And I died may need to be expressed as a simile—for example, “and, as it were, I died,” since this is not a reference to physical but to spiritual death.

According to the Genesis account, obedience to the command of God meant that life would continue, whereas disobedience meant death would come. But Paul discovers that Adam’s experience and his own are similar: the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death.

The commandment which was meant to bring life may be rendered as “the commandment which was supposed to cause me to live” or “the commandment which God intended to cause me to live.”

The final expression, in my case brought death, must again be understood in a metaphorical sense and may be expressed in some languages merely as “caused me to die” (though obviously Paul was not physically dead), or as a simile “caused me, as it were, to die.” In some languages, however, it may be more appropriate to speak of a “sentence of death”—for example, “caused me to be under the sentence of death” or “caused me to be condemned to die.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .