Is the Law Sin?

Introduction

Have you ever felt like rules just cause a lot of problems in your life? Those tax laws, who loves those? What about seat belts? They are so uncomfortable. Back when I was a kid, I remember kids in class who complained that the teachers hated them because they were always getting in trouble or failing on their school work. Was the problem really the teacher or the assignments? In an ideal world No. The evidence for this is that all the other students weren’t breaking the rules or failing their assignments. But it can be easy when we are constantly breaking the rules to think the rules are the problem. If they would just leave me alone.

Paul began this chapter saying that we are dead to the law. We are free from its obligations. The picture Paul has painted of the law is not a good picture. Having read what Paul had to say, the law might seem like a bad thing after all it:

Impeding marriage to Christ

Aroused sin

Caused death

Impeded life by the Spirit

The law produced sin and death but is it responsible for the death and sin? If something is only causes more problems and it is killing me, I would naturally assume that it is a bad thing. It is with this in mind that Paul asks the question in 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.” Is it the laws fault that we experience greater sin and death? Paul’s answer is God Forbid or may it never be thought. The law isn’t the problem. Vs 7-12 are going to give us an explanation for why the law is not sin.

Before we dive into the text, I want to knock out one controversy right at the start. The controversy centers around this word I in vs 7. Who is the “I”? If you open a commentary and look up these verses you will see that there are three views for who Paul is speaking as in this passage. You might think this is obvious and it should be, but some have proposed that Paul is speaking like an actor in a play representing someone else. The main thrust of the argument is that Paul claims in vs 9 to have been alive without the law once. They argue Paul was never spiritually alive and as a Pharisee raised in Judaism, he was never without law. So they try to find parallels between Paul’s speech and other groups. Their observations are helpful but I think misguided.

The three possible “I” theories:

Adam- The strongest claim is that Paul is speaking as Adam because before the fall, mankind in Adam did not know sin. They were alive in their innocence. This view fails because Paul is talking about the Mosiac law which came many years after Adam.

Israel- This view also fails because Israel was not spiritually alive either.

Paul- I believe as is natural to believe that Paul is here speaking from his experience. He speaks of a time when He was living in innocence before his conscious knowledge of the law. Most believe this is the time before his bar mitzvah when he became a child of the commandment. Paul was still a sinner, but lived in ignorance of his sin. Then he was confronted with the law and sin stirred up in response. Here are four reasons I believe this is Paul speaking from his own experience.

constant use of the word I

found

specific example of a law that provoked sin

Pauls exclamation in the last verse

With that in mind, Paul explains from his experience both the nature of the law in these verse and later on the weakness of the law. So let’s dive into the text. Paul makes three affirmations about the law: three things to believe about the law.

The law brings knowledge of sin

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.”

The first affirmation is that the law brings a knowledge of sin.

Imagine going to another country where you don’t know the rules. Japan is a country filled with rules and traditions. One such rule is that when you are eating a bowl of rice you never stab the rice with your chop sticks; so when you are done eating you don’t just stick them into the left over rice, you lay them across the top of the bowl. Now if you haven’t been to Japan you might not know this rule and so you go from restaurant to restaurant violating this cultural rule. This can be serious because in Japan this is an omen of death and is seen as a sign of wishing someone ill. Knowing the laws makes you aware of the sin you have been committing all along. It isn’t that you didn’t do anything wrong until the rules were explained to you. You were offending people and wishing them death the entire time.

The key word here is Known. Known can have two different meanings:

Knowledge of facts- Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Unless a law is posted, you don’t know what the rules are. So the law lets us know what is expected of us. The law reveals the mind of God to us. What does God expect? Most theologians divide the law into three sections: the ceremonial law, the civil law and the moral law. The law represents God’s will so it cannot be sin. The ceremonial law was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ while the civil law was God’s will for the nation of Israel, but the moral law is God’s general will for all mankind. So the law had a benefit in revealing God’s will on morality.

Knowledge by experience- I don’t think that knowledge of facts is what Paul meant by known in this passage. I believe Paul is speaking about his experience. So when Paul heard the law that said do not covet, it stirred up sin in him. He has already mentioned this principle in Romans 7:5 “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.” ]

Have you ever noticed how sometimes you do things you never would have even thought about until someone else exposed you to it? Like buying a boat. You never go to the lake, you don’t even like to fish; but your next door neighbor just got a boat and now you want want. It gets stuck in your head. Sometimes this is how sin is. We would have never thought to do that sin, but we started hearing about how bad this is and so we decided to try it. The law says don’t do this and our hearts say, but I want to.

The law stirs up sin

Romans 7:8 “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.”

