©Brett Dolezal
Chapter 7:7-13 (ESV) - What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Question to consider: How can the Law which promises life deliver death for us?
Paul has been arguing that the Law was given so that sin may increase (5:20) and that the wages of sin is death (6:23) so it is a fair question to ask whether the Law is sin. However, the Law is holy and righteous and good because it carries the promise of life to those who keep it. The problem is that we don’t keep it.
If the Law was evil, then our ignorance of it would bring life, but Paul has already brought up that death reigned between Adam and Moses (5:14) Sin already lurks inside of us because of Adam. The Law just brings it into the light. So Paul may not have known what coveting was outside of the Law, but it was the sin that was already in him that produced all kinds of covetousness once the command was given. So the very command that would bring life if kept was the instrument through which sin killed him.
Paul is saying that the Law serves as God’s holy instrument to reveal the sin that is already in us. As long as sin remains hidden, we can deceive ourselves into thinking that we’re really not that bad. Through the commandment, we are shown to be sinful beyond measure.
This is why people get so angry when the Law is preached. We would like for sin to remain hidden. We do not want to be exposed as sinful beyond measure. How many times have we seen the one who exposes a great evil get vilified while the perpetrators of the evil cover up their bad actions?
However, without our sin being brought into the light, we don’t seek the remedy God has provided for it. Our hope in the return of Christ is to fully and finally judge sin and abolish death, but think about what that means for those who are still dead in their trespasses and sins? As difficult as it is to face the wrath of people when the Law exposes their sin, it is necessary to put on display the abundant grace of God in Christ Jesus.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for providing the Law so that our sin could be revealed. Thank You even more for providing a remedy for that sin in Christ Jesus. Please give us the courage to deliver the Law that reveals sin and the remedy of Christ for that sin. Amen.