicative of , old verb. “Killed me off,” made a clean job of it. Sin here is personified as the tempter (Ge 3:13).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Deceived [] . Rev., beguiled Only in Paul. Compare 2Co 11:3; 2Th 2:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For sin, taking occasion,” (he gar hamartia aphormen labousa) For sin (deeds of wrong) took occasion;” 1Ki 8:46; “for there is no man that sinneth not,” Ecc 7:20; Jer 17:9.
2) “By the commandment,” (dia tes entoles) “through the commandment;” perhaps the 10th, “Thou shalt not covet,” Exo 20:17. The idea is that the sin nature, inherent in Paul, inflamed or incited him to acts of sin, as it does all responsible human beings in breaking the first of the nine commandments so often because of first breaking the 10th, the King of all sins, Rom 3:23.
3) “Deceived me,” (ebsepatesen me) “deceived or deluded me,” as its nature is, allured me by its lusts, 1Jn 2:16-17; Jas 1:15. The God’s commands are “do” and “do not,” the deceitfulness of sin through covetousness, (self-will) caused Paul to reject the call of God and turn to murder, Gen 3:1-4; 2Co 11:3.
4) “And by it slew me,” (kai di autes apektein en) “and through it killed (me),” cut off my life, or slew me, brought me into conscious condemnation in my willful and selfish rejection of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. Led me out of the way, etc. It is indeed true, that while the will of God is hid from us, and no truth shines on us, the life of men goes wholly astray and is full of errors; nay, we do nothing but wander from the right course, until the law shows to us the way of living rightly: but as we begin then only to perceive our erroneous course, when the Lord loudly reproves us, Paul says rightly, that we are led out of the way, when sin is made evident by the law. Hence the verb, ἐξαπατᾷν, must be understood, not of the thing itself, but of our knowledge; that is, that it is made manifest by the law how much we have departed from the right course. It must then be necessarily rendered, led me out of the way; for hence sinners, who before went on heedlessly, loathe and abominate themselves, when they perceive, through the light which the law throws on the turpitude of sin, that they had been hastening to death. But he away introduces the word occasion, and for this purpose — that we may know that the law of itself does not bring death, but that this happens through something else, and that this is as it were adventitious. (215)
(215) This verse will be better understood if we consider it as in a manner a repetition, in another form, of what the former verse contains, and this is perfectly consistent with the usual manner of the Apostle. His object seems to have been to prevent a misapprehension of what he had said, that the commandment which was for life proved to be unto death. He hence says, that sin availed itself of the commandment, and by it deceived him, that is, promised him life, and then by it killed him, that is, proved fatal to him. There is a correspondence in meaning between the commandment unto life and deceiving, and between death and killing. In Rom 7:8, sin, as a person, is said to take advantage of the commandment to work every kind of sinful desires: but it is said here to take this advantage to deceive by promising life, and then to destroy, to expose, and subject him to death and misery. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11-13) The cause of this miscarriage lay not with the Law but with Sin. Sin played the tempter, and then made use of the Commandment to condemn and destroy its victims. All this time the Law (i.e., the whole body of precepts) and the Commandment (i.e., the particular precepts included in the Law) remained perfectly good in themselves. They could not be otherwise, having come from the hand of God Himself. Sin was the fatal power. The Law and the Commandment were only passive instruments which it wielded for the destruction of man. But at the same time Sin itself was exposed by them in all its ever-increasing enormity.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Taking occasion Law was the occasion, sin the author of the murder.
Deceived me Deluded me, as all temptation does with some false good. So did the serpent Eve.
Slew me As sin and serpent did both Adam and Eve.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me.’
And what was to blame for what had happened to him? It was sin (not the Law). Sin had taken advantage of the commandment so as to beguile him and then to slay him. It had brought home to him his sinfulness, had then encouraged him to sin even more as he had sought to deal with it, and had finally made him recognise that his disobedience could not just be put aside. It had rather brought him under sentence of death.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 7:11. For sin, taking occasion “Sin, taking the opportunity of my being under the law, slew me.” See the note on Rom 7:5. Instead of deceived me, Mr. Locke reads, inveigled me; and observes, that St. Paul here seems to allude to what Eve said in a like case, Gen 3:13.; and he uses the word rendered deceived, in the same sense as she did; that is, drew me in.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rom 7:11 . Illustration of this surprising result, in which , as the guilty element, is placed foremost, and its guilt is also made manifest by the . placed before . Sin has by means of the commandment (which had for its direct aim my life) deceived me, inasmuch as it used it for the provocation of desire. An allusion to the serpent in Paradise is probable, both from the nature of the case, and also from the expression (LXX. Gen 3:13 ). Comp. 2Co 11:2 . But such an allusion would be inappropriate, if it were “the struggle of the more earnest Pharisaism” (Philippi), and not the loss of childlike innocence, that is here described. As to the conception of the (sin held out to me something pernicious as being desirable), comp. Eph 4:22 , Heb 3:13 .
] like in Rom 7:10 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me .
