Romans 7:7

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Is the law sin ...? Paul here identified what law was his subject by appealing to the tenth commandment in the law of Moses. How is it possible for people to affirm that Paul was speaking of the commandments of Jesus Christ by his use of the term "law" in this chapter? As noted in the paragraph heading this chapter, Paul here (Romans 7:7-13) expounded further the manner in which the law of Moses made sin "abound" (Romans 5:20-23). Also, Paul had mentioned again, only a moment earlier, that the law had wrought forth "in our members to bring forth fruit unto death"; and in the next few verses Paul more fully explained what was meant. To be sure, he had not meant that God's law was sin. However, there was a way for sin to take advantage of it. Thus:

The perverseness of human nature is such that the mere prohibition of an act suggests the desire to do that which is prohibited. The act when done is invested with the character of sin which it hitherto did not possess. It becomes a distinct breach of the law, where previously there had been no law to break.[6]

It is exactly such facts regarding sin that may be observed in the example Paul gave from his own experience. Before the giving of the law of Moses, there were doubtless many who desired their neighbor's ox, or his ass, or his wife; but that was, at that time, a violation of no known law, the inward desire of forbidden things having never been prohibited prior to the law of Moses. Paul here stated, of that very sin, that he would never have known what it was except the law had said, "Thou shalt not covet"!