How does God use His Law in the life of an unsaved man? Paul tells us how God used the Law in his own life to show him his sin and kill his self-righteousness.
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Is The Law Sin?
Romans 7:7-12
In order to understand the Book of Romans, we have to understand that it is really nothing more than the unfolding of the Gospel. The theme of the letter is found in Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, as it is written, “the righteous man shall live by faith.” In this book, Paul does essentially three things:
- He explains the gospel
- He applies the gospel
- He deals with problems that arise from the gospel
In the first five chapters of Romans, Paul explains the gospel. But then he takes two chapters to deal with problems that arise from the gospel. Romans 6 and 7 are essentially a parenthesis in the book. They deal with several little rabbit trails. Paul could have gone from chapter 5 to chapter 8 with no problem at all. The reason he writes chapters 6 and 7 is because he has to deal with objections that arise in his readers minds to things he says along the way.
For example we have his question in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” Now, why does he ask that question? Well, it is because of what he just said in 5:20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
Then again, we have his question in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Why does he ask that? Because he just said in verse 14, “we are not under law but under grace”, and he knew that some might take that statement as a license to sin.
Then again, we have Paul’s whole exposition of Romans 7:1-6. Why does he bring that in? Why does he give us the analogy of marriage and say we were married to the Law, but now are married to Christ? Why does he say we have died to the Law, and have been released from it? It’s because of his statement in 6:14 and 15. There he said we are not under the Law. Well, many would be puzzled by that statement. They would wonder what he meant. It seemed to them that they were under the Law. So, Paul tells them that they are “under” the jurisdiction of the Law only until death separates them from the Law. But when they died with Christ, they were released from the Law’s jurisdiction.
Well, that brings us to Romans 7:7, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin?” Why in the world would Paul ask that question? Well, it is because of what he just said in verse 5, “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.” In that verse Paul links God’s Law with sin and death. He says that the Law arouses sin. So, Paul’s readers might come to the conclusion that the Law is in some way sinful.
Now, Paul has a very consistent and systematic way of dealing with objections. He asks a question in which the objection is raised. Then he negates it with a “May it never be!” Then he gives a short summary of the answer to the objection. Then he provides a longer and more detailed explanation of the answer.
Therefore, Romans 7:7-12 is Paul’s answer to the objection that the Law may be sinful. Notice how he words verse 12, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” He gives his usual “May it never be!” Then he gives the short answer in verse 7, followed by the longer explanation in verses 8-12. He begins this concluding statement with “so then”, letting us know that he has come to a conclusion, and here it is. No, the Law is not sin. Rather it is holy and righteous and good.
Then in verse 13, Paul asks another question. “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me?” Now, why did he ask that question? Well, again, it is because of something he said in verse 5. There Paul said that “the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” Paul has not only linked God’s Law to sin, but he also linked it to death. That’s why he says, “Therefore did that which is good (the Law) become a cause of death for me. Again, he follows up with “May it never be!” Then he gives the short answer in verse 13, followed by the expanded explanation in verses 14-25. He concludes 7:13-25 with another “so then”. “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
So, are you starting to see the structure of Romans? 7:1-6 is the result of something Paul said in 6:14. 7:7-12 and 7:13-25 are the results of things Paul said in 7:5.
So, this morning we are going to focus on the question that Paul brings up in verse 7, “Is the Law sin?” By the Law, Paul is referring to the Law God gave through Moses in the Old Testament, and expressed most concisely in the 10 Commandments. How do we know this? Well, because when Paul goes to cite one of these Laws, he cites the 10th commandment, “You shall not covet.”
