Romans 7:7-12

New International Reader's Version

The Law and Sin

⁷ What should we say then? That the law is sinful? Not at all! Yet I wouldn’t have known what sin was unless the law had told me. The law says, “Do not want what belongs to other people.” (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) If the law hadn’t said that, I would not have known what it was like to want what belongs to others. ⁸ But the commandment gave sin an opportunity. Sin caused me to want all kinds of things that belong to others. A person can’t sin by breaking a law if that law doesn’t exist. ⁹ Before I knew about the law, I was alive. But then the commandment came. Sin came to life, and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the commandment that was supposed to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ When the commandment gave sin the opportunity, sin tricked me. It used the commandment to put me to death. ¹² So the law is holy. The commandment also is holy and right and good.