with anything wrong, — that it is good, and hence pure and free from everything that can do harm.
He thus defends the law against every charge of blame, that no one should ascribe to it what is
contrary to goodness, justice, and holiness.
Romans 7:13
- Quod ergo bonum est, mihi in mortem
cessit? Absit: imo peccatum, ut appareat - 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;peccatum, per bonum operatur mihi mortem: ut
fiat super modum peccans peccatum Per
mandatum.
that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful.
13.Has then what is good, etc. He had hitherto defended the law from calumnies, but in such
a manner, that it still remained doubtful whether it was the cause of death; nay, the minds of men
were on this point perplexed, — how could it be that nothing but death was gained from so singular
a gift of God. To this objection then he now gives an answer; and he denies, that death proceeds
from the law, though death through its means is brought on us by sin. And though this answer seems
to militate in appearance against what he had said before — that he had found the commandment,
which was given for life, to be unto death, there is yet no contrariety. He had indeed said before,
that it is through our wickedness that the law is turned to our destruction, and that contrary to its
own character; but here he denies, that it is in such a sense the cause of death, that death is to be
imputed to it. In 2 Corinthians 3 he treats more fully of the law. He there calls it the ministration
of death; but he so calls it according to what is commonly done in a dispute, and represents, not
the real character of the law, but the false opinion of his opponents.^217
But sin,etc. With no intention to offend others, I must state it as my opinion, that this passage
ought to be read as I have rendered it, and the meaning is this, — “Sin is in a manner regarded as
just before it is discovered by the law; but when it is by the law made known, then it really obtains
its own name of sin; and hence it appears the more wicked, and, so to speak, the more sinful, because
it turns the goodness of the law, by perverting it, to our destruction; for that must be very pestiferous,
which makes what is in its own nature salutary to be hurtful to us.” The import of the whole is —
that it was necessary for the atrocity of sin to be discovered by the law; for except sin had burst
forth into outrageous, or, as they say, into enormous excess, it would not have been acknowledged
as sin; and the more outrageous does its enormity appear, when it converts life into death; and thus
every excuse is taken away from it.^218
(^217) This can hardly be admitted. The Apostle in Corinthians evidently states a fact, as he often does, without going into an
explanation; and the fact was, that the law proved to be the ministration of death: but it proved to be so through the sin and
wickedness of man. — Ed.
(^218) Erasmus, Beza, Pareus, Stuart, and others, make up the ellipsis by putting in, “was made death to me,” after “sin.” But there
is no need of adding anything. The sentence throughout is thoroughly Hebraistic. What is partially announced in the words, “that
it might appear sin,” or, to be sin, etc., is more fully stated in the last clause; and the participle, “working” — μ , is used
instead of a verb, the auxiliary verb being understood. See similar instances in Romans 14:9-13Calvin’s version is no doubt the
correct one. What follows the last more fully explains what comes after the first. — Ed.