But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
Parallel translations
- WEB But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
- KJV But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
- NKJV But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
- NASB But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.
- NLT But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power.
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
Sin seized the commandment as an opportunity and stirred up all kinds of coveting; apart from law, sin lies dormant. The very prohibition provokes the rebellious heart.
Overview
Paul personifies sin as exploiting the commandment to arouse forbidden desire. The law does not create sin but provides the occasion through which indwelling sin reveals its rebellious nature. 'Apart from the law, sin is dead' means sin lies comparatively inactive and unexposed without the commandment to provoke it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Rom 7:11For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.
- 1 Cor 15:56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
- Rom 4:15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.
- Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Rom 7:13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
- John 15:22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
- Rom 5:20The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
- Rom 7:17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
- John 15:24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
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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 7:8 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
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