Ver. 11. Deceived me ] Irritated my corrupt nature, and made me sin the more, per accidens, as Pharaoh was the worse for a message of dismission.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] For (explanatory how Rom 7:10 happened) sin (the sinful principle within me) having found occasion (absol. as in Rom 7:8 , where see note), by means of the commandment deceived me (there is a plain reference to the Tempter deceiving Eve, which was accomplished by means of the commandment, exciting doubt of and objection to it, and lust after the forbidden thing: see reff. 2 Cor., 1 Tim.), and by it slew me (i.e. brought me into the state of misery and death, mentioned in Rom 7:10 ; but there is an allusion again to the effect of the fall as the act of the Tempter).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 7:11 . Yet this result is not due to the commandment in itself. It is indwelling sin, inherited from Adam, which, when it has found a base of operations, employs the commandment to deceive ( cf. Gen 3:13 ) and to kill. “Sin here takes the place of the Tempter” in Genesis (S. and H.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
deceived. Greek. exapatao. Here, Rom 16:18. 1Co 3:18. 2Co 11:3. 2Th 2:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11.] For (explanatory how Rom 7:10 happened) sin (the sinful principle within me) having found occasion (absol. as in Rom 7:8, where see note),-by means of the commandment deceived me (there is a plain reference to the Tempter deceiving Eve, which was accomplished by means of the commandment, exciting doubt of and objection to it, and lust after the forbidden thing: see reff. 2 Cor., 1 Tim.), and by it slew me (i.e. brought me into the state of misery and death, mentioned in Rom 7:10;-but there is an allusion again to the effect of the fall as the act of the Tempter).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 7:11. , deceived) led me into by-paths, as the robber leads the traveller; and while I supposed that I was going onward to life, I fell into [upon] death.-, slew me) This is the termination of the economy of sin, and is on the confines of that of grace.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 7:11
Rom 7:11
for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me,-Sin, finding occasion through the commandment, beguiled me and excited me to violate the law. [Sins deceit consists in presenting the object of desire as a good, though when obtained it at once proved to be an evil. In the case of Adam and Eve the commandment afforded the advantage. God said: Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Satan now had the advantage and, using it, he said to the woman: Ye shall not surely die. This deceived her. It was the precept that was the occasion, and the lie did the deceiving. And so in the case of Paul. The sinner, by breaking the law, does not really obtain what he expects; the fancied pleasure or gain seems worse than worthless by reason of the loss and suffering it brings back upon him. In this sense a breaker of the law is always beguiled or deceived.]
and through it slew me.-Violating the law brought death. [The law, which was ordained to give life and had the promise of life attached to it (Rom 10:5; Lev 18:5), he found to be to him, because of his sinfulness, only a means of death; for sin, finding in the law an opportunity to accomplish his ruin, deceived him into breaking the law, and, by thus bringing down upon him the curse of the violated law, slew him.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
sin
Sin. (See Scofield “Rom 5:21”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
sin: Rom 7:8, Rom 7:13
deceived: Isa 44:20, Jer 17:9, Jer 49:16, Oba 1:3, Eph 4:22, Heb 3:13, Jam 1:22, Jam 1:26
Reciprocal: Rom 7:7 – is the law Rom 7:9 – and I died Rom 8:6 – to be carnally minded Jam 1:14 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:11
Rom 7:11. This is virtually the same as verse 9.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 7:11. For sin, etc. In Rom 7:8, which resembles this, Paul explains the excitement of evil desire through the law; namely, how sin revived, but here he explains the other phrase: I died. The word sin is herein more emphatic than in Rom 7:8. It was not in the law, but sin that wrought this sad result.
Through the commandment deceived me. These words are to be joined together, in accordance with the analogy of Rom 7:8, and of the following clause. It first made the commandment a provocation, and then a means of condemnation. Thus what applies to Satan, that he was first mans tempter, and then his accuser, applies likewise to sin. This passage calls to mind the serpent in Paradise, as in 2Co 11:3 (Lange). To refer this to the conviction of sin which precedes conversion seems unnecessary.
And through it slew me. It thus led to a consciousness of the state of sin and misery referred to in Rom 7:10 : I died. The experience here portrayed has been reproduced in every age: this is the universal effect of Gods law upon sinful man whose conscience is not yet dead.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “Sin, or the corruption of my heart and nature, being stirred up by the commandment which forbids lust, and condemns it, enticed me, and persuaded me, and prevailed over me, to yield to the lusts of my own heart, and then condemned me, and slew men for yielding to them.”
See here the true and genuine nature of sin: it first deceives, and then destroys: It deceived me, saith the apostle, and then slew me. Sin doth perfectly besot the creature, and renders it injudicious: it befools and deceives us, it pollutes and defiles us, it doth debase and degrade us, and, without repentance, damns and destroys.
God keep us from being hardened in sinning through the deceitfulness of sin; let no profit tempt us, no pleasure entice us, no power embolden us, no privacy encourage us, to adventure upon any known sin; for its embraces are deadly, it leads to death, and ends in death; after it has deceived us, it certainly destroys us, Sin taking occasion, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
11. For sin, taking occasion through the commandment, deceived me and through it slew me. This verse explains itself. The commandment aroused inbred sin, hitherto still and dormant in his heart. If he had not yielded to sin, the law would have been a great blessing to him. But, like the rest of us, he yielded to sin, which consequently slew him outright.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Paul personified sin as acting here. Sin plays the part of the tempter. It deceived Paul and slew him (cf. Genesis 3). Paul’s sinful nature urged him, typical of all people, to do the very thing the commandment forbade.
"As the new Christian grows, he comes into contact with various philosophies of the Christian life. He can read books, attend seminars, listen to tapes, and get a great deal of information. If he is not careful, he will start following a human leader and accept his teachings as Law. This practice is a very subtle form of legalism, and it kills spiritual growth. No human teacher can take the place of Christ; no book can take the place of the Bible. Men can give us information, but only the Spirit can give us illumination and help us understand spiritual truths. The Spirit enlightens us and enables us; no human leader can do that." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:536.]