This second meaning of know is what Paul explains in vs 8. The Sin nature is stirred up in rebellion by the law and produces more sin in our lives. Notice the phrase, the commandment, Paul is referencing back to the 10th commandment that had affected him so much. So when he heard thou shalt not covet, the flesh rose up and wrought or produced in him all manner of concupiscence. That word concupiscence means a disordered, self- indulgent desire. Sin in response to the law creates greater desires for the wrong. Isn’t it true that forbidden fruits are often the sweetest Proverbs 9:17 “Stolen waters are sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” There is an excitement when we are doing wrong. It brings an element of pleasure, but after wards are the paths of death.

For without the law sin was dead- dead here speaks of being not perceptible as in lying dormant. Sin didn’t raise its ugly head until it was contradicted. This is not teaching that Paul was sinless before his encounter with the law. He has already argued that before the law people still died because they were guilty of sin.

Romans 7:9 “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”

Now we come to the controversial passage. What does it mean that Paul was alive without the law once? Considering that this entire passage is speaking of Paul’s experience; it makes sense here that Paul’s perception in his innocence was that he was doing alright. He was alive in the sense of living in innocence. But when the commandment came sin revived or sprang to life, raised its head and destroyed that image of innocence.

Romans, 2nd ed. (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament | BECNT) Exegesis and Exposition

When Paul says in 7:9 that he once lived χωρὶς νόμου, he is reflecting on his perception at the time that he had true life, but also noting that from his present perspective he realizes that the only reason he thought he had life at that time was because he had not yet recognized that the law (combined with sin) only kills.”

Romans, 2nd ed. (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament | BECNT) Exegesis and Exposition

So Paul didn’t truly live before encountering the law: he recounts his own consciousness and belief, and he was convinced he had life at that time in his life.

Have you ever taken a class and it seemed you were doing well? You understood the curriculum and you were following along. But that very first test you bombed it. This is similiar to Paul’s experience. Before the law comes along we think we are doing well. We have this all taken care of, but then the test comes, the law enters and reveals that that isn’t really the case.

As a good Pharisee Paul would have been focused on external sins. Honestly, many of us are the same way. We think of sin as lying, cheating, stealing, murder; but the specific law that Paul points out is an internal sin: one of the heart. Expand on this

Romans 7:10 “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.”

As bible believing Christians, we all know that you cannot be saved by keeping the law; but the bible does teach that if you had kept the whole law, you would have life. Leviticus 18:5 “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.” The problem is that Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” is still in the bible. So by experience, we thought the law would gain us salvation, but in reality what we got was death.

Romans 7:11 “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

Sin deceived us and took advantage of the law to condemn us. Paul’s argument here is that it wasn’t the law that slew us, but sin took advantage of the law and killed us. Take for example a scientist who is developing nuclear energy for his country. He thinks he is building a renewable energy source for his country, but he happens to be an Iranian. His ruler takes the good thing he has developed and makes a bomb out of it. This is how sin has acted. It took a good thing and made something bad out of it.

The law is good

Romans 7:12 “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”

So Paul concludes, the law is not sinful; rather it is good. The law reveals the mind and heart of God and it could have brought life with God if we hadn’t been sinners by nature. The law is by nature holy, and right and good. It tells us how to live right, how to treat other people, how to be just and fair; but sin just rises up and uses it to create more sin.

Illustration of a child who gets mad because their parents because they keep telling them what to do and correcting them when they do something wrong. The kid might say, “You are making me mad.” but in reality the parents are just doing what they are supposed to do and sin in the heart of the child is making them mad.

Conclusion

What is your response when someone tells you what to do? Do you bristle when the law is laid down? Paul challenges us in this passage to ask what the real problem is. Is it the person in authority who has to make a rule that is the real problem? Is it the rules that are the real problem?

The real problem is an issue of the heart. Sin doesn’t like to be told what to do; so it rebels. It fights back. This attitude is manifested in a person who is unteachable, unmanageable. This is the rebellious heart, the sin nature, the flesh exerting its will when confronted with what it is being told.

Rebels into three categories

Outright rebel- This is the type of rebel who is combative and refuses to do what he is told. They will lie, steal, or cheat to get their way. Their behavior will often be self-destructive and they have no respect for authority. exe Prodigal son

Compliant rebel- goes along with things only because it gets him what he wants. exe Pharisees f you are a nice person—if virtue comes easily for you—beware! If you mistake for your own merits what are really God’s gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above a chimpanzee." CS Lewis

Careless rebel- forgets to obey or professes they didn’t know, lives by excuses, victim mentality exe King Saul in 1 Sam 15

So when it comes to being told what to do, what is your natural tendency? Take a hard look at your heart. Hopefully, Paul’s writing will help you to further understand the law and your reaction to it.