upon his mind, and after it began to produce its proper effect. In the former state, he was alive, and sin was dead ; in the latter, sin became alive, and he died.
(9) For I was alive without the law once ; but when the command- ment came, sin revived, and I died. The word for connects this verse logically with the two preceding. » The law produces conviction of sin, for I was alive,' &c. Without the law, i. e. the law being absent, as it is opposed to the expression, when the commandment came. This phrase describes the state of Paul, and of every Christian, before conviction of sin. He was without a proper apprehension of the nature and extent of the law, which is real ignorance of it. Of course, as the law is the rule of duty, he was unaware of the number and magnitude of his sins. In this state he was alive. Life is a common figure, not only for activity, but happiness, including, among other ideas, those of peace and security. The meaning here is, 'I was at peace with myself; unaware of the dreadful opposition of my heart to the nature and requirements of God; and consequently unapprehensive of the danger to which, by that oppo- sition, I was exposed.'
But when the commandment came, &c. That is, when I obtained pro- per views of the nature and extent of the law, then two consequences followed, sin revived, and I died. As by sin's being dead was meant that it was inactive and unobserved, so by its reviving must be intended, that it was roused from its torpor; its opposition to all that is good was excited by the clear exhibition of the law, and consequently it was no longer an unobserved or unknown evil. The sense of its existence power, and turpitude, became clear and strong. The result of this effect of the law Paul expresses by saying, and I died. That is, ' I became miserable ; because aware of the evil that was in me, and of the danger to which I was exposed.' Self-satisfaction and sense of security fled before the light of the law.
(10) And the commandment which was unto life, I found to be unto death. Life and death are here, as often elsewhere, opposed to each other ; the one standing for happiness, the other for misery. The com- mandment, which was designed and adapted to lead men to happiness and the true end of their being, becomes productive of misery, by making them sensible of their corruption and exposure to condemnation* Throughout the whole of this passage it is to be remembered that Paul attributes to the law, not only the knowledge of sin, but the excitement of it. It produces " the motions of sin," or sinful desires, v. 5 ; it works all manner of concupiscence, v. 8 ; it revives sin, v. 9 ; it seduces into sin, V. 11. In the death, therefore, which it produces, the idea of sin as well as misery is to be included; and in the life, to which it was de- signed to lead, the ideas of holiness and happiness are both embraced.
(11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. This verse assigns the reason of the law's being the cause of death, and hence is connected by for with v. 10. The proper