What is good is merely another way of speaking of the Law.

Brought about my death may be rendered as “caused me to die.” Again, one must make certain that this is understood in a metaphorical sense. If the question-answer construction must be altered, one may translate: “this does not mean that what is good brought about my death” or “… caused me to die.”

By no means (see 7.7).

It was not the Law that brought death to Paul; rather sin used what is good (the Law) to accomplish this. The outcome was that sin’s true nature was revealed (New English Bible “sin exposed its true character”; Jerusalem Bible “but sin, to show itself in its true colors”). Paul is saying that one cannot see how evil sin is until he realizes that sin takes what is good, that is, a divine command, and uses this to bring death to men. By using the commandment (to bring death to men), sin not only shows its true nature as sin, but sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful (New English Bible “sin became more sinful than ever”).

Its true nature as sin might be revealed may be translated as “in order that people might know exactly what sin is” or “in order that sin would be shown for exactly what it is.”

In Greek this verse has two purpose clauses, one of which is clearly indicated in the Good News Translation, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. The second purpose clause is indicated by and so. This second clause is parallel with the first, but it goes one step further to show how terribly sinful sin is. The purpose involved is God’s purpose; and Paul intimates that the reason God intended for sin to be shown up in its true nature was so that he might destroy it (see 5.20).

Though the final sentence of verse 13 does indicate purpose, it may in this context be treated as result—for example, “and hence the commandment causes sin to become even worse” or “and so because the commandment says one should not sin, sin becomes even worse.” In the latter instance, by means of the commandment is expressed as cause, if this is the only succinct way in which such expressions of means may be communicated.

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 .