“And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.”
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. — The paradox deepens: the ἐντολή (entolē, "commandment") was given by God εἰς ζωήν (eis zōēn, "unto life")—intended for flourishing—yet it produced θάνατος (thanatos, "death"). The law's intention is good; the outcome is death because sin exploits the law to condemn the sinner. The law reveals what should save but becomes the instrument of judgment.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:10
“For I was alive without the Law once.” When, pray, was that? Before Moses. See how he sets himself to show that it, both by the things it did, and the things it did not do, weighed down human nature. For when “I was alive without the Law,” he means, I was not so much condemned. “But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” This seems indeed to be an accusing of theLaw. But if any one will look closely at it, it will be seen to be even an encomium of it. For it…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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