Romans 7:7-13 “Led”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, what will we say? Is the law sin? May it never be! But I would not have known the sin except through law, for indeed, I would not have known the lust except the law was saying, “You shall not covet.” ⁸But the sin, taking [the] opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every lust, for without law, sin [is] dead, ⁹but I [was] once living without law, the commandment coming, the sin revived and I died, ¹⁰and the commandment which [was] into life was found to me, this into death, ¹¹for the sin taking [the] opportunity through the commandment deceived me and killed [me] through it. ¹²So that the law [is] indeed holy and the commandment [is] holy and righteous and good. ¹³Therefore did the good become death to me? May it never be! But the sin [was] producing death to me through the good, in order that it might be shone [to be] sin, in order that the sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

What we have here is an extended explanation of what Paul says in Gal. 3:24, that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” As he explains here in v.13, it is the law which exposes sin and, in fact, shows it to be “exceedingly sinful.” For anyone who has actually repented of their legalism, it is important to assert that in no way do we mean to imply that God’s law is a bad thing. It is not. As Paul says, it is “holy and good and righteous.” The problem is not in the law. The problem is in us. It is like turning on the kitchen light, only to see cockroaches scurry in all directions. The light isn’t bad because it revealed the cockroaches. Light is a good thing. It is the cockroaches that are disgusting.

Everyone knows cockroaches are disgusting. Our problem is that we don’t realize we’re disgusting! Or should I say more specifically, we don’t realize our sin is disgusting. Even being legalists at heart, we don’t think we’re “that bad.” Our evil hearts strongly desire the “lusts of the flesh” (pleasures, possessions, and applause) to the point we turn those things into idols and will stop at nothing to “get what we want.” In one way or another, we’ll find ways to break all of the first nine of the Ten Commandments, then conveniently not notice the tenth forbids our “coveting.”

What is the direction the human race always goes? The less the Bible is known in any culture, the more decadent the people become. While the Bible was being written, many of the cultures of the world were heavily into human sacrifices. In Western culture, it has been the Bible that raised us to standards of decency in how we live and how we treat each other. As it says in Prov. 29:18, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.” Psalm 33:12 adds, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

Law is, in fact, a good thing because it holds before people God’s standards which all are in our best interest. To the extent we ignore them, we, as individuals and as nations, end up self-destructing. Paul, of course, already elaborated on that back in ch.1. In all of this, we can easily see how in fact the law is “holy and righteous and good.” However, enter our evil hearts, and what that law reveals is that very evil. Paul may have been able to look at the Ten Commandments and say, “I’ve never killed anyone or stolen anything,” and thereby assured himself he was one of the “good” people. However, that one command, “You shall not covet,” suddenly called him to look deeply not into what he does, but why he does it. It is an easy thing for a man to say, “I’ve never cheated on my wife.” It is another thing to ask, “But have you ever noticed any other woman’s beauty and found yourself longing?”

Suddenly the law, rather than justifying me, can only condemn. Again, it’s not the law that is bad, it is the evil in me that is bad, and the law has accomplished its purpose to expose me for who I really am. The purpose of all that, then, is “to lead me to Christ.” The law’s condemnation should only highlight for us how badly we need grace, how badly we need to literally live in a world of grace, and to see that exact grace can be found nowhere else but at the foot of the Cross.

I believe all of this is why Paul needs to elaborate on these matters here in Romans 7. If, in fact, we are to choose to live under grace rather than law, the immediate accusation will always be that we are disdaining God’s law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, we are allowing God to use His law in our lives as He would use it, not for the self-justifying perversions we all turn it into.

There is a lot here in verses 7-13 which can be discussed and debated. However, literally volumes have been written all down through the ages by everyone who has an opinion. I think this time I’ll refrain from adding to the cacophony. I’ll just say that, for myself, I am content to back up a step and observe what he’s elaborating on is that simple idea that the law is a “schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” I’m glad these verses are in the Bible. I’m glad the Lord moved Paul to write down these thoughts and explanations. If these questions arise in our minds, they need to be answered. However, for myself and for today, I’m happy to simply know God’s intention for His law is always ultimately to lead us to Christ, to lead us to grace, to lead us to love and joy and peace.

I like being led!