Romans 7:10

7:10 which were supposed to bring life: The Old Testament promised a blessed and secure life to those who obeyed the law (e.g., Lev 18:5, quoted in Rom 10:5). However, human beings inherit from Adam a strong tendency to sin. Therefore, when God’s commands come to us, we do not naturally obey them, but resist and disobey them. Instead of bringing life, the law only confirms and exposes our lost and helpless condition. We need a change of heart that the law cannot provide.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rom 7:10. Απέθανον, I died) I lost that life, which I [fancied that I] had.—εὑρέθη, was found) So εὑρίσκω, I find, Rom 7:21.—εἰς ζωὴν, to life) on the ground of the original intention of God, and in another point of view, on the ground of my own opinion, which I held, when I was living without the law. Life pointedly indicates both joy and activity; while death implies the opposite.—αὐτὴ, itself) the same [the very same commandment]. It is commonly written αὓτη, but Baumgarten has αὐτὴ, which is correct.[70] Comp. Act 8:26, note.

[70] Lachmann and Tischendorf, the two ablest exponents of modern textual criticism, prefer αὕτη.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:10. Ἀπέθανον] correlative of ἀνέζησεν, antithesis of ἔζων. It is neither to be understood, however, of physical nor of spiritual death (Semler, Böhme, Rückert; comp. Hofmann and others), but, as the contrast εἰς ζωήν requires, of eternal death. This was given with the actual sin brought about through the sin-principle that had become alive; the sinner had incurred it. Paul, full of the painful recollection, expresses this by the abrupt, deeply tragic ἀπέθανον.

ἡ εἰς ζωήν] sc. οὖσα, aiming at life. For the promise of life (in the Messianic theocratic sense, Lev_18:5; Deu_5:33; Gal_3:12), which was attached to the obedience of the Mosaic law generally, applied also to the ἐντολή.

εὑρέθη] was found, proved and showed itself in the actual experimental result; comp. Gal_2:17; 1Pe_1:7. Chrysostom has well said: οὐκ εἶπε· γέγονε θάνατος, οὐδὲ ἔτεκε θάνατον, ἀλλʼ εὑρέθη, τὸ καινὸν καὶ παράδοξον τῆς ἀτοπίας οὕτως ἑρμηνεύων, καὶ τὸ πᾶν εἰς τῶν ἐκείνων (of men) περιτρέπων κεφαλήν.

αὕτη] haec. To be written thus, and not αὐτή, ipsa (Bengel and Hofmann), after the analogy of Rom_7:15 f., Rom_7:19 f. It has tragic emphasis. Comp. on Php_1:22.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 7:10 . The result is that the commandment defeats its Own intention; it has life in View, but it ends in death. Here also analysis only misleads. Life and death are indivisible wholes.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_7:10

And the commandment which was unto life, I found to be unto death. The law was designed and adapted to secure life, but became in fact the cause of death. Life and death, as here opposed, are figurative terms. Life includes the ideas of happiness and holiness. The law was designed to make men happy and holy. Death, on the other hand, includes the ideas of misery and sin. The law became, through no fault of its own, the means of rendering the apostle miserable and sinful. How vain therefore is it to expect salvation from the law, since all the law does, in its operation on the unrenewed heart, is to condemn and to awaken opposition! It cannot change the nature of man. By the law is the knowledge of sin, Rom_3:20; it produces the motions of sin, Rom_7:5; it works all manner of concupiscence, Rom_7:8; it revives sin, Rom_7:9; it seduces into sin, Rom_7:11. How then can it save? How miserable and deluded are those who have only a legal religion!

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In sin, or by sin.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

And--thus.

the commandment, which was, &c.--designed

to--give

life--through the keeping of it.

I found to be unto death--through breaking it.

For sin--my sinful nature.

taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me--or "seduced me"--drew me aside into the very thing which the commandment forbade.

and by it slew me--"discovered me to myself to be a condemned and gone man" (compare Rom 7:9, "I died").

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. And the commandment] Meaning the law in general, which was ordained to life; the rule of righteousness teaching those statutes which if a man do he shall live in them, Le 18:5, I found, by transgressing it, to be unto death; for it only presented the duty and laid down the penalty, without affording any strength to resist sin or subdue evil propensities.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Was found by me, etc. Two things are stated here — that the commandment shows to us a way of life in the righteousness of God, and that it was given in order that we by keeping the law of the Lord might obtain eternal life, except our corruption stood in the way. But as none of us obey the law, but, on the contrary, are carried headlong on our feet and hands into that kind of life from which it recalls us, it can bring us nothing but death. We must thus distinguish between the character of the law and our own wickedness. It hence follows, that it is incidental that the law inflicts on us a deadly wound, as when an incurable disease is more exasperated by a healing remedy. I indeed allow that it is an inseparable incident, and hence the law, as compared with the gospel, is called in another place the ministration of death; but still this remains unaltered, that it is not in its own nature hurtful to us, but it is so because our corruption provokes and draws upon us its curse.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(10) Which was ordained to.—“The very commandment which was for life I found to be for death” (Ellicott). The Law was instituted in order that it might give life to those who were under it and who kept it. They did not keep it, and therefore it brought them not life but death.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. ordained to life] In the Gr. simply to life. Such was its natural tendency. “This do and thou shall live” is the statement of a deep and holy sequence. The failure lies not in the commandment but in the fallen will. And meantime no modification in the commandment is conceivable; for that would be to bend an eternal principle, the basis of all peace and hope, namely, Holiness.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the commandment which was ordained to life,.... The law which promised a continuance of an immortal life to Adam, in case of perfect obedience to it; and which was appointed to the Israelites, that by the observation of it they might live in the land of Canaan, and in the quiet and full possession of their privileges and enjoyments; but was never ordained to eternal life, or that men should obtain that by their obedience to it; since eternal life is the free gift of God, without respect to any works of men; see Gal 3:21; This same law, the apostle says,

