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1
The Illusion of Being 'Alive'
Commentators agree that when Paul says he was "alive," he's describing a state of self-deception. Before truly understanding God's law, he felt secure and righteous in his own efforts. This "life" was an illusion based on ignorance of the law's deep spiritual demands on the heart, a warning against superficial, checklist-based faith.
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Romans
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Commentaries
9
Albert Barnes
On Romans 7:9
18th Century
Theologian
For I. There seems to be no doubt that the apostle here refers to his own past experience. Yet in this he speaks the sentiment of all who …
AT Robertson
On Romans 7:9
I was alive (εζων). Imperfect active. Apparently, "the lost paradise in the infancy of men" (Denney), before the conscience awoke …
Charles Ellicott
On Romans 7:9
19th Century
Bishop
I was alive.—The state of unconscious morality, uninstructed but not yet uncondemned, may, compared with that state of co…
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Charles Spurgeon
On Romans 7:8–9
19th Century
Preacher
For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
I d…
Expositor's Bible Commentary
On Romans 7:9
Paul’s statement that he was once alive apart from the law should be taken in a relative sense, for there was actually no time in his life before h…
John Calvin
On Romans 7:9
16th Century
Theologian
For I was alive. He means to suggest that there had been a time when sin was dead to him or in him. But this should not be understood as i…
John Gill
On Romans 7:9
17th Century
Pastor
For I was alive without the law once
The apostle says this, not in the person of Adam, as some have thought; who liv…
Matthew Henry
On Romans 7:7–13
17th Century
Minister
There is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin, which is necessary for repentance and therefore for peace and pardon, except by testing our hea…