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Sin, that took occasion by the commandment, is said by the apostle to have "wrought"
in him all manner of concupiscence. The word "wrought" is katergazomai; and the
connection of this part of the argument with that which is developed in Rom. 7: 13-25
is blurred by the fact that the word is not consistently translated in the A.V. We must
defer comment upon this connection until we are actually dealing with the closing
section, but we give all the references here, so that the reader may realize the far-reaching
nature of this "working":--
"But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, worked in me all manner of desire"
(Rom. 7: 8).
"Sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good" (Rom. 7: 13).
"For what I work, I know not" (Rom. 7: 15).
"It is no longer I that work, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7: 17).
"To will is present with me, but to work that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7: 20).
"I no longer work it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7: 20).
We learn from I Cor. 15: 56 that the strength of sin is the law. So the apostle
proceeds:--
"For without the law, sin was dead" (Rom. 7: 8).
"For I was alive without the law once" (Rom. 7: 9).
It is evident that these statements are relative. Just as we must read verse 7 relatively,
so here. For even had the law never been given from Sinai, the Jews would still have
had the law of nature and of conscience (Rom. 2: 14, 15). But they would never have
known sin as they did know it, except by the law. The apostle's meaning can be clearly
seen by referring back to a parallel passage, Rom. 5: 20: "The law entered, that sin
might abound." It is the unabounding state of sin that is intended by the apostle in
Rom. 7: 8, 9.
We now return to the opening argument. The structure places verse 7 in
correspondence with verses 9 and 10. What does the apostle mean by the words "When
the commandment came?" All his life, as a Pharisee, he had known the law of God.
Over and over again he had repeated the ten commandments. We have it from his
own pen that, "touching the righteousness which is in the law", he was "blameless"
(Phil. 3: 6).
But the commandment "Thou shalt not covet" (or, "Thou shalt dot desire") goes
deeper than the external act. In so far as the Pharisee considered only external
conformity with the law, he felt fairly satisfied with himself, but when the fact broke in
upon his conscience that the law also had to do with "desires" before they had become
manifest as "deeds", the spirituality of the law and the carnality of the person became
intensely evident. The command at last "came" as never before, "sin revived" and, the
apostle says, "I died". All his boasted righteousness was found to be vanity. The
commandment which, if obeyed, would have led to life, he now found to be too searching
and deep--it led but to death. No man living could ever hope from such a law anything
but condemnation. Sin not only deceived him, as it had deceived his first parents, but it
slew him, as it had them.