7:8a–b
But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me: The figure of speech here speaks of sin as a person that seized its opportunity. Some languages must translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:
through ⌊the existence of⌋ the commandment, ⌊the power of⌋ sin caused me to have
-or-
sin was like a bad/evil person, who seeing an opportunity because of what the commandment said, caused/pulled me into
7:8a
But: There is contrast of “Do not covet” (7:7e) with sin producing all kinds of coveting (7:8a–b). But there is no contrast to the main point of 7:7 (“if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin”). Some languages will not see the connection as contrast here. For example:
When…
-or-
And (New Century Version)
seizing its opportunity: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as seizing is literally “having taken.” Sin, as if it were a person, saw an opportunity to cause Paul to covet. That opportunity came about because the law said “do not covet,” and Paul (and anyone for that matter) then wanted what did not belong to him. Here are other ways to translate these words:
finding an opportunity (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
-or-
took the opportunity (God’s Word)
its opportunity: The word opportunity refers to a situation that someone can use to their benefit. Paul may have seen a nice house or nice clothing that belonged to someone else, and sin took that situation and tempted Paul to covet those things. Here are other ways to translate this word:
a chance
-or-
a road/way
-or-
possibility
through the commandment: Here the word through refers to something being used as a tool to do something. Here it indicates that the commandment was like a tool that sin used to influence Paul. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
in the commandment (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
-or-
using this commandment
the commandment: This refers to the words of someone in authority saying what should be done or what should not be done.
The word commandment is singular and a different Greek word that the word translated as “law” in 7:7. So it probably refers to the one law Paul mentioned in 7:7: “You shall not covet.”
Some languages use the same word for “law” and commandment. If that is true in your language, refer to the law in 7:7e. For example:
that law
7:8b
produced in me: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as produced refers to causing something to exist and focuses on the result rather than the action itself. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
making me have (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
work in my heart with the result that
The Greek tense is a simple past. It is not clear if Paul implied whether this action had stopped or continued at the time he wrote this letter. Later he talked about his feelings at the time using the present tense. But here you should use the past tense.
every kind of covetous desire: The phrase covetous desire refers to desiring to possess for oneself something that belongs to someone else, like “covet” in 7:7. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
all kinds of coveting
-or-
all ways to covet
7:8c
For: This conjunction introduces the basis for Paul saying that sin used the law like a tool to cause Paul to covet. Here is another way to translate this word:
because
apart from the law: This phrase supposes there is no law for the sake of what Paul said next. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
without the law (King James Version)
-or-
If there were no law (New Living Translation (2004))
the law: Here the word law refers to the laws of Moses.
sin is dead: The Greek has no verb here. In English usually a form of “be/is” can be added. Another way to translate this expression is:
sin lies dead (English Standard Version)
The word dead is figurative here. It refers to sin being without power. Some languages will need to:
• Change it to a simile. For example:
sin is ⌊like a⌋ dead ⌊thing⌋
• Translate without the figure of speech. For example:
sin has no power (New Century Version)
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.