{Is the law sin?} (ho nomos hamartia?). A pertinent query
in view of what he had said. Some people today oppose all
inhibitions and prohibitions because they stimulate violations.
That is half-baked thinking. {I had not known sin} (	(886e)
hamartian ouk egn(936e)). Second aorist indicative of gin(9373)k(935c), to
know. It is a conclusion of a second class condition, determined
as unfulfilled. Usually an is used in the conclusion to make it
plain that it is second class condition instead of first class,
but occasionally it is not employed when it is plain enough
without as here ( Joh 16:22,24 ). See on 涊a 4:15|. So as to {I
had not known coveting} (lust), epithumian ouk (8869)dein. But all
the same the law is not itself sin nor the cause of sin. Men with
their sinful natures turn law into an occasion for sinful acts.