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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Romans 7:9 - 7:9
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
I was alive - once (ἔζων ποτέ)
Referring to the time of childlike innocence previous to the stimulus imparted to the inactive principle of sin by the coming of the law; when the moral self-determination with respect to the law had not taken place, and the sin-principle was therefore practically dead.
The commandment (ἐντολῆς)
The specific injunction “thou shalt not covet.” See on Jam 2:8; see Joh 13:34.
Revived (ἀνέζησεν)
Not came to life, but lived again. See Luk 15:24, Luk 15:32. The power of sin is originally and in its nature living; but before the coming of the commandment its life is not expressed. When the commandment comes, it becomes alive again. It lies dormant, like the beast at the door (Gen 4:7), until the law stirs it up.
The tendency of prohibitory law to provoke the will to resistance is frequently recognized in the classics. Thus, Horace: “The human race, presumptuous to endure all things, rushes on through forbidden wickedness” (Ode, i., 3, 25). Ovid: “The permitted is unpleasing; the forbidden consumes us fiercely” (“Amores,” i., 19, 3). “We strive against the forbidden and ever desire what is denied” (Id., i., 4, 17). Seneca: “Parricides began with the law, and the punishment showed them the crime” (“De Clementia,” i., 23). Cato, in his speech on the Oppian law; says: “It is safer that a wicked man should even never be accused than that he should be acquitted; and luxury, if it had never been meddled with, would he more tolerable than it will be now, like a wild beast, irritated by having been chained and then let loose” (Livy, xxxiv., 4).
I found to be unto death
The A.V. omits the significant αὕτη this. This very commandment, the aim of which was life, I found unto death. Meyer remarks: “It has tragic emphasis.” So Rev., this I found. The surprise at such an unexpected result is expressed by I found, literally, was found (ἑυρέθη)