John Calvin Commentary Romans 7:11

"for sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me." — Romans 7:11 (ASV)

Led me out of the way, etc. It is indeed true that while God's will is hidden from us and no truth shines on us, human life goes completely astray and is full of errors. In fact, we do nothing but wander from the right course until the law shows us the right way to live. However, since we only begin to perceive our mistaken course when the Lord strongly reproves us, Paul rightly says that we are led out of the way when sin is made evident by the law.

For this reason, the verb ἐξαπατᾷν must be understood not in terms of the act itself, but of our awareness of it; that is, the law makes it clear how much we have departed from the right course.

It must, therefore, be rendered led me out of the way; for this is why sinners, who previously went on carelessly, loathe and detest themselves when they perceive, through the light the law sheds on the wickedness of sin, that they had been rushing toward death. But Paul then introduces the word "occasion," and for this purpose—that we may know that the law in itself does not bring death, but that this occurs through something else, and that this is, so to speak, incidental.