Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Romans 7:8

"but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin [is] dead." — Romans 7:8 (ASV)

In the background is the Genesis story of the temptation and the Fall. Eve was faced with a commandment—a prohibition. When desire was stirred through the subtle suggestion of the serpent, a certain rebelliousness came into play that is the heart of sin—a preference for one’s own will over against the expressed will of God. The warning “Don’t” to a small child may turn out to be a call for action that had not even been contemplated by the child. A sure way to lose blossoms from the garden is to post a sign that says, “Don’t pick the flowers.” Prohibition furnishes a springboard from which sin is all too ready to take off.

“For apart from law, sin is dead.” It appears from a comparison of “dead” with “sprang to life” in v.9 that the word “dead” is intended to be taken in a relative sense, namely, quiescent, dormant, inactive. This statement appears to be an axiom, a broad and general principle.