Romans 7.12-The Law Is Holy And The Commandment Is Holy, Righteous And Good
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 10, 2008
Romans: Romans 7:12-The Law Is Holy And The Commandment Is Holy, Righteous And Good
Lesson # 223
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 7:1.
Thus far in our studies of Romans chapter seven, we have noted that in Romans 7:1-6, the apostle Paul uses the analogy of marriage and argues that the Christian’s bondage to the Law has been severed because they have died with Christ and have been freed from the Law and placed in union with Christ.
Romans 7:1-6, “Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
Then, we noted that beginning in verse 7 all the way to the end of the chapter, Paul speaks of his own personal experience with the Law in relation to his sin nature.
In verses 7-13, he is speaking from the perspective of his conversion to Christianity as indicated by the aorist tenses of the verb in the passage.
However, in verses 14-25 he is speaking from the perspective of his struggles as a Christian with his sin nature apart from the power of the Spirit as indicated by the present tenses of the verbs in the passage.
Romans 7:7-11, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! 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.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”
This evening we will note in Romans 7:12 that Paul states that the Law is holy and the tenth commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Romans 7:12, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
“So then” is the “inferential” use of the conjunction hoste (w%ste) (hoce-teh), which is introducing a statement that draws an inference from Paul’s teaching in Romans 7:7-11 and which statement concludes that the Law is not sinful but rather, it is holy, righteous and good.
This statement is the final definitive answer to the question raised in verse 7, namely, “Is, the Law, in the state of being identical with the sin nature?”
The Law may have been used by the sin nature but that does not make the sin nature and the Law identical as Paul in verse 7 anticipates that some erroneously might conclude from his teaching in Romans 5:20, 6:14b and 7:5.
The next word in the Greek text that is not translated by the New American Standard Updated Version and New International Version is the particle of affirmation men (me\n) (men).
In Romans 7:12, the particle men functions as a particle of affirmation, or we could classify it as emphatic or intensifying.
It serves to emphasize the statement that the Law is holy, righteous and good.
Romans 7:12, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
“The Law” is the noun nomos (novmo$) (nom-os), which refers as we noted in our studies thus far of chapter seven to the Mosaic Law.
“Holy” is the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which describes the Law as having been “set apart as sacred or consecrated to God or by God.”
The adjective describes the Mosaic Law as being set apart by God in order to reveal His will, purpose, and plan for mankind and to reveal who and what man is and who and what God is and what He has done for man through His Son Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the adjective emphasizes that the writings of the Mosaic Law are divine in quality and character and in origin.
Paul uses this word to describe the entire Old Testament canon of Scripture in Romans 1:2.
Romans 1:1-2, “Paul, a slave owned by Christ who is Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel originating from God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.”
Hagios describes the Law as reflecting or expressing the purity of character and moral perfection of God.
The Mosaic Law reflects and expresses the absolute perfection of God’s character and is thus “totally and completely set apart from” the sin nature or totally antithetical to each other.
Therefore, in Romans 7:12, the adjective hagios, “holy” is not describing the Law’s demand for holiness but its origin in that it originates from the character and nature of God.
Romans 7:12, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
“The commandment” is the noun entole (e)ntolhv) (en-tol-ay), which refers specifically to the tenth commandment that appears in Exodus 20:17 that prohibits coveting.
“Holy” is the adjective hagios (a^gio$), which describes the tenth commandment as being set apart by God in order to reveal His will, purpose, and plan for mankind and to reveal who and what man is and who and what God is.
Therefore, the adjective emphasizes that the tenth commandment is divine in quality and character and in origin.
It describes the commandment as having absolutely no evil in it.
Hagios describes the commandment as reflecting or expressing the purity of character and moral perfection of God.
Hagios describes the commandment as perfectly reflecting and expressing the absolute perfection of God’s character and is thus “totally and completely set apart from” the sin nature or totally antithetical to it.
“Righteous” is the adjective dikaios (divkaio$) (dik-ah-yos), which describes the state or condition of the tenth commandment as having perfect “integrity” in the sense that its character is perfectly sound and adheres perfectly to God’s perfect standards.
Thus, the commandment is upright, honest, perfectly whole, undiminished and sound, unimpaired and in perfect condition since it originates from the perfect character and nature of God.
The adjective dikaios describes the tenth commandment as having perfect “virtue” in the sense that its character is perfect moral excellence, goodness, and conforms perfectly to God’s perfect standards.
Also, the adjective dikaios describes the state or condition of the tenth commandment as always fulfilling God’s obligations to His moral rational creatures, whether angels or men.
The word is used to describe the righteous character and nature of the tenth commandment.
The adjective also describes the tenth commandment as being fair and making no unreasonable or unfair demands upon men.
Thus, the word describes the tenth commandment as “perfect justice” towards men.
Hagios describes the tenth commandment as not being unjust in condemning sinners.
“Good” is the adjective agathos (a)gaqov$) (ag-ath-os), which describes the tenth commandment as being “intrinsically valuable, intrinsically good, inherently good in quality but with the idea of good which is also profitable, useful, benefiting others, benevolent.”
It expresses the perfect character and nature of God and His attitude towards His moral rational creatures.
The word describes the tenth commandment as having man’s best interests in mind and is not designed to hurt him.
Therefore, in Romans 7:12, Paul refutes in emphatic terms the erroneous conclusion that could be inferred from his teaching in Romans 5:20, 6:14b and 7:5 that the Law is equivalent to the sin nature.