“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.”
Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. — Death comes not from the law's goodness but from sin's perversion of it. The law (which is ἀγαθόν, agathos, "good") becomes the occasion for sin to be revealed as ὑπερβολῇ ἁμαρτωλός (hyperbolē hamartōlos, "exceeding sinful"). The law's function is diagnostic: it exposes the depths of human rebellion and sin's parasitic nature.
Church Fathers on Romans 7:13
“Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin that it might appear sin.” That is, that it might be shown what great evil sin is, namely, a listless will, an inclinableness to the worse side, the actual doing , and the perverted judgment. For this is the cause of all the evils; but he amplifies it by pointing out the exceeding grace of Christ, and teaching them what an evil He freed the human race from, which, by the medicines used to cure it, had…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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