For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
To be alive without the law once is to feel alive and free from condemnation because its force has not yet been recognized, not because the law was absent or sin was harmless. When the commandment comes the law is pressed home upon conscience and understanding by the Holy Spirit in its full spiritual claim, reaching even to thoughts, desires and motives in Thou shalt not covet. Then sin that seemed dead to awareness becomes active and vivid in its guilty hatefulness, and the sinner dies under conviction and condemnation as spiritually dead. The holy commandment ordained to life does not create sin or die itself, but as a detector it exposes transgression in its exceeding sinfulness and leaves the guilty condemned and dead under its sentence. What happened to Paul is the work to be wrought in every conversion, where the law as schoolmaster ends self-confidence and self-righteousness, sends the humbled sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing through His sacrifice, and brings death to self that he may find the commandment unto life through moral power from imputed righteousness and obey it in spirit and truth.
Sense of the Words
To be alive without the law once is to feel alive and under no condemnation because the force of the commandment has not yet been recognized. Without the law in this sense does not mean the law was absent or that sin was harmless, but that sin was as though dead and hidden from awareness until seen through the law. The person is alive without the law until the commandment comes home to the conscience and brings the knowledge of sin.
When the commandment came means the law of God was urged home upon the conscience and understanding, bringing its full spiritual claim to the heart. This coming is by the Holy Spirit presenting God's standard of character and pressing the commandment's full spiritual meaning upon mind and heart, even to thoughts and desires. So understood, the commandment exposes sin that had been hidden and makes the sinner see himself condemned as a transgressor.
Sin revived means sin, which had been dead in the person's awareness without the law, became active, vivid and recognizable in its hateful, guilty power. In that light the man sees his life as exceedingly sinful, with intense remorse and deep conviction. The old sense of being alive without the law thus passes away as the former life is brought to an end and true conviction and sorrow for wrongdoing take its place.
I died means Paul himself died under conviction and condemnation as spiritually dead, with his carnal mind and self-confidence brought to an end. It is Paul, not the law, that dies, for the law does not die nor cause sin but reveals it and condemns the transgressor while remaining the same. To say the law died reverses the verse and is a fatal falsehood, as is treating the law as dead while sin revives and the carnal mind stays alive.
Paul's Blindness Before
Before the commandment came Paul supposed himself righteous and spiritually alive because, judged by outward acts and a human standard, he was blameless and abstained from sin. When the commandment came in its spiritual character home to his conscience, he looked into the depths of God's law as a holy mirror and saw himself as God saw him. Then sin revived in its true hideousness and became evident in his thoughts and emotions, his confidence in his own goodness was shattered, his self-esteem and self-righteous confidence fell away, and judged by that light he saw himself a sinner, convicted as a transgressor, condemned and spiritually dead.
Apart from the law the sinner feels alive because he measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ. His ignorance was ignorance of what true godliness requires, for he had not discerned the spiritual depth of the law. That depth was especially opened by Thou shalt not covet, which as a holy mirror reaches beyond outward conduct to thoughts, desires, feelings, motives, and designs, requiring the spiritual agent itself to be pure, the mind holy, and all inner life to be in accordance with the law of love and righteousness.
In that blind, self-confident state he thought he was zealously keeping the law while persecuting the saints, but his conscientiousness did not make him guiltless. When the Spirit impressed his cruel work upon him and touched his spiritual vision, he saw in the light of the law that the very law he thought he kept he had transgressed.
The same self-deceived being alive without the law is seen in those who claim holiness and sinlessness by a righteousness of their own while daily transgressing under condemnation of the law. They feel alive and holy because they judge by a standard of their own and reject the light by which sin is detected, but when the commandment comes into view in God's great mirror, sin is exposed as alive and the person dies, starting back with horror at seeing himself a sinful Pharisee. It is seen also in church members who think they are in the truth but are far from practicing its principles, to be alive without the law meaning not to know the meaning of the written Word, to follow own impulses instead of doing the will of God, and to be led by another spirit instead of the Spirit of God, and this is the reason for the weakness and inefficiency of the church.
