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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.”(A)

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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.

The Law and Sin

What shall we say, then?(A) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!(B) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.(C) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”[a](D)

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Footnotes

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

10 then I died, and the commandment that was for life turned out to be death for me.(A)

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10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life(A) actually brought death.

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For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death.(A) For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for the sake of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,(B) so that the righteous decree of the law might be fulfilled in us, who live not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.(C)

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because through Christ Jesus(A) the law of the Spirit who gives life(B) has set you[a] free(C) from the law of sin(D) and death. For what the law was powerless(E) to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b](F) God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh(G) to be a sin offering.[c](H) And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement(I) of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
  2. Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
  3. Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin