Romans 7:11

Romans 7:11. For sin, etc. In Romans 7:8, which resembles this, Paul explains the excitement of evil desire through the law; namely, how sin revived, but here he explains the other phrase: ‘I died.' The word ‘sin' is herein more emphatic than in Romans 7:8. It was not in the ‘law,' but ‘sin' that wrought this sad result.

Through the commandment deceived me. These words are to be joined together, in accordance with the analogy of Romans 7:8, and of the following clause. It first made the commandment a provocation, and then a means of condemnation. Thus what applies to Satan, that he was first man's tempter, and then his accuser, applies likewise to sin. This passage calls to mind the serpent in Paradise, as in 2 Corinthians 11:3 (Lange). To refer this to the conviction of sin which precedes conversion seems unnecessary.

And through it slew me. It thus led to a consciousness of the state of sin and misery referred to in Romans 7:10: ‘I died.' The experience here portrayed has been reproduced in every age: this is the universal effect of God's law upon sinful man whose conscience is not yet dead.