but sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: for apart from the law sin is dead. "Finding occasion" -'taking opportunity' (NASV), 'a starting-point,. base of operations' (Vincent p. 78)

"wrought in me" -'produced in me' (NASV); 'to arouse in me' (TCNT); 'stirred up within me' (Mon).

"all manner of coveting" -'Paul states here..that. knowledge of right, and. command to obey, instead of producing virtue, are strong incentives to vice. As an old Roman writer declared: "We always endeavor to obtain that which is forbidden, and desire that which is denied", or as another confessed: "The permitted is unpleasing; the forbidden consumes us fiercely."'

Like the example of Eve in the garden, the command of God 'not to eat' gave the devil an opportunity to convince Eve that she was being deprived of something good. Or, the command of God to Pharaoh to let Israel go, only made Pharaoh more stubborn to resist.

"for apart from the law sin is dead" -sin can't accomplish anything without. law to transgress. (1 Corinthians 15:56)

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Old Testament