Romans 7:8

8 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.

Romans 7:8 Meaning and Commentary

Romans 7:8

But sin taking occasion by the commandment
By "the commandment" is meant, either the whole moral law, or that particular commandment, "thou shalt not covet", ( Exodus 20:17 ) , which, the Jews say, comprehends all;

``God, (say they ^F6,) caused them (the Israelites) to hear the ten words, which he concluded with this word, "thou shalt not covet"; (wb Mywlt Mlwkv) , "for all of them depend on that": and to intimate, that whoever keeps this commandment, it is as if he kept the whole law, and whoever transgresses this, it is all one as if he transgressed the whole law;''

and no doubt but it does refer to any unlawful thought of, desire after, and inclination to anything forbidden in the other commandments. By "sin" is meant, not the devil, as some of the ancients thought; but the vitiosity and corruption of nature, indwelling sin, the law in the members that took "occasion" by the law of God; so that the law at most could only be an occasion, not the cause of sin, and besides, this was an occasion not given by the law, but taken by sin; so that it was sin, and not the law, which

wrought in [him] all manner of concupiscence.
The law forbidding every unclean thought, and covetous desire of unlawful objects, sin took an occasion through these prohibitions to work in him, stir up and excite concupiscence, evil desire after all manner of things forbidden by the law; hence it is clear that not the law, but sin, is exceeding sinful:

for without the law sin was dead;
not that, before the law of Moses was given, sin lay dead and unexerted, for during that interval between Adam and Moses sin was, and lived and reigned, and death by it, as much as at any other time; but when the apostle was without the law, that is, without the knowledge of the spirituality of it, before it came with power and light into his heart and conscience, sin lay as though it was dead; it was so in his apprehension, he fancied himself free from it, and that he was perfectly righteous.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Abkath Rochel, l. 1. par. 1. p. 3. Ed. Huls.

Romans 7:8 In-Context

6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”

8 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.

9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,

10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.