Law Exposing Sin
The law does not create sin or cause death, but acts as a detector that by its light points sin out, makes it known as transgression, and gives knowledge of its exceeding sinfulness. Before its force is recognized sin lies as though dead in awareness and the person feels alive, yet when the commandment comes home to the conscience and understanding sin becomes active, vivid and recognizable in its guilty power. To be without the law in this sense is not that the law is absent or that sin is harmless, but that sin hidden from view has not yet been seen through the law. When the commandment so exposes guilt the sinner stands convicted as a transgressor, condemned and dead under its sentence.
It is sin, not the law, that deceives and brings death, using the holy commandment for that end. The commandment ordained for life exposes sin and makes it appear exceedingly sinful, and sin takes occasion by it to revive and slay the sinner. Thus the one who dies is Paul and every sinner with him, not the law.
The commandment itself remains holy and just and good, ordained unto life and laying men under obligation to God. It is the same and immutable and unchangeable, broad in all its holy, just and good principles, reaching beyond outward conduct to thoughts, desires, designs, feelings and motives, requiring the spiritual agent itself to be pure and the mind holy in accordance with the law of love and righteousness. By its light everyone sensible of having transgressed it is convicted and sees himself guilty before God, even over wrong inner thoughts.
The law that so condemns sin in the flesh has no power in itself to remove defect, pardon guilt, or save from the consequence of transgression. It only convicts by its light and holds the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon, serving as a schoolmaster to show sinners their need of Christ and sending them to Him for pardon and cleansing. Without it sin cannot be defined as transgression, and its claims cannot be set aside.
Conversion Through Conviction
Romans 7:9 lays out the work to be wrought in conversion, for what happened to Paul is the experience of every repentant sinner. To be alive without the law once is to feel no condemnation before the law of God is urged upon the conscience, and when the commandment comes sin revives and becomes vivid and the sinner dies, seeing himself a sinner condemned by the divine law. It is Paul, not the law, that dies, for the law and its commandment are holy, just, and good, though sin uses the commandment to deceive and bring death. When the commandment is brought home with light it exposes sinfulness and puts the sinful nature to death so that self dies, and that death to self comes by honoring God through obedience to the commandments in spirit and in truth as the way to lay hold of eternal life. In that true conviction of sin with sorrow for wrongdoing and daily overcoming of character defects, the old life passes away in the new birth and all things become new.
In true conversion the sinner is first convicted of his real condition as a transgressor of God's law whose connection with God is broken and upon whom the Lord has claims which He will not relinquish. Apart from the law he feels alive because he measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ, regarding himself as faultless in ignorance of what true godliness requires. When the commandment reaches the conscience sin revives and is seen in its true hideous character and exceeding sinfulness, living even in thoughts, feelings, and actions mistaken for righteousness, and confidence in own goodness is shattered. He is assured of the malignity of his disease, recognizes himself condemned and spiritually dead under the law, feels intense remorse, and realizes the sinfulness of sin and his need of a cure. That awakening brings deep repentance and confession, with confession of wrongs to others and effort to make them right.
The law itself remains holy and just and good, with no power in itself to remove defect or save from the consequence of transgression, but with power by its light to convict and hold the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon through faith in Christ as substitute and surety. Conviction leads to bowing in humiliation, confessing guilt, exercising genuine repentance toward God for breaking the law and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and free salvation through His grace and complete sacrifice, even to being washed and cleansed in baptism and obedience. If the sinner repents of transgression, confesses sin, and takes hold by faith upon the grace of Christ, the broken connection will be restored, and the repenting sinner who pleads forgiveness through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour will be accepted by God in the name of Jesus. So the man who had blasphemed Christ is transformed to praise Him, and the persecutor learns dependence on Christ for pardon and righteousness. He learns that Jesus is the Author of religion from Adam's day, the vindicator of truth and fulfiller of prophecy, in whose death type met antitype to vindicate the Father's law, which is immutable so that God could not change it to meet man in his fallen condition but sent His only begotten Son to die for the fallen race and to bring strength to obey it.