I found to be unto death; as it was an occasion, through the vitiosity of nature, of stirring up sin in him, which brought forth fruit unto death; as it convinced him that he was a dead man and worthy of death; as it threatened him with it, and struck all his hopes of eternal life dead, and left him in this condition without giving him the least direction or assistance whereby to obtain life.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

Ver. 10. Ordained to life] By life and death understand peace and perturbation.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the commandment - The Law to which he had referred before.

Which was ordained to life - Which was intended to produce life, or happiness. Life here stands opposed to death, and means felicity, peace, eternal bliss; Note, Joh 3:36. When the apostle says that it was ordained to life, he probably has reference to the numerous passages in the Old Testament which speak of the Law in this manner, Lev 18:5, “Ye shall keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them,” Eze 20:11, Eze 20:13, Eze 20:21; Eze 18:9, Eze 18:21. The meaning of these passages, in connection with this declaration of Paul, may be thus expressed:

The Law is good; it has no evil, and is itself suited to produce no evil.

(2)If man was pure, and it was obeyed perfectly, it would produce life and happiness only. On those who have obeyed it in heaven, it has produced only happiness.

(3)For this it was ordained; it is adapted to it; and when perfectly obeyed, it produces no other effect. But,

Man is a sinner; he has not obeyed it; and in such a case the Law threatens woe.

It crosses the inclination of man, and instead of producing peace and life, as it would on a being perfectly holy, it produces only woe and crime. The law of a parent may be good, and may be appointed to promote the happiness of his children; it may be admirably suited to it if all were obedient; yet in the family there may be one obstinate, self-willed, and stubborn child, resolved to indulge his evil passions, and the results to him would be woe and despair. The commandment, which was ordained for the good of the family, and which would be adapted to promote their welfare, he alone, of all the number, would find to be unto death.

I found - It was to me. It produced this effect.

Unto death - Producing aggravated guilt and condemnation, Rom 7:9.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

q.d. So it came to pass, that the commandment, which was ordained to be a rule of life, and, if I could have kept it, a means of life also, Rom 10:5; Gal 3:12, I found it to be to me (through my corruption and transgression) an occasion of death; it bound me over to punishment; and so, by accident, it tendeth to death. Some by life and death, here, understand peace and perturbation of spirit.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The commandment which was intended for life - Doubtless it was originally intended by God as a grand means of preserving and increasing spiritual life, and leading to life everlasting.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The natural end and use of the commandment or law of God, It was ordained unto life; that is, it was given for a rule of life, a promised eternal salvation to the perfect fulfilling of it. But no man since the fall being able perfect the law in his own person, can be justified by the law in the sight of God. However, the proper end for which the law was ordained, was to give life to them that should perfectly keep it.

Observe, 2. The contrary use which the apostle found the law to be of, with reference unto himself. What was ordained to life, he found to be unto death: that is, through his own corruption and transgression, it became an occasion of death to him, by binding him over to punishment, and rendering him obnoxious to the wrath of God.

Thus the word of God, the sweet and saving word of God, that word which God had ordained to bring men to life and salvation, is found to some the savour of death unto death; but the fault is not in the word, but in themselves.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. “And I died; and the commandment which was unto life, the same was found to me to be unto death.” When Paul reached responsibility, coming in contact with the law, like the rest of us, he unfortunately antagonized it, thus forfeiting his infantile justification. the law, which, instrumental in the divine administration, and, of course, conducive to life, when disobeyed became the swift vehicle of death. Consequently he died spiritually, the inbred sin, of course, lying dormant, having nothing to do till the time came. Then it revived, beginning an exterminating war against the law, he, taking side with it, died spiritually.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death :

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. And the commandment, which was ordained unto life. The commandments had a promise of Life. “The man which doeth those things shall live by them” (10:5). I found to be unto death. When he found that, instead of keeping the commandments, he had broken them, he realized he was under condemnation.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον. Here of the death to the pre-moral life, a death by and in sin: aor. = became dead.

εὑρέθη = proved in my experience; more than ἐγένετο.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] but I died (ceased to live-and-flourish as before,—fell into that state of unhappiness, which even afterwards under the gospel he calls θάνατος, ver. 24, ch. 8:2): and (not an additional particular, but = ‘and so,’ merely changing the subject from ‘I,’ to ‘the commandment’) the commandment which was for (tending to) life (compare ch. 10:5, ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ἄνθρωπος ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς, and reff. there: the life is one of prosperity primarily, but capable of, and indeed requiring (10:5) a higher interpretation), this (very commandment) (αὕτη directs attention in a marked way to the antecedent subject: so frequently αὐτός and ἐκεῖνος: see Mat 24:13: Winer, edn. 6, § 23. 4) was found (subjective—οὐκ εἶπεν ὅτι ἡ ἐντολὴ γέγονέ μοι θάνατος, ἀλλʼ εὑρέθη, τὸ καινὸν καὶ παράδοξον τῆς ἀτοπίας οὕτως ἑρμηνεύων), Chrys.) by me (to be) unto (tending to) death (explained on ἀπέθ. above).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.