⁵ For when we were in the flesh,^[a] the sinful desires,^[b] aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body^[c] to bear fruit for death.

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I^[a] would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else^[b] if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”^{[c] 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.^[d] For apart from the law, sin is dead. ⁹ And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive ¹⁰ and I died. So^[e] I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!^{[f] 11} For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.^{[g] 12} So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.