The Problem of Indwelling Sin

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! But I did not know sin, except through the law. I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[a] 8} But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law sin is dead. ⁹ I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, which was intended for life, proved to be death in me. ¹¹ For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and killed me through it. ¹² So then, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good.