pointing' of this passage is doubtful. In our version it is commonlj pointed thus, " For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me," &c. But, for the reasons assigned on v. 8, the words hy the com- mandment should be connected with the subsequent rather than with the antecedent clause. It was by the commandment that sin deceived, &c. The law is therefore the cause of death, not directly, or in virtue of its own nature or tendency, but incidentally only. Sin makes it such ; for the evil disposition of the heart avails itself even of the law to lead us into sin. The word rendered to c?ecezve, means also to seduce; which sense is better suited to this passage. The idea, therefore, is the same as that before expressed, ' our corrupt hearts make even the law the means of causing us to sin.' dnd by it slew me, i. e. rendered me miserable, at once unholy and unhappy. ' It made me sensible that I was sun I' in hopeless corruption and ruin.'
(12) Wherefore the laio is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. The conclusion from the foregoing exhibition of the effect of the law is, that it is not to be blamed for the evil which it inciden- tally produces. In v. 9 Paul uses the words laiu and commandment as perfectly synonymous ; here they are distinguished. The law collect- ively, and each command separately, are alike holy, &c. The word holy, in the first clause, expresses general excellence, freedom from all fault ; and contains all that is expressed by the three terms of the second clause, where holy means pure, just means reasonable, and good, bene- volent, or tending to happiness. The law is in every way excellent.
(13) Was then that which is good m,ade death unto m.e? God for- bid, &c. With a view to prevent the possibility of its being supposed that he thought disrespectfully of this holy law of God, the apostle again denies that it is directly the cause of sin, but shows that our own cor- ruption is the real source of the evil. Made death, agreeably to what has been said above, means ' made the cause of sin and misery.' The law is not this cause.
JBut sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. The grammatical construction of this part of the verse is, in the original, very doubtful, and, in our version, inaccurate. It will be observed that it consists of two clauses, each beginning with that ; " that it might appear" and " that it might become." The latter of these clauses may depend upon the former ; and the participle working be taken Hebraically for a verb. The sense is then plain and good. 'The law is not the cause of death, but sin, that it might appear sin, wrought death in me by that which is good ; that thus it might become exceeding sinful.' This, however, does violence to the text, as the participle cannot properly be taken here as a verb. Others, therefore, make the clauses co-ordinate, both depending upon the first words of the sentence. ' The law is not the cause of death, but sin is, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good ; that «s, that it might become exceeding sin