Is the Law Sin?

Introduction

In demonstrating the reality of the disannulment of our marriage to the law by death, to be remarried to Christ, Paul states that the motions of sin or sinful passions of day to day to sin, were by the law, by in the sense of close proximity to the law. But now that we are made alive we are married to Christ to bear fruit unto God in the power of the Spirit and not in the power of compulsion to the law. One then might infer, that if that is so, then isnt the Law sin? Isnt the law a bad thing? If sin operates by the law, if the law only brings about condemnation, if in our union to Christ we are released from the law, no longer under it, then surely the Law must be a bad thing. “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? God Forbid.” And if you’ll recall there’s that term we’ve seen previously, “Me Genoito”, the strongest axiom in the greek for absolute detest and repudiation towards something. In verses 7-13 Paul will begin to debunk the notion then that because the law condemns the world, that because sin operates by the law, that it is in anyway culpible or responsible for the evil of sin.

Though not inspired the chapters of Romans do help us to break the up the book into the the themes that it teaches. In chapters 3-5 Paul teaches us that the Law can not save. In chapter 6 we learned that the Law cannot sanctify. Now in Chapter 7 we’ve begun to see how the law can no longer condemn us, seeing as we are no longer married or united to it, and now we will see how though the law can no longer condemn us, it does convict us, believers and unbelievers alike of sin. The result of such conviction is different however.

To jog our memory, lets read Rom 7:1-7

Romans 7:1–7 KJV 1900

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. 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.

Again, the conclusion of the readers of the epistle might be that the law then is not a good thing, but rather its sinful, because the result of it is only condemnation for man, and because sin operates by the law. Paul anticipated this, and so he provides instruction as to why thats not the case. Actually as to why thats borderline blasphemous, hence his strong repudiation of such a thought!

“Is the law sin” is the question. No, of course not. How can that which God instituted be sin? How can God who is perfect and without sin, create something that is sinful? The Law is not sinful in the exact way if not in a greater way, that our laws are not sinful when we decree that tax evasion is wrong. If someone commits tax evasion, the law is merely the standard of righteousness, the criminal who has trespassed the law is the evil one, not the law. And though the Law absolutely condemns each and every person born under Adam, the law isnt at fault, we are, we who break the Law.

I have heard that there some people would refer to the law as something Dirty and old. This is utterly shocking to me, and I would be very very hesitant to call anything that God created dirty and old. The Jews at this time were extremely careful to keep the Law of God. In fact they were so careful that they invented additional rules to keep themselves in line. Over time these teachings began to supercede the teachings of the law, and these traditions of man violated the laws of God. God’s law has always been Holy and Just, and Good, as we’ll see later in our text. Through Moses, God recorded his words as found in Deut 27:26. In Chapter 28, we see just how serious God sees his law Deut 28:15-22 Additionally, turn to Gal 3:10 and Jam 2:10

Deuteronomy 28:15–22 KJV 1900

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Galatians 3:10 KJV 1900

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

James 2:10 KJV 1900

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

The question might be then, why would God give to his people, laws that are impossible to fully keep and if broken bring about such dire curses. The purpose was to not only show his people, those who are justified, the standard of living that they are to abide by, but to also show the futility of trying to fulfill that in it of themselves. To teach us and them, not how Good we are capable of being, but the opposite, how utterly sinful we are to our core. In Rom 7:5 we see how Sin operates in close proximity to the law, so Paul knew the question they would pose is, was that which was given to us through Moses by God, actually evil because of the effect is has had? And if it is, does that mean that we should outright toss it and live without it. And we know his response, God forbid! The law though it can no longer condemn Christians, seeing as Christians are no longer under it, though it no longer condemns, it still serves a wonderful purpose towards the believer and Paul is going to give us the four effects of the conviction of the Law.

The Law Reveals Sin

The Law Arouses Sin

The Law ruins the Sinner

The Law demonstrates the sinfulness of sin

1. The Law Reveals Sin

Romans 7:7 KJV 1900

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.

Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. The law is perfect, its not deficient in any way. But because its perfect, it serves to show us our imperfections. It shows us God’s holy standard of righteousness, and gives us the ability to more accurately identify sin. Now this isnt a new concept, as he has already mentioned that “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” in Rom 3:20. The law informs us and shows us our transgressions against God. This knowing of Sin is not simply an understanding of right and wrong as we know that the work of the law is written in the hearts of men, in the form of the Conscience Rom 2:15. Fun fact the etymology of the word stems from two latin phrases Con=With Science=Knowledge. All men are guilty and accountable to God because all men have a knowledge of right and wrong. But this knowing is a knowing of mans inability to keep the law. He did not understand the scope of sin, except by the immense condemnation that the Law placed on him. At some point before his conversion, Paul was confronted with his sins, and this conviction took place by the Holy Spirit through the convicting work of the law in revealing sin.

