SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:13
¿Luego lo que es bueno, a mí me es hecho muerte? No; sino el pecado, que para mostrarse pecado por lo bueno, me obr la muerte, hacindose pecado sobremanera pecaminoso por el mandamiento.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Romans 7:13
Verse 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me?] This is the question of the Jew, with whom the apostle appears to be disputing. "Do you allow the law to be good, and yet say it is the cause of our death?" The apostle answers:-God forbid! genoito, by no means: it is not the law that is the cause of your death, but sin; it was sin which subjected us to death by the law, justly threatening sin with death: which law was given that sin might appear-might be set forth in its own colours; when we saw it subjected us to death by a law perfectly holy, just, and good; that sin, by the law, might be represented what it really is:-kaq uperbolhn amartwlov, an EXCEEDING GREAT and deadly evil.
Thus it appears that man cannot have a true notion of sin but by means of the law of God. For this I have already given sufficient reasons in the preceding notes. And it was one design of the law to show the abominable and destructive nature of sin, as well as to be a rule of life. It would be almost impossible for a man to have that just notion of the demerit of sin so as to produce repentance, or to see the nature and necessity of the death of Christ, if the law were not applied to his conscience by the light of the Holy Spirit; it is then alone that he sees himself to be carnal, and sold under sin; and that the law and the commandment are holy, just, and good. And let it be observed, that the law did not answer this end merely among the Jews in the days of the apostle; it is just as necessary to the Gentiles to the present hour. Nor do we find that true repentance takes place where the moral law is not preached and enforced. Those who preach only the Gospel to sinners, at best only heal the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. The law, therefore, is the grand instrument in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners; and he may safely show that every sinner is under the law, and consequently under the curse, who has not fled for refuge to the hope held out by the Gospel: for, in this sense also, Jesus Christ is the END of the LAW for justification to them that believe.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 13. Was then that which is good, made death unto me ? etc..] An objection is started upon the last epithet in commendation of the law; and it is as if the objector should say, if the law is good, as you say, how comes it to pass that it is made death, or is the cause of death to you? can that be good, which is deadly, or the cause of death? or can that be the cause of death which is good? This objection taken out of the mouth of another person proceeds upon a mistake of the apostle's meaning; for though he had said that he died when the commandment came, and found by experience that it was unto death, yet does not give the least intimation that the law was the cause of his death; at most, that it was only an occasion, and that was not given by the law, but taken by sin, which, and not the law, deceived him and slew him. Nor is it any objection to the goodness of the law, that it is a ministration of condemnation and death to sinners; for lex non damnans, non est lex, a law without a sanction or penalty, which has no power to condemn and punish, is no law, or at least a law of no use and service; nor is the judge, or the sentence which he according to law pronounces upon a malefactor, the cause of his death, but the crime which he is guilty of; and the case is the same here, wherefore the apostle answers to this objection with abhorrence and detestation of fixing any such charge upon the law, as being the cause of death to him, saying, God forbid ; a way of speaking used by him, as has been observed, when anything is greatly disliked by him, and is far from his thoughts. Moreover, he goes on to open the true end and reason of sin, by the law working death in his conscience; but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good ; that is, the vitiosity and corruption of nature, which is designed by sin, took an occasion, by that which is good, that is, the law, through its prohibition of lust, to work in me all maimer of concupiscence, which brought forth fruit unto death; wherefore, upon the law's entrance into my heart and conscience, I received the sentence of death in myself, that so sin by it, working death in me, might appear sin to me, which I never knew before. This end was to be, and is answered by it, yea, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful ; that the corruption of nature might not only be seen and known to be sin, but exceeding sinful; as being not only contrary to the pure and holy nature of God, but as taking occasion by the pure and holy law of God to exert itself the more, and so appear to be as the words kay' uperbolhn amartwlov , may be rendered, exceedingly a sinner, or an exceeding great sinner; that being the source and parent of all actual sins and transgressions; wherefore not the law, but sin, was the cause of death, which by the law is discovered to be so very sinful.