Romans 7: 7-13 The Law and Sin

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 

Covet: to desire another persons possessions in a sinful way

Is the law sinful? this question Paul asked of himself and of all people

I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law; the law fulfilled the important function of revealing the presence and fact of sin.

the law sets moral boundaries that other wise would be unknown

Exodus 20:17 “17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.””

? How does the law reveal sin?

? Why is coveting bad?

8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment;

the law not only reveals sin but stimulates it; the natural human tendency is to desire the forbidden thing.

? How does sin seize the moment in our lives?

9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

I was alive apart from the law;

speech in which a person is unaware of sin and undisturbed by condemnation from the law

Sin sprang to life;

Romans 5:13 “13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.”

- sin existed apart from the law; sin gained power through the commandments.

? How did sin gain power?

10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

Was intended to bring life;

Lev. 18:5 “5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.”

Lk. 10:26-28 “26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.””

- With God’s full blessing,the law was the way of life for the redeemed not a way of salvation for the lost.

- in Paul’s experience, instead of giving life, the law brought condemnation; instead of producing holiness it stimulated it.

Paul doesn’t blame the law for death; it was intended to bring life by revealing God’s will for humanity.

However sin took advantage of human weakness through the law

? Who else takes advantage of human weakness?

11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

deceived

sin turned God’s commandments, which should have been an occasion for good, into an occasion for death.

Gen. 3:13 “13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””

put me to death

The same heat that softens wax, hardens clay. Food or medicine when taken wrong, may cause death, though its nature is to nourish or to heal. The law may cause death through man’s depravity, but sin is the poison that brings death. Not the law, but sin discovered by the law, was made death to the apostle.

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

the law is holy

despite the despicable use that sin made of the law, the law was not to blame.

the law is God’s and as such is “holy, righteous and good.”

Paul praises the law as a good and holy gift from God, since it requires what is right from humanity.

he rejects any argument that blames the law as a cause of human sin.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

The commandment exposed sin as rebellion against God.

sin used a holy thing (law) for an unholy end (death)

by this fact the nasty nature of sin is revealed

? What is something good that you can use to show how bad something is?