Romans 7:9

“For I was alive without the law once, etc..] The apostle says this, not in the person of Adam, as some have thought; who lived indeed, in a state of innocence, a perfectly holy and righteous life, but not without the law, which was the rule of his actions, and the measure of his obedience; he had the law of nature written upon his heart, and a positive law respecting the forbidden fruit given him, as a trial of his obedience; and though when he transgressed he became mortal, yet sin could not be said to revive in him, which never lived before; nor does the apostle speak in the person of a Jew, or the whole body of the people of Israel before the law was given on Mount Sinai; before that time…”

“For I was alive without the law once--"In the days of my ignorance, when, in this sense, a stranger to the law, I deemed myself a righteous man, and, as such, entitled to life at the hand of God." but when the commandment came--forbidding all irregular desire; for the apostle sees in this the spirit of the whole law. sin revived--"came to life"; in its malignity and strength it unexpectedly revealed itself, as if sprung from the dead. and I died--"saw myself, in the eye of a law never kept and not to be kept, a dead man."”

“For I - There seems to be no doubt that the apostle here refers to his own past experience. Yet in this he speaks the sentiment of all who are unconverted, and who are depending on their own righteousness. Was alive - This is opposed to what he immediately adds respecting another state, in which he was when he died. It must mean, therefore, that he had a certain kind of peace; he deemed himself secure; he was free from the convictions of conscience and the agitations of alarm. The state to which he refers here must be doubtless that to which he himself alludes elsewhere, when he deemed himself to be righteous, depending on his own works, and esteeming himself to be blameless, Philippians…”

“And I was once alive without the law - Without the close application of it. I had much life, wisdom, virtue, strength: so I thought. But when the commandment - That is, the law, a part put for the whole; but this expression particularly intimates its compulsive force, which restrains, enjoins, urges, forbids, threatens. Came - In its spiritual meaning, to my heart, with the power of God. Sin revived, and I died - My inbred sin took fire, and all my virtue and strength died away; and I then saw myself to be dead in sin, and liable to death eternal. Romans 7:10”

“7:9 At one time I lived without understanding the law: Paul might be referring to his early childhood, before he came to understand the full demands of the law. • But when I learned the command: Paul’s experience with the law as he grew to maturity exemplifies every person’s experience with it. With the law, we have greater accountability to God, which brings the power of sin to life, and the result is greater judgment (7:10; see 4:15; 5:14, 20).”

“For I: Mat 19:20; Luk 10:25-29, Luk 15:29, Luk 18:9-12, Luk 18:21; Phi 3:5, Phi 3:6 without: Mat 5:21-26, Mat 15:4-6; Mar 7:8-13 but: Rom 3:19, Rom 3:20, Rom 10:5; Psa 40:12; Gal 3:10; Jam 2:10, Jam 2:11 sin: Rom 7:21-23, Rom 8:7 and I died: Rom 7:4, Rom 7:6 \*marg. Rom 7:11, Rom 3:20; Gal 2:19 Romans 7:10”