Romans 6,7 & 8 part 7

Is the Law Sin?

When we left the last study, we left on the question:

"7a What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! " Romans 7:7a

To answer this question Paul changes the pronoun from "we" to "I." It is interesting that he is still following on from what he was saying before, only now he is making it personal. Some commentators have a problem with this. They assume that because Paul is saying "I" that he must be talking about himself. However, in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul uses what we could call "the poetic I." We never stop and ask, "Is Paul referring to himself?" We read it in the poetry of the first person, It is I who am reading and therefore I refers to me. But 1 Corinthians doesn't apply to everyone. It applies to the believers. It is the same here, although we could angle ourselves into this passage, Paul is addressing the Jewish believers and trying to point out to them how the law failed as far as salvation and sanctification is concerned. Not only that but we are so deceived by the sin in us we kid ourselves that we are keeping the law and that it will save us. That said, we are all just as deceived and will try from time to time to cling to laws and rules as if by keeping them (even though we can't) we will be better for it!

"7b On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

We could try and tie this into humanity in general, but the Law was given to the Jews, not to humanity in general. This section is still addressed to those who know the law.

"8But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead."

We are so fallen that when we are told not to do something there is immediately a drive in us to do it!

"9I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;"

This is an interesting point that most commentators ignore by trying to make it personal to Paul. If we were able to walk on this planet without law then we would be alive. However, there is a righteous God and He has a righteous law, when that law meets our fallen state we are condemned to death. If it were not for the law, we would not even know there was such a thing as sin.

"10and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
11for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me."

Sin is deceptive, our hearts are deceptive, we think we are keeping God's law and we are in fact continuing in sinfulness. The self righteous / religious person thinks they are holy because they keep God's law, however, that is the deception of sin. None of us can keep God's law. The power of sin at work in us tells us that if we have rules then we will be alright. But sin, like a living being set to destroy us, deceives us away from the need for a saviour. It is not through works that we are saved but through faith in Jesus.

"12So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful."

Here Paul is again making the point that “law” isn’t the problem. It is the Sin in us that is the problem. It is clearly wrong to blame the law for pointing out our failings. But what we need to draw from this is that for the Christian the law is clearly not the route to our sanctification. Time and again Paul has pointed out that even though the law itself is not faulty it could not do the work of making us righteous, it could not make us produce works that are pleasing to God.

We can draw a few things from this, those who have not been redeemed cannot please God. Those who have been redeemed through Christ can please God but not through works of the law. In effect we had to die to the law in order to become alive to God. The religious orders that demand adherence to laws, are a deception of sin.