ROM 7:9 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:7–12: It is sin that is bad, not the laws

In the last section Paul said that believers died to the law of Moses (7:4), that it is obsolete (7:6), and that it arouses sinful passions (7:5). In this section Paul answered a possible wrong conclusion that someone might make from what he just said. Someone might think that Paul meant that the law is sinful. But Paul clearly indicated that he did not think that. The laws of Moses point out what is sin, and sin causes people to want to do the things that the law says are sin. Sinning leads to death. The laws of Moses are holy and good. But the commandments make it clear what sin is and at the same time arouse sinful passions. Those passions lead to death.

Here are other possible headings for this section:

What about the Laws of Moses and sin?

God’s Law Reveals Our Sin (NLT)

Sin deceives us but the law is holy

General Comment on 7:7–25

Paul used the word “I” in this section and 7:13–25 too. There are at least seven different waysSee Cranfield (pages 342–344). that scholars think what Paul meant by “I” here. Here are the five main ones:

Paul was referring to himself as a Christian,See Schreiner (pages 359–364). implying all believers think the same way and have the same struggles.
Paul, as a believer, spoke of his experience before he believed. He spoke generally enough so that other people can see that they had similar struggles.See Jewett (pages 441–444). Paul then spoke about where we stand as believers regarding these struggles in chapter 8.
It refers generally to anyone who is not a believer but wants to be a good person by following the law. Paul used “I” to make the struggles in these verses more personal. Chapter 8 then explains the victory that believers have in contrast to the person of 7:7–25.
Paul was referring to Adam and from that all people.
Paul was referring to the history of Israel.

It is recommended that you use “I” in these verses.The English versions also use “I” and do not explain it in their translations.

7:9a

Once I was alive apart from the law;

Before/Earlier I lived without laws,
At one time in the past, I was living without connection to law.

This verse begins with a Greek conjunction that probably indicates a general connection to the previous verse. It introduces a new thought connected to what Paul had just said. For example:

And… (NET)

Many English versions omit the conjunction and allow the context to indicate the connection.

Once I was alive apart from the law: The word Once indicates a time prior to the time Paul wrote this letter. For example:

At one time I was alive without any laws (GW)

Earlier I lived apart from laws

apart from: This phrase indicates that Paul lived separated from the laws of Moses. He did not know them, or they did not affect his life. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

without (KJV)

in the absence of (REB)

7:9b

but when the commandment came,

but when the command arrived,
But when the law/command became obvious to me,

but when the commandment came: Here the word when indicates that at a time in the past, the commandment came. That ended the time of Paul living apart from the law. It began the time when sin was alive in his life (7:9c).

the commandment came: Paul spoke of the commandment as if it were a person who came to Paul. Some languages cannot use the word came here. For example:

the commandment became clear to me

commandment: This word is singular. It probably refers to the law to not covet. See how you translated this word in 7:8.

7:9c

sin sprang to life and I died.

sin became like something alive to me and I died.
sin became powerful in my life and I came under God’s sentence of death.

sin sprang to life: This is a figure of speech. It indicates that sin, which had been like something dead (7:8c), is now like something alive. It was influencing Paul and causing him to sin.

In some languages it is not natural to speak of sin as if it sprang to life. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

Change it to a simile. For example:
sin became like an alive thing in my life
Translate without the figure of speech. For example:
sin became powerful

and I died: There is an issue with the verse numbers here:

Verse 10 starts with these words. For example:
⁹…sin came to life ¹⁰and I died. (NJB) (GNT, NJB, NABRE, NRSV, NLT, GW, CEV, NET, NCV)
Verse 10 starts after these words. For example:
⁹sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰… (ESV) (BSB, RSV, NIV, NASB, KJV, ESV, REB)

It is recommended that you put the verse number where the major language version puts it. If there is no major language version in your area, you should follow option (1), because the UBS Greek New Testament 5th edition follows the tradition of having these words in verse 10.

I died: This is a figure of speech. The words “sin came alive” implies that Paul sinned. God’s penalty for sin is death (6:23). So even though Paul continued to live while he sinned, God had marked him for death because of that sin.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Paul actually died at that time. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

Change it to a simile. For example:
I became like a dead thing/person in my life
Explain the figure of speech in your translation. For example:
I came under God’s judgment of death
Translate literally and explain the figure of speech in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:
This is a figure of speech. Paul sinned and God judged him worthy of death. See 6:20–23.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

χωρὶς νόμου

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐγώ Δέ ἔζων χωρίς νόμου ποτέ ἐλθούσης δέ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν)

Here Paul speaks about the law as if it did not exist before he knew about it. Paul means that he was not aware of God’s law at one time. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [while unaware of the law] or [without knowledge of the law]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

ἐλθούσης & τῆς ἐντολῆς

˓having˒_come & the commandment

Paul speaks of the commandment as if it were a person who could come to Paul. He means that he became aware of the commandment. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [when I became aware of the commandment]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἡ ἁμαρτία

the commandment the sin

See how you translated commandment and sin in the previous verse.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

τῆς ἐντολῆς

the commandment

Here, the commandment could refer to: (1) all the commandments that make up God’s law. Alternate translation: [God’s commandments] (2) the commandment against coveting, as mentioned in the previous verse. Alternate translation: [the commandment against coveting]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / personification

ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν

the sin revived

Here Paul speaks of sin as if it were a person who could come to life. This could mean: (1) Paul’s desire to sin was stimulated, as mentioned in the previous verse. Alternate translation: [my desire to sin was stimulated] (2) Paul realized that he was sinning, as mentioned in [7:7](../07/07.md). Alternate translation: [I became aware of my sin]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.