As reported by Paul, Paul was meticuously zealous for the Laws of God, trained by one of the great Rabbis at the time, Paul considered himself more zealous for the law then all his peers. Zealous Jews often confidently without contradiction made such claims as to fulfilling the requirements of the law. This was because at the time as mentioned before the keeping of the law had been so perverted so miscontrued as to be completely by keeping the external aspects of the Law without relation to the internal inward requirements of the law. Like the rich young ruler, Paul would’ve have been under the impression that he was keeping the law and thus was righteousness. This mindset is even prevelent today in Modern Judaism. Some of you may know a man named Dennis Prager. He has produced good media in regards to a vast array of current topics, but he is a practicing Jew. In a recent documentary that he’s in, in a panel discussion he presents to the panel how he once provided counselling to a jewish couple. The wife had some sort of crippling disease which restricted her movement entirely and confined her to a wheelchair. The husband was struggling with sexual immorality, and told Dennis that it was because of the lack of the fulfillment in conjugal rights. Dennis told this person that he didn’t believe it was sinful for this man to be viewing sinful media online, because he was not actually committing adultery, and thus he was remaining faithful to his wife. That is such a blatant perversion of the law, that I couldnt even believe I had heard that correctly. If thats not a demonstration as to the mindset of one who keeps the external law, while neglecting the internal requirements, im not sure what is.

Interestingly Paul mentions the 10th commandment here as to what made him aware to extent of his depravitity. Coveting or lusting is entirely and inward sin. Perhaps for Paul one of the ways in which the Spirit was convicting him prior to his conversion was in his realization of the extent of his coveting. In any case, the battlefield of sin is or at least begins internally. Before a man murders, he hates. Its not what goes into a man that defiles him, its what comes out. But the 1st way in which the convicting law affects man is it reveals to us our sin.

2. The Law Arouses Sin

Romans 7:7–8 (KJV 1900)

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. ---But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

“But Sin”, Paul immediately refocuses the light onto the proper enemey, that being sin and not the law. Because the problem isnt that the law condemns those who transgress it, the problem is the one who transgress it, especially if those laws are perfect. “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscience”. The greek etymology of the word occasion here is an interesting one. The word was used to decribe the Base of operations, or starting point from which to launch a military campaign. Before any country can effectively invade another, they must first establish a strong enough beachhead or base of operations on the enemey soil, from which they can launch additional expeditions and missions. Sin uses the Law as its base of operations. Any idea why? Because every man under Adam is born under sin, with a sin nature, and sin is any transgression of God’s law, you can simply say that man is born with a rebellious nature to obey authority.

This is probably most evident in children, who lack the self control or will to suppress sin. I like an illustration that Paul Washer gave about indwelling sin. He said that he once held his baby boy, who had a fixiation of his watch. And so when the boy reached for it, he said No. Shortly after the boy reached for it again, and Paul more sternly said no. Not so long after that it happened again, and Paul again said no as the boy reached for the watch, which at this point upset the boy who began to cry and squirm and make a fuss. Now if you were to give that baby boy the strength of a gorilla lets say, that baby boy wouldnt even hesitate to rip his arm out so that he could play with his watch. That is the result of indwelling sin. And when the Law of God is presented, it arouses Sin. When people see a sign to stay off the grass, almost impulsively, the desire becomes to what? Step on the grass.

Sin uses the Law as a beachhead of operations, from which to conduct its expeditions in our own lives, believers and unbelievers alike. In Paul’s example it was concupiscience or longing, desiring, essentially coveting. The moment Paul became aware as to the extent of his actual sin, he became aware of his lusting or coveting. And when Paul immediately thought back to the 10th commandment, all that did was invigorate sin which was in him, to commit even more coveting. Application for this, The Law can never produce fruit in the believers life. The Christian, must stay close to Christ and walk with him daily, and as he does God will give him the strength to keep his commandments. We must, in his power and not our own, strive to be obedient and pleasing to all that God commands.

Lastly in the verse, “For without the Law sin was dead”. This is not to say that apart from the Laws existentence, sin did not exist. We know according to Rom 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” Sin was in the world, but sin was dead, it was not fully aroused, it had no base or operations in other words. The evidence of Sin is simply found in that all men that have ever been born have died, with exceptions to those that God took into heaven, that we have no evidence of their death. Sin was already in the world, but sin was not invigorated to the degree that it is now, now that the Law has been given. Sin did not overwhelm the sinner as it does now. A nice illustration is found in Pilgrims Progress with Christian. Now its been a while since ive read this but one commentator summarized it this portion of the book this way,

“A large, dust-covered room in Interpreter’s house symbolizes the human heart. When a man with a broom, representing God’s law, begins to sweep, the dust swirls up and all but suffocates Christian. That is what the law does to sin. It so agitates sin that it becomes stifling. And just as a broom cannot clean a room of dust but only stir it up, so the law cannot cleanse the heart of sin but only make the sin more evident and unpleasant.”

Closing

Is the Law sin? God forbid. The Law is perfect as God is perfect, but since we are imperfect people, since we are born sinners, “That which was meant for life to me, I found to be unto death”. However, the Law still serves an incredibly important role to the unsaved and to the saved. For the unsaved its through the knowledge of Sin that they see themselves truly for who and what they are before God, which then can lead to repentance and Faith towards God in Jesus christ. For the saved, its a just standard of morality. We do not keep the law to inherit internal life, we keep the law because were commanded to firstly, and secondly because the Law teaches us about God, what he proscribes and what he prohibits. However now, the difference is, because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, now we can obey the Law in “Newness of Spirit”, and not in compulsion or striving for rightousness.

We’ve seen the two effects the convicting of the Law has on us, 1. The Law reveals Sin, 2. The Law arouses Sin, Next week we’ll see the third and fourth point in the rest of our passage. Lets pray.