Why The Law Is Good Series

There is no doubt that coming face to face with the truth that all of us are sinners is not a pleasant thing. Ironically, it is the fact that we are self-centered sinners that makes bringing up the topic of sin so uncomfortable in the first place. But without first diagnosing our condition, it is just not possible for us to apply the cure.

Think with me for a moment on this. Let’s suppose that you went to the doctor and he or she ran some tests and discovered that you have cancer. Now in the short run, the most comfortable thing for the doctor and for you would be for the doctor to just not to talk about that cancer. But in the long run that approach would be fatal because you would not get the treatment that you needed to deal with it.

The same thing is true in the spiritual realm, but there the stakes are much higher because our eternal fate hangs in the balance. This morning we’ll see that God’s law is like a spiritual doctor in the sense that it reveals an accurate diagnosis of our condition. But, like any analogy we don’t want to carry it too far, since that analogy breaks down at some point because the law is insufficient to treat or give us relief from our condition. Only faith in Jesus can do that.

Once again this morning we’re in the midst of what is undoubtedly one of the most difficult sections of Scripture in the entire Bible. For the last couple of months, it seems like every week, I run across some commentator or pastor who claims that this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible, only to see him or another commentator say the same thing again when commenting on the next passage.

So not surprisingly, there is not universal agreement about the meaning of the some of the details in these passages among Bible scholars, commentators and pastors. And I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers about some of those details.

But at the same time, there is little disagreement or doubt about the main message that Paul is communicating here. So go ahead and follow along as I begin reading in verse 7:

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 promise d 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.

(Romans 7:7-13 ESV)

In very simple terms, here is what Paul is saying in these verses: