JMNT(i)
7 What, then, shall we say (or: declare)? [
Is]
the Law (or: custom)
sin (error; failure to hit the target; deviation from the goal)?
Certainly not (May it not come to be)!
Instead (or: But rather)
I did not (or: do not)
at any point experientially and intimately know the Sin, if not through Law ([= Torah]; or: custom).
For besides, I had not seen and thus had not known (become conscious of)
the full passion (earnest desire; lust; coveting; emotion upon something)
if the Law and the custom were not continuously saying (or: except the [Torah] kept on saying),
"You will continue not putting strong emotions upon something (or: You shall not repeatedly have a strong impulse or desire; You will not constantly crave or covet [other folks' possessions or their gods]).
" [
Ex. 20:17;
Deut. 5:21; comment: the "I" of this passage = Adam (
Gen. 3) /Israel (
Ex. 32) /Paul (in his pre-Christian experience)]