The Law and Sin
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, See ch. 3:20I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ch. 13:9;Ex. 20:17;Deut. 5:21the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, ver. 11;[Gal. 5:13] seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. 1 Cor. 15:56For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
17 So now ver. 20it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells Gen. 6:5;8:21;Job 14:4;15:14;Ps. 51:5in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 ver. 15For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, ver. 17it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.