Romans 7:13

that which is good These words are emphatic in the Gr. He has said (Romans 7:10) that the commandment was found to be, in respect of him, "untodeath." Here he rejects the thought that it was death;a principle, or true cause, of death.

made The Gr. verb is simply did it become?

But sin Supply, became death to me.

that it might Q. d., "it was permitted to do its work, that it might expose its true nature."

appear i.e. come out to light, "shew in its real character."

death i.e. practically, "condemnation."

by that which is good Namely, the Law. The sacredness of the instrument enhances the evil of the agent which so uses it.

might become Not merely "might appear." Sin, as it were, surpasses itselfwhen it takes occasion from the pure Law to awake the soul's resistance to the Blessed Lawgiver. Thus it "becomes exceeding sinfulthrough the commandment;" and thus its developement is overruled to its effectual detection, which is the leading thought here.