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 7-13 - There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which is necessar to repentance, and therefore to peace and pardon, but by trying ou hearts and lives by the law. In his own case the apostle would not have known the sinfulness of his thoughts, motives, and actions, but by the law. That perfect standard showed how wrong his heart and life were proving his sins to be more numerous than he had before thought, but it did not contain any provision of mercy or grace for his relief. He is ignorant of human nature and the perverseness of his own heart, wh does not perceive in himself a readiness to fancy there is somethin desirable in what is out of reach. We may perceive this in ou children, though self-love makes us blind to it in ourselves. The mor humble and spiritual any Christian is, the more clearly will he perceive that the apostle describes the true believer, from his firs convictions of sin to his greatest progress in grace, during thi present imperfect state. St. Paul was once a Pharisee, ignorant of the spirituality of the law, having some correctness of character, withou knowing his inward depravity. When the commandment came to his conscience by the convictions of the Holy Spirit, and he saw what is demanded, he found his sinful mind rise against it. He felt at the sam time the evil of sin, his own sinful state, that he was unable to fulfil the law, and was like a criminal when condemned. But though the evil principle in the human heart produces sinful motions, and the mor by taking occasion of the commandment; yet the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. It is not favourable to sin, which i pursues into the heart, and discovers and reproves in the inwar motions thereof. Nothing is so good but a corrupt and vicious natur will pervert it. The same heat that softens wax, hardens clay. Food of medicine when taken wrong, may cause death, though its nature is to nourish or to heal. The law may cause death through man's depravity but sin is the poison that brings death. Not the law, but sin discovered by the law, was made death to the apostle. The ruinou nature of sin, and the sinfulness of the human heart, are here clearl shown.
Greek Textus Receptus
το 3588 T-NSN ουν 3767 CONJ αγαθον 18 A-NSN εμοι 1698 P-1DS γεγονεν 1096 5754 V-2RAI-3S θανατος 2288 N-NSM μη 3361 PRT-N γενοιτο 1096 5636 V-2ADO-3S αλλα 235 CONJ η 3588 T-NSF αμαρτια 266 N-NSF ινα 2443 CONJ φανη 5316 5652 V-2APS-3S αμαρτια 266 N-NSF δια 1223 PREP του 3588 T-GSN αγαθου 18 A-GSN μοι 3427 P-1DS κατεργαζομενη 2716 5740 V-PNP-NSF θανατον 2288 N-ASM ινα 2443 CONJ γενηται 1096 5638 V-2ADS-3S καθ 2596 PREP υπερβολην 5236 N-ASF αμαρτωλος 268 A-NSF η 3588 T-NSF αμαρτια 266 N-NSF δια 1223 PREP της 3588 T-GSF εντολης 1785 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
13. Exceeding (kaq uperbolhn). An adverbial phrase. Lit., according to excess. The noun uJperbolh means a casting beyond. The English hyperbole is a transcription.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
7:13 {Become death unto me?} (emoi egeneto qanatos?). Ethical dative emoi again. New turn to the problem. Admitting the goodness of God's law, did it issue in death for me? Paul repels (me genoito) this suggestion. It was Sin that (But Sin, alla h hamartia) "became death for me." {That it might be shown} (hina phani). Final clause, hina and second aorist passive subjunctive of fainw, to show. The sinfulness of Sin is revealed in its violations of God's law. {By working death to me} (moi katergazomen thanaton). Present middle participle, as an incidental result. {Might become exceedingly sinful} (genetai kaq' huperbolen hamartwlos). Second aorist middle subjunctive of ginomai with hina in final clause. On kaq' huperbolen, see on 1Co 12:31. Our _hyperbole_ is the Greek huperbole. The excesses of Sin reveal its real nature. Only qen do some people get their eyes opened.