In Romans 7:7-12 Paul teaches us three things about the Law:
- The Law Exposes Our Sin: 7:7-8
- The Law Arouses Sinful Passions: 7:8-9
- The Law Crushes Our Self-Righteousness: 7:9-11
1. The Law Exposes Our Sin: 7:7-8
On the contrary. So far from the Law being sin, it reveals sin to us! Paul says that if it were not for the Law, he would not have come to know sin. Then he selects the 10th commandment, and says he would never have known about coveting if the Law had not said “You shall not covet.” Now, that’s really interesting to me. All of the other 10 Commandments are outward deeds. Coveting is an inner attitude. Coveting takes place in the mind. The Law served to teach Paul that he had a polluted thought life. He came to understand that evil thoughts are just as sinful as evil deeds. Paul says in Philippians 3:6 when writing about himself, “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” There Paul is referring to his external righteousness before men. The problem, of course, is that God sees a whole lot deeper than our outward actions. He sees into our minds and thoughts and judges accordingly. True, Paul was not guilty of the grosser, more revolting sins. But the Law convicted him of sin within his own mind and heart. Though his outward life was relatively blameless compared with his peers, his inner thought life was shot through with sin. Paul was an expert in the Law, but he only had a knowledge of the letter of the Law, not the spirit. It was the same with the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. And it is the same with all of us until the Holy Spirit convicts us of the spirituality of the Law of God, and how we have missed the mark.
This, of course, is what Paul has already told us in Romans 3:20, “through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” And that is really a very good thing. We all try to cover our sins, or excuse our sins, or camouflage our sins. We are just like our first parents. Adam said “The woman You gave me, she gave it to me and I ate.” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me!” All of them were blameshifting. I see my own tendency to do this. And I see it in those that work for my company. It is so frustrating to point out something that an employee did wrong only to hear them say, “That’s ridiculous!” or “They are lying! 100% lies!” Over a year period of time, I received four different calls from angry or scared people that complained about the driving of one of my employees. I knew what he would say, because when I confront him on anything, he always says it is the other person’s fault. Well this time he told me that the complaint from the angry driver was ridiculous and petty. When I told him that I had been in this business for almost 20 years and have had dozens of different employees who drove company vehicles, he refused to budge on his opinion. Proverbs 26:12 says, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
I think our propensity for excusing sin is why we have renamed certain sins. We no longer talk of the drunkard; now he is an alcoholic. And we say this is a disease, not a sin. We don’t speak of a liar; instead we say he is just an extrovert with a lively imagination! We don’t speak of adultery; we say they had an affair. The height of folly would be to remove the “Poison” label with a picture of a skull and crossbones and put an attractive label on that bottle that says, “Essence of Peppermint.” But that’s exactly what we are doing today. The Law gives sin its proper name and exposes it for what it is.
2. The Arouses Sinful Passions: 7:8-9
Paul says in Romans 7:5 that “the sinful passions were aroused by the Law.” In verse 8 he says that “sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” Verse 9 says, “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” When the commandment came, sin became alive. So, just how does this work? How does the Law arouse sinful passions? When the Law forbids something that is evil, man’s corrupt nature is inflamed all the more to do that thing. Man’s sin is like a sleeping dog. The Law is like a cat that comes up and swats at the dog. The dog wakes up and chases the cat. So too, our sin looks like it is dead, until the Law comes along and forbids the sinner to do something. “You shall not look on a woman to lust for her”; “you shall not murder”; “you shall not steal”; “you shall not covet.” And how does our fallen nature respond? It desires to do the thing that is forbidden!
Why do we tell our kids, “do NOT eat your vegetables!” Because we know that now they will want to eat their vegetables. The smoker has forgotten all about having a cigarette until he reads a sign, “No smoking!” Sin is like a powerful sports car. When you turn it on, the engine is very quiet, but when you push down on the accelerator, you hear just how powerful it is. The Law is the accelerator, and when it is pushed down, the power of sin is revealed.
3. The Law Kills Our Self-Righteousness 7:9-11
This truth comes out in verse 9, 10, and 11. “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.”
Three times Paul says that the Law or the commandment killed him. Once in verse 9, once in verse 10, and once in verse 11. Now, what does he mean? How did the Law kill him?
“I was once alive apart from the Law.” I think what Paul means is that before the Law came with its convicting power, he believed that he was good with God. He was blissfully ignorant of the pit of iniquity in his heart. Paul describes his pre-conversion life in Philippians 3:6 by saying, “as for the righteousness which is in the Law, I was found blameless.” He wasn’t blameless in the sight of God. He was blameless in the sight of man, because he kept the Law in its external actions. Thus, Paul felt smug and righteous, because he believed he kept the Law. He believed he was “alive”, approved and accepted by God because of his righteousness.