Thus the law serves as a schoolmaster to show sinners their need of Christ, sending the sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing and bringing self-confidence and self-sufficiency and the carnal mind to an end. Only by realizing the sinfulness of sin can the sinner appreciate the value of the atonement and the necessity of being cleansed from all sin. A person not humbled by the law has not yet faced impurity or learned the need of Christ's righteousness. The commandment was ordained to life, and all who keep it through moral power obtained from the imputed righteousness of Christ find it unto life, but to the carnal law-breaker apart from faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ it is found unto death. As the rich young ruler would have had his sinful nature slain and laid hold of eternal life if when seeing his sin through the commandment he had obeyed it in spirit and in truth, so unlike him the converted die to self, while those who resist the law reverse the order by treating the law as dead while sin revives and the carnal mind stays alive, dulling spiritual powers so they cannot discern eternal things and corrupting conduct.
Humble Life Afterward
When the commandment exposes guilt the sinner dies to self-esteem and self-merit, to self-righteousness and self-satisfied life and the carnal mind, bowing in humility and putting self to death. Once alive in his own esteem because judged by outward acts and a human standard he was blameless and abstained from sin, he looks into the depths of God's law as a holy mirror, especially Thou shalt not covet, and sees himself as God sees him. Then sin revives and appears in its true hideousness, active and vivid in thoughts and motives and not only in outward acts, and he stands convicted and condemned as spiritually dead with confidence in his own goodness shattered. Judged by that light he confesses guilt and does not forget what manner of man he is, exercising repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ to be washed and cleansed, with the blasphemer transformed to praise Christ. That death to self is true conversion, in which the sinful nature is put to death when the commandment is brought home with light, unlike the rich young ruler who did not see his own sinfulness and lay hold of eternal life.
That death to self makes him humble, ascribing all goodness and glory to God and no longer thinking more highly of himself than he ought. He is no longer ambitious for greatness, nor vindictive, nor sensitive to reproach, neglect or contempt, nor seeking earthly alliance, station or honor, nor pulling others down to uplift himself. Instead he becomes gentle and condescending, meek and lowly of heart, talking of Jesus and His matchless love, growing into His image with life hid with Christ in God. He bends all his energy with ardent, unselfish love to win souls to Christ.
Remade with softened, subdued, Christlike character, he becomes a living epistle known and read of all men. He shows that the power of holy living in warfare against wrong and in daily overcoming of character defects, with the old life passed away and all things become new in the new birth, is far ahead of all doctrinal discourse. That death to self comes by honoring God through obedience to the commandments in spirit and in truth. When the holy precepts of the law are brought into the practical life the soul is converted and the perfection of the law is known by experience.
The light that exposes danger, errors, and wrongs leaves no valid excuse of having done the best one knew. It calls not for self-justification but for humbling oneself, repentance, confession and turning from sin, and allowing self to die. When the commandment comes into view in God's great mirror, sin is exposed as alive and the person dies, starting back with horror at seeing himself a sinful Pharisee, though that conviction can give hope for conversion. This exposure unmasks spurious holiness that claims to be without sin by a righteousness of its own while daily transgressing under condemnation, forsaking the Fountain of living waters for broken cisterns, and leaves only God's humble way of penitence, faith, and obedience.
Faith in Christ as personal Saviour brings forgiveness and His righteousness, while faith works through love and purifies the soul. Christ did not come to annul the law or to take human guilt and impute His righteousness so men could continue to violate Jehovah's precepts. Because man could not keep the law in his own strength He suffered the penalty of sin as substitute and surety to maintain and exalt it and to bring strength to obey it, so the repenting sinner who pleads forgiveness through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour is accepted in the name of Jesus. The law itself remains holy and just and good with power to convict by its light and lead to repentance toward God for breaking it and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and free salvation, but with no power in itself to remove defect or save from the consequence of transgression. Without the law no one can define sin, which refutes teachers who claim the law has no claims.
