Sin’s Use of the Law

⁷ What should we say then?^(A) Is the law sin? Absolutely not!^(B) On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.^(C) For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.^(D)[a]

¹⁰ and I died. The commandment that was meant for life^(A) resulted in death for me. ¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me,^(B) and through it killed me. ¹² So then, the law is holy,^(C) and the commandment is holy and just and good.

The Problem of Sin in Us

¹³ Therefore, did what is good cause my death?^[a] Absolutely not!^(D) On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual,^(E) but I am made out of flesh,^[b] sold^(F) into sin’s power.^{(G) 15} For I do not understand what I am doing,^(H) because I do not practice what I want to do,^(I) but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.^(J) For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹ So I discover this principle:^[c](K) When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. ²² For in my inner self^[d] I joyfully agree with God’s law.^{(L) 23} But I see a different law in the parts of my body,^[e](M) waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.^{[f] 24} What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?^{(N) 25} I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!^[g](O) So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.

Law and Promise

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse,^(A) because it is written:^(B) Everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed.^(C)[a]