and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
Parallel translations
- WEB The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death;
- KJV And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
- BSB So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.
- NKJV And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
- NLT and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The commandment meant to give life instead brought death, because of indwelling sin. The fault lies not in the law but in our corrupt nature.
Overview
The law promised life to those who kept it, but in sinful people it became an instrument of death. This tragic reversal arises not from a defect in the commandment but from sin's exploitation of it. The verse highlights humanity's inability to find life through law-keeping.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 2 Cor 3:7But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:
- Rom 10:5For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
- Lev 18:5You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances; which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh.
- Gal 3:12The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”
- Ezek 20:21“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
- Luke 10:27–29He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
- Ezek 20:11I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them.
- Ezek 20:13“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 7:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.