To be alive without the law once is to feel alive and free from condemnation because its force has not yet been recognized, not because the law was absent or sin was harmless. When the commandment comes the law is pressed home upon conscience and understanding by the Holy Spirit in its full spiritual claim, reaching even to thoughts, desires and motives in Thou shalt not covet. Then sin that seemed dead to awareness becomes active and vivid in its guilty hatefulness, and the sinner dies under conviction and condemnation as spiritually dead. The holy commandment ordained to life does not create sin or die itself, but as a detector it exposes transgression in its exceeding sinfulness and leaves the guilty condemned and dead under its sentence. What happened to Paul is the work to be wrought in every conversion, where the law as schoolmaster ends self-confidence and self-righteousness, sends the humbled sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing through His sacrifice, and brings death to self that he may find the commandment unto life through moral power from imputed righteousness and obey it in spirit and truth.
Sense of the Words
To be alive without the law once is to feel alive and under no condemnation because the force of the commandment has not yet been recognized. Without the law in this sense does not mean the law was absent or that sin was harmless, but that sin was as though dead and hidden from awareness until seen through the law. The person is alive without the law until the commandment comes home to the conscience and brings the knowledge of sin.
When the commandment came means the law of God was urged home upon the conscience and understanding, bringing its full spiritual claim to the heart. This coming is by the Holy Spirit presenting God's standard of character and pressing the commandment's full spiritual meaning upon mind and heart, even to thoughts and desires. So understood, the commandment exposes sin that had been hidden and makes the sinner see himself condemned as a transgressor.
Sin revived means sin, which had been dead in the person's awareness without the law, became active, vivid and recognizable in its hateful, guilty power. In that light the man sees his life as exceedingly sinful, with intense remorse and deep conviction. The old sense of being alive without the law thus passes away as the former life is brought to an end and true conviction and sorrow for wrongdoing take its place.
I died means Paul himself died under conviction and condemnation as spiritually dead, with his carnal mind and self-confidence brought to an end. It is Paul, not the law, that dies, for the law does not die nor cause sin but reveals it and condemns the transgressor while remaining the same. To say the law died reverses the verse and is a fatal falsehood, as is treating the law as dead while sin revives and the carnal mind stays alive.
Paul's Blindness Before
Before the commandment came Paul supposed himself righteous and spiritually alive because, judged by outward acts and a human standard, he was blameless and abstained from sin. When the commandment came in its spiritual character home to his conscience, he looked into the depths of God's law as a holy mirror and saw himself as God saw him. Then sin revived in its true hideousness and became evident in his thoughts and emotions, his confidence in his own goodness was shattered, his self-esteem and self-righteous confidence fell away, and judged by that light he saw himself a sinner, convicted as a transgressor, condemned and spiritually dead.
Apart from the law the sinner feels alive because he measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ. His ignorance was ignorance of what true godliness requires, for he had not discerned the spiritual depth of the law. That depth was especially opened by Thou shalt not covet, which as a holy mirror reaches beyond outward conduct to thoughts, desires, feelings, motives, and designs, requiring the spiritual agent itself to be pure, the mind holy, and all inner life to be in accordance with the law of love and righteousness.
In that blind, self-confident state he thought he was zealously keeping the law while persecuting the saints, but his conscientiousness did not make him guiltless. When the Spirit impressed his cruel work upon him and touched his spiritual vision, he saw in the light of the law that the very law he thought he kept he had transgressed.
The same self-deceived being alive without the law is seen in those who claim holiness and sinlessness by a righteousness of their own while daily transgressing under condemnation of the law. They feel alive and holy because they judge by a standard of their own and reject the light by which sin is detected, but when the commandment comes into view in God's great mirror, sin is exposed as alive and the person dies, starting back with horror at seeing himself a sinful Pharisee. It is seen also in church members who think they are in the truth but are far from practicing its principles, to be alive without the law meaning not to know the meaning of the written Word, to follow own impulses instead of doing the will of God, and to be led by another spirit instead of the Spirit of God, and this is the reason for the weakness and inefficiency of the church.