“But when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” Paul now saw his sin, whereas he was blind to it before. And now he died. In what sense did he die? He died to any hope of achieving salvation by his good works. He died to any thought of his own inherent goodness. He died to any dream that he could be justified by his law-keeping. Any thought that he was right with God because of his keeping of the Law died and vanished away.
“And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.” Paul expected to receive life because of his external obedience to God’s Law. He fully expected to enter into life when he died because of his own righteousness. He was very confident and self-assured. Why would he expect that? Well, it was probably because of Leviticus 18:5 which says, “so you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.” According to this passage a man may live if he keeps God’s Law. That is absolutely true. Of course the problem is that man, as a fallen corrupt creature, can never perfectly keep God’s Law. God was using His Law to open Paul’s mind to see how far short he had fallen in actually keeping the Law.
The Summary to Paul’s Argument
Remember, that this whole paragraph is Paul’s answer to the question he posed in verse 7, which was “Is the Law sin?” What is his answer? Verse 12, “So then, the Law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” What does “so then” imply? Well, it implies that Paul has come to the end of his argument, and he is going to summarize his answer. Is the Law sin? No! It is holy and righteous and good.”
It is holy. It is set apart from every ordinary and secular law. This is God’s law, and expresses God’s own holy character.
It is righteous. That means that this Law is an expression of what is just and right.
It is good. The Law is not bad. It is not evil. It is not sinful. It is actually good for men. Why? Because it exposes their sin and kills their self-righteousness. Man will never be saved if his sin is not exposed and his self-righteousness is not crushed, and the Law does that for the sinner. Thus, it is good, very good!
Life Application
So, just how should we apply the truths that we have discovered about the Law in this passage?
- Christian: Use the Law in evangelism. Paul said that it was the Law that revealed to him his sin, and destroyed any hope of self-salvation. Most people today are in the same position that Paul was in. They all believe that they are good, and that therefore they will be saved and go to heaven when they die. But the truth is that many are in the broad way that leads to destruction and only few are those who find life. They are self-confident and self-assured, but are horribly and fatally deceived. How can we show them the truth about their real spiritual condition before God? Use God’s Law.
The person that has brought this truth to light more than any other that I know of in our day is Ray Comfort. Ray uses the 10 commandments in his personal witnessing, and has taught untold thousands of others to do the same. This is his approach which you can use in your witnessing to great effect. Here are some suggestions for you.
In your conversation with someone ask them, “If you were to die today, and God were to ask you why He should allow you to enter His heaven, what would you say?” If they respond, “because I’m a good person”, you can ask them if they would take the Good Person Test. “Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of the value of the item? Have you ever looked on a woman to lust for her in your heart? Have you always honored your father and mother? Have you always loved God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?” When they confess that they haven’t kept God’s Law say, “If God judges you based on how you have kept the 10 commandments, would you be guilty or innocent?” Would you go to heaven or hell? Does that concern you?
When we evangelize, we should seek to bring conviction before comfort. Until a person is thirsty, they won’t drink. Unless they are hungry, they won’t eat. The way we make people thirsty for Christ is by helping them to see their need for Him. So, don’t rush into telling them about God’s love and Christ’s death for their sin, until you have spent some time helping them to see why they need God’s love and Christ’s death.
- Non-Christian: apply the Law to your own life. Those of you who are not true followers of Jesus Christ, I urge you to think about God’s Law. Take each one of the 10 commandments. Read them over, and ask yourself if you have always obeyed them. Remember that God’s Law deals not only with your outward actions, but your inner thought life. When you apply God’s Law in that way honestly, are you innocent or guilty? If you are guilty, does it concern you? You need to find a way to be released from your sin and guilt. The only atonement that can actually remove guilt is the one God has provided when He sent His only begotten Son into the world. Christ paid for our sins and guilt. You need to put your faith in Him. If you will do that today, you can know forgiveness, freedom from guilt, and a brand new life in relationship to the living God. If you want forgiveness and life, come to Jesus Christ today!
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