 |  |
that forms part of the argument of the section now before us. The structure shows that
the argument is conducted to its conclusion by a series of five couplets:--
Romans 7: 7-12.
A | 7. QUESTION.--Is the law sin?
B | 7-11. ARGUMENT.--
a | I had not known sin, but by the law.
I had not known lust except . . . . . not covet.
b | Sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
Wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
c | Without law, sin was dead.
Without law, I was alive.
a | Commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Commandment ordained to life, found unto death.
b | Sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
Deceived me, and by it slew me.
A | 12. ANSWER: Wherefore the law is holy.
It will be seen that the chief feature of the argument is the statement that "sin took
occasion" by the commandment. If this be so, the law could still remain holy, just and
good, even though by its abuse it became the instrument of death.
The first phase of the apostle's argument is that the law illuminates the nature of sin:--
"I had not known (realized, known as such) sin, but by the law; for (to give a concrete
example) I should not have perceived lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet"
(Rom. 7: 7).
The apostle does not say, "I had not committed any sin", but "Without the law I
had not realized sin; nor that specific transgression `lust', had the law not forbidden
coveting". Sin is here the genus, lust the species.
The next step in the argument is to show the way in which sin took occasion by the
commandment. The word "occasion" is aphorme, composed of apo, away, and hormao,
to set in motion, urge, spur on, rush. It is used to describe a "base of operations" as in
war; and also has the meaning "the means of war" as money, men, ships, etc. Sin, then,
is here depicted as using the prohibition of the law as a "base of operations" and
"a means of war". Just as the human heart can turn the grace of God into lasciviousness,
so it can use the very prohibition to stir up intense desire. We have only to read Gen. 3:
to see the truth of this demonstrated:--
"Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" (Gen. 3: 1).
"When the woman saw . . . a tree to be desired . . . she took of the fruit" (Gen. 3: 6).
"A most striking and melancholy example in point is that prohibition and penalty were
not sufficient, even in paradise, to prevent our first parents from ruining themselves and
all their posterity" (Moses Stuart).