Law Exposing Sin
The law does not create sin or cause death, but acts as a detector that by its light points sin out, makes it known as transgression, and gives knowledge of its exceeding sinfulness. Before its force is recognized sin lies as though dead in awareness and the person feels alive, yet when the commandment comes home to the conscience and understanding sin becomes active, vivid and recognizable in its guilty power. To be without the law in this sense is not that the law is absent or that sin is harmless, but that sin hidden from view has not yet been seen through the law. When the commandment so exposes guilt the sinner stands convicted as a transgressor, condemned and dead under its sentence.
It is sin, not the law, that deceives and brings death, using the holy commandment for that end. The commandment ordained for life exposes sin and makes it appear exceedingly sinful, and sin takes occasion by it to revive and slay the sinner. Thus the one who dies is Paul and every sinner with him, not the law.
The commandment itself remains holy and just and good, ordained unto life and laying men under obligation to God. It is the same and immutable and unchangeable, broad in all its holy, just and good principles, reaching beyond outward conduct to thoughts, desires, designs, feelings and motives, requiring the spiritual agent itself to be pure and the mind holy in accordance with the law of love and righteousness. By its light everyone sensible of having transgressed it is convicted and sees himself guilty before God, even over wrong inner thoughts.
The law that so condemns sin in the flesh has no power in itself to remove defect, pardon guilt, or save from the consequence of transgression. It only convicts by its light and holds the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon, serving as a schoolmaster to show sinners their need of Christ and sending them to Him for pardon and cleansing. Without it sin cannot be defined as transgression, and its claims cannot be set aside.
Conversion Through Conviction
Romans 7:9 lays out the work to be wrought in conversion, for what happened to Paul is the experience of every repentant sinner. To be alive without the law once is to feel no condemnation before the law of God is urged upon the conscience, and when the commandment comes sin revives and becomes vivid and the sinner dies, seeing himself a sinner condemned by the divine law. It is Paul, not the law, that dies, for the law and its commandment are holy, just, and good, though sin uses the commandment to deceive and bring death. When the commandment is brought home with light it exposes sinfulness and puts the sinful nature to death so that self dies, and that death to self comes by honoring God through obedience to the commandments in spirit and in truth as the way to lay hold of eternal life. In that true conviction of sin with sorrow for wrongdoing and daily overcoming of character defects, the old life passes away in the new birth and all things become new.
In true conversion the sinner is first convicted of his real condition as a transgressor of God's law whose connection with God is broken and upon whom the Lord has claims which He will not relinquish. Apart from the law he feels alive because he measures himself by himself and by other sinners like himself and does not look at the purity and holiness of Christ, regarding himself as faultless in ignorance of what true godliness requires. When the commandment reaches the conscience sin revives and is seen in its true hideous character and exceeding sinfulness, living even in thoughts, feelings, and actions mistaken for righteousness, and confidence in own goodness is shattered. He is assured of the malignity of his disease, recognizes himself condemned and spiritually dead under the law, feels intense remorse, and realizes the sinfulness of sin and his need of a cure. That awakening brings deep repentance and confession, with confession of wrongs to others and effort to make them right.
The law itself remains holy and just and good, with no power in itself to remove defect or save from the consequence of transgression, but with power by its light to convict and hold the transgressor prisoner until repentance and pardon through faith in Christ as substitute and surety. Conviction leads to bowing in humiliation, confessing guilt, exercising genuine repentance toward God for breaking the law and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and free salvation through His grace and complete sacrifice, even to being washed and cleansed in baptism and obedience. If the sinner repents of transgression, confesses sin, and takes hold by faith upon the grace of Christ, the broken connection will be restored, and the repenting sinner who pleads forgiveness through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour will be accepted by God in the name of Jesus. So the man who had blasphemed Christ is transformed to praise Him, and the persecutor learns dependence on Christ for pardon and righteousness. He learns that Jesus is the Author of religion from Adam's day, the vindicator of truth and fulfiller of prophecy, in whose death type met antitype to vindicate the Father's law, which is immutable so that God could not change it to meet man in his fallen condition but sent His only begotten Son to die for the fallen race and to bring strength to obey it.
