Romans 7:7 ¶ 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, Thou shalt not
covet. 8 But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin
was dead. 9 For I was alive
without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
deceived me, and by it slew me. 12
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good. 13 Was then that which is good
made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful.
The Law is not regarded as something evil, and it is not sin. It
makes us aware of sin and of our helpless state before God. We know something
is wrong because God says it is wrong and against Him. This goes against the
Calvinist who says that God made or created men to sin. God’s standard reveals
our wickedness. Without God’s standard of righteousness anything goes. There is
nothing holding back our lust to sin.
All humanity has standards in their cultures and religions that
must be met but these only are shadows of God’s standard of righteousness,
which He gave the Jews in the Old Testament. Most people have a conscience, but
it can be seared and quenched. God’s standard of morality, of right and wrong,
is sure, reliable, and convicts us of sin.
Here then an argument is answered. The Law does not cause us or the
Jew to sin but makes them aware of their sin, convicts them of it, makes them
know they are sinners. This is important to consider in regard to the fall of
Adam. God allowed but did not make Adam commit the sin of disobedience. He made
Adam aware of his sin. Adam stood before God a sinner and could not say he was
otherwise. God allows us to sin to show us, to reveal our own wickedness of
heart. God takes the lid off of our boiling cauldron of unrighteousness to show
us that without His work we could not be saved.
Romans 7:14 ¶ For we know
that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I
would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I
consent unto the law that it is good. 17
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how
to perform that which is good I find not. 19
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that
I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. 22 For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members. 24 O wretched
man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So
then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
sin.
We all know that we are weak before sin because the human heart is
a wicked thing. Paul acknowledges that he does things he does not want to do
and doesn’t do things he should, just as you or I.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
But it is his sin nature that compels him, drives him forward,
because in our natural heart is no good thing. The Law of God, which Paul
delights in is at war with Paul’s sin nature, as it is with all of us.
In his comparison of death as in the body of this death who can
save me from it there is a link to the judgment on Adam and all of mankind
through history.
Genesis 2:17 But of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
And the dead works produced by our flesh.
Hebrews 9:14 How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God?
The works of the flesh indeed produce death but the fruit of the
Spirit is life.
Galatians 5:16 This I say
then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary
the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not
under the law. 19 Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,
and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one
another.
Let’s review briefly, quickly and summarizing Paul’s argument up
until now. In Romans 1, he outlines a religious history of mankind that shows
mankind is worthy of destruction and judgment as is the so-called righteous
person who does the exact same thing as the unsaved in their behavior no matter
who they claim to belong to.
In Romans 2 he asks how the Jew or we, for that matter, can defy
God in our behavior and justify ourselves. He noted that the Gentile even has a
conscience and moral standards as if they also had the Law and often they are
more righteous acting than the Jew. We’ve seen that in our daily lives as all
of us have probably known an atheist of a higher personal moral character than
many Christians we have known. So, the Law and a law cannot possibly save us in
and of itself.
The point there in chapter 2 is that judgment is coming and one
can perish without the Law or one can be judged by it. But, mankind can be sure
that judgment is coming on all mankind. God is going to judge mankind by Jesus
Christ.
In chapter 2 Paul also accuses the Jew as we might accuse a
Christian today as in how can you teach others in righteousness when you do
yourself and have yourself the very same actions and attitudes the infidel you are trying to reach
has. Paul insists that the person who says they are a Jew and knows God’s will
and can instruct others in the way of righteousness and yet commits the same
wickedness as those they deem themselves worthy to instruct are wrong in their
thinking.
In chapter 3, among other things, Paul said that being a Jew is a
good thing, not a bad thing, but they have all fallen short of what they were
supposed to be. The Law therefore does not produce the righteousness that God
demands, only Christ can do that. The Jew must depend on Christ and understand
that considering the Jewish track record regarding the Law they have failed. It
is Christ alone who can save. This applies to all of those high-minded
Christians who act like they think God is lucky to have them on His team, so to
speak.
While James tells us in his letter that our works show our faith
Paul tells us, however, in Romans 4 that our works do not justify us. Only the
just Christ justifies the believer, the one who trusts in and has faith in Him.
One of the things chapter 5 shows us is that God’s love through
Christ was given to us when we were yet sinners. We did not straighten out our
lives and then get saved. Deathbed salvation experiences are risky things as
you might die suddenly and unexpectedly. But, back to what Paul was saying,
God’s love through Christ was ours when we were yet undone.
In chapter 6 Paul shows us that we are not under the power of sin
anymore and have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
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