<p>7:13&nbsp;<i>Did then that which is good become death </i><i>to me? God forbid But sin was shown to be sin, by the way it worked death in me through that which is good; and thus through the commandment, sin became shown as indeed exceedingly sinful</i><i>- </i>There was no actual change in the Law, in that it didn&rsquo;t once offer life and then changed to offer death. The Law was of itself holy, just and good- but it was used by God? to make sin &ldquo;appear&rdquo; as sin, to accent and highlight sin for what it is; and through man&rsquo;s failure to keep the Law, sin was indeed shown to be an exceedingly great sinner (this is how the Greek behind &ldquo;might become exceeding sinful&rdquo; can be translated&rdquo;). I find it significant that in Paul&rsquo;s sustained personification of sin in these passages, he never once uses the terms &ldquo;devil&rdquo; or &ldquo;satan&rdquo;. He clearly saw the problem as human sin, which he personifies because one cannot have abstract &ldquo;sin&rdquo;, in that according to the Bible, sin is committed by and within the minds of personal beings, and in no other realm or dimension. It&rsquo;s appropriate therefore that sin be personified.&nbsp;</p><p>We must doggedly hold on to the interconnections of thought within Paul's argument in Romans. Chapters 1-5 convict all of sin, demonstrating that works can in no way save us. Chapter 6 then outlines how we can be saved; through association with Christ through baptism and a life &ldquo;in Christ&quot;, which will result in God seeing us in the exalted way He does. Chapter 7 basically goes on to say 'But, of course, you'll still sin, even though chapter 6 has explained how God doesn't look at that side of you if you truly try to live &quot;in Christ&quot; '. Paul says many things about his life in Rom. 7 which seem to consciously connect with his description of life before baptism in Chapter 6&nbsp; (e.g. 7:13 = 6:23; 7:14 = 6:17; 7:23 = 6:12,13; 7:24 = 6:6; 7:25 = 6:16,17). The reason for this is that after baptism, we have two people within us; the man of the flesh, who totally dominated our pre-baptismal life, is still within us; but (as Chapter 7 so graphically shows) he is now in mortal conflict with the man of the Spirit, with whom we identify our real selves. Chapter 8 then goes on to encourage us that despite this conflict, sin is dead in Christ, and if we are in Him, then this is really how God sees us. Therefore Rom. 8 stresses that our state of mind is so crucial; if we are led of the Spirit-man, then we are assured of salvation at that point in time. Rom. 9-11 then appeals specifically to Israel to accept the glorious truth of all this, and then Chapters 12-16 show the practical response we should all make. Recognizing the existence of the new and old men within him, Paul can speak in Rom. 7 as if he is two different people; &ldquo;I myself serve the law of God&rdquo;, but &ldquo;my flesh&rdquo; serves sin. Likewise David asked God not to hide His face from him, David&nbsp;<i>personally</i>, (Ps. 27:9; 69:17; 102:2; 143:7), but to hide His face from David&rsquo;s&nbsp;<i>sins&nbsp;</i>(Ps. 51:9). And one wonders whether the way the records of the Lord&rsquo;s temptations are written implies some similar recognition by the Spirit of the two &lsquo;men&rsquo; within the Lord.</p>