Romans 7:7-13 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.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 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.
Without the written law, people lived their lives according to their own perspective. They had no godly standard to measure the goodness of their lives. But once the law of God was introduced into their lives, the standards for measuring their lives became more demanding and restrictive. A much higher demand that superseded their own perspective for living a quality life, pleasing to their Creator, was placed upon them. Since the flesh found God’s laws impossible to satisfy, rebelliousness grew in the hearts of the people. Paul says: Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. In other words, once I could live according to my own way of living. I was free from this other obligation of pleasing a higher standard, a standard that should have brought me a better life, but actually worked against me. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. Paul found that the law exposed his Adamic spirit of rebellion, contrary in nature to God’s perfection or holiness. God’s nature, his existence, is one of holiness, perfection, contrary to Adam’s self-willed thoughts and activities. “Not your will, Oh God, but my will,” is the nature of man. The law is like turning on the light in a dark room. We see this when the Lord walked in the Garden of Eden: The Light of the World walked in a pristine environment. However, when Adam and Eve rebelled, darkness became part of the human existence. The darkness in Adam and Eve caused them to flee from the Light of the Lord when they heard him walking in the Garden. As Adam and Eve hid from the Lord, so does sin retreat from God’s holiness because the nature of sin is rebellion against God. When the law is present, a battle commences between the authority of God and man’s desire for control. Since the fall, sin has been alive and well. Early in the Bible, we see man’s wayward struggle in the description of Cain and Abel. When Cain is angry because his sacrifice is unacceptable, God warns him, “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7) Chaos and self-willed activity motivated Cain rather that obedience to God, and he slays Abel, the worst kind of sin—eliminating someone from existence. God gave Cain a direct law, a command: do what is right. But Cain disobeyed the law: sin, death, and punishment were the result.
The law is good! The law reflects God, his harmony, his peace, his gift of eternal life. Obedience to the law is good, for it expresses God’s goodness and perfection. Our nature wavers; we sometimes reflect goodness, sometimes man’s depravity. But the law condemns us even though it is good. As Paul concludes, I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. Consequently, the law’s very nature leads us to death, for we cannot completely satisfy its demands; therefore, we are under the sentence of eternal death. We read in God’s Word, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10) Is the law a curse then, not good? Of course not. The law is good; God’s holy standard is not what kills you or makes you unpleasing to him. Rebellion, activated by the law, is what destroys your soul and defeats your spirit. For when the light of the law was turned on in our inner consciousness, our wayward response to God’s will forced us into the darkest recesses of the room. No matter how much light we felt in our lives, our feeble attempts to penetrate the dark were not equal to God’s brilliance. Consequently, no matter how much light or goodness we thought we possessed, we remained under guilt, condemnation and judgment. No one will enter God’s presence without complete righteousness, having satisfied the requirements of the law. Without the purity of God, we are condemned to die. As we have already read, the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) We can be a great sinner or a moderate sinner, but that sin separates us from a holy God. The law kills because it reveals our distance from God, exposes Adam’s rebellious nature within us. Our old nature will never please God because it desires what Adam desired, to control and to rule. The sinful self will never allow God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Those who truly pray the prayer that Jesus prayed have tasted of the things of God and said, “This is Good!”
We are hopelessly lost if we try to live by the law through our human efforts. Our nature is not God’s nature unless we find his grace and mercy at the cross. Jesus bound us to his likeness when we said yes to him and became new creatures through his shed blood. We died to ourselves and now live because Jesus died and is alive forevermore. Our nature is no longer bound by obedience to the written law; instead, we have the law within us. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” (Hebrews 10:16) The nature of Jesus Christ and the voice of the Holy Spirit lead us to obedience to God’s will. As his ambassadors we take his message of love to the world. Trying to obey the written law leads to death, but faith in Christ Jesus and his works leads to eternal life. In the today’s scriptures, Paul points us away from trying to serve God through satisfying the law. He shows us the futility of attempting to change the Adamic nature by human efforts. He reminds us of what Jesus told Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3) The law will not transform the human nature. Only God can redeem us by birthing us anew into his kingdom. We who are resting in Christ’s work are not only new creatures, we are a holy people. He who is the perfect representation of God is dwelling within us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We who are IN CHRIST stand perfect before God and all of creation. The work of God is perfect; the work and efforts of man are imperfect. How then should we live? As we wrote previously, we live as Jesus said when He was tempted, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) We listen closely to God, for He is speaking. We who have ears, HEAR! When we disappoint God’s nature within us by sinning, we thank God for who He is and repent of our sins. A child who has great love for his/her parents wants to please them and expresses sorrow when he/she disappoints them. So will we, for we are children of the Most High. Breakfast companions reject living by the law and live by the power of the Spirit in the light of the Lord. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) Amen!
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