Romans 7:7-12

The Law and Sin

[How does the law stimulate sin? Paul shows how entry into life under the law coincides with the dawn of conscience and the first awareness of inward sin. The obligation to keep the law first involved the obligation to know and obey the Ten Commandments. The commandment which caused Paul the worst problem was the tenth: “You shall not covet.” This deals with an inner attitude rather than an overt action or deed. It is a prohibition, and prohibitions are known to awaken suppressed desires. A “No Smoking” sign may awaken the desire to smoke that had been forgotten. As Paul confesses about himself, “that commandment not to covet provided sin with a bridgehead to launch an attack on me, and as a result brought all kinds of covetousness to birth within me. Without a law to stir it into life, sin had been dormant. But when confronted by the law, sin sprang to life in me. This law meant to produce life instead brought death to me.” (F.F. Bruce) I believe that Paul has the fall narrative in mind. Covetousness played a role in the fall, the wanting of something Adam and Eve were not to have. Paul also uses similar language to Eve when he says, “sin . . . deceived me.” Eve said to God, “The serpent deceived me and I ate (I sinned).”]

 

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. [The function of the law is introductory, leading to further study. By revealing to people their sinfulness and inability, the law reveals to them also their need of that deliverance which only the grace of God can affect.] For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin [personified as a powerful enemy], seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness [which is the perversion of love, which is the fulfilling of the law (13:10)]. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. [Sin was latent rather than nonexistent.] ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. [Adam and Eve were not aware of their sinful inclinations until their disobedience was tested by the commandment “you shall not eat.” Like Paul, we can all better understand the fall narrative by our own experience with law.] ¹⁰ The very commandment that promised life [Leviticus 18:5: You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them] proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me [as the serpent deceived Eve] and through it killed me. ¹² So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. [After giving the law a bit of a hard time, Paul reaffirms the goodness of God’s commands that when we keep them, lead us into obediently loving God and our neighbor.]