Thus the law serves as a schoolmaster to show sinners their need of Christ, sending the sinner to Christ for pardon and cleansing and bringing self-confidence and self-sufficiency and the carnal mind to an end. Only by realizing the sinfulness of sin can the sinner appreciate the value of the atonement and the necessity of being cleansed from all sin. A person not humbled by the law has not yet faced impurity or learned the need of Christ's righteousness. The commandment was ordained to life, and all who keep it through moral power obtained from the imputed righteousness of Christ find it unto life, but to the carnal law-breaker apart from faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ it is found unto death. As the rich young ruler would have had his sinful nature slain and laid hold of eternal life if when seeing his sin through the commandment he had obeyed it in spirit and in truth, so unlike him the converted die to self, while those who resist the law reverse the order by treating the law as dead while sin revives and the carnal mind stays alive, dulling spiritual powers so they cannot discern eternal things and corrupting conduct.
Humble Life Afterward
When the commandment exposes guilt the sinner dies to self-esteem and self-merit, to self-righteousness and self-satisfied life and the carnal mind, bowing in humility and putting self to death. Once alive in his own esteem because judged by outward acts and a human standard he was blameless and abstained from sin, he looks into the depths of God's law as a holy mirror, especially Thou shalt not covet, and sees himself as God sees him. Then sin revives and appears in its true hideousness, active and vivid in thoughts and motives and not only in outward acts, and he stands convicted and condemned as spiritually dead with confidence in his own goodness shattered. Judged by that light he confesses guilt and does not forget what manner of man he is, exercising repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ to be washed and cleansed, with the blasphemer transformed to praise Christ. That death to self is true conversion, in which the sinful nature is put to death when the commandment is brought home with light, unlike the rich young ruler who did not see his own sinfulness and lay hold of eternal life.
That death to self makes him humble, ascribing all goodness and glory to God and no longer thinking more highly of himself than he ought. He is no longer ambitious for greatness, nor vindictive, nor sensitive to reproach, neglect or contempt, nor seeking earthly alliance, station or honor, nor pulling others down to uplift himself. Instead he becomes gentle and condescending, meek and lowly of heart, talking of Jesus and His matchless love, growing into His image with life hid with Christ in God. He bends all his energy with ardent, unselfish love to win souls to Christ.
Remade with softened, subdued, Christlike character, he becomes a living epistle known and read of all men. He shows that the power of holy living in warfare against wrong and in daily overcoming of character defects, with the old life passed away and all things become new in the new birth, is far ahead of all doctrinal discourse. That death to self comes by honoring God through obedience to the commandments in spirit and in truth. When the holy precepts of the law are brought into the practical life the soul is converted and the perfection of the law is known by experience.
The light that exposes danger, errors, and wrongs leaves no valid excuse of having done the best one knew. It calls not for self-justification but for humbling oneself, repentance, confession and turning from sin, and allowing self to die. When the commandment comes into view in God's great mirror, sin is exposed as alive and the person dies, starting back with horror at seeing himself a sinful Pharisee, though that conviction can give hope for conversion. This exposure unmasks spurious holiness that claims to be without sin by a righteousness of its own while daily transgressing under condemnation, forsaking the Fountain of living waters for broken cisterns, and leaves only God's humble way of penitence, faith, and obedience.
Faith in Christ as personal Saviour brings forgiveness and His righteousness, while faith works through love and purifies the soul. Christ did not come to annul the law or to take human guilt and impute His righteousness so men could continue to violate Jehovah's precepts. Because man could not keep the law in his own strength He suffered the penalty of sin as substitute and surety to maintain and exalt it and to bring strength to obey it, so the repenting sinner who pleads forgiveness through the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour is accepted in the name of Jesus. The law itself remains holy and just and good with power to convict by its light and lead to repentance toward God for breaking it and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ for pardon and free salvation, but with no power in itself to remove defect or save from the consequence of transgression. Without the law no one can define sin, which refutes teachers who claim the law has no claims.