What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, you shall not covet.
All Commentaries on Romans 7:7 Go To Romans 7
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
In this passage [to v. ], it seems to me that the apostle is portraying himself as a man set under the law and that he speaks in that role. The law was given not to introduce sin nor to extirpate it but simply to make it known; by the demonstration of sin to give the human soul a sense of its guilt in place of the assurance of its innocence. Sin cannot be overcome without the grace of God, so the law was given to convert the soul by anxiety about its guilt, so that it might be ready to receive grace…. Desire was not implanted in him by the law but was made known to him.
