May 26, 2015

“Is the Law Sin?”

Blessings folk!

We as Believers have died to the Law.
We are released from the Law.

Reread the following.
It is important to be reminded of the context when continuing through the chapter.

Romans 7:4-6
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
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.
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

Now, the next verses…

Rom 7:7
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”

The Spirit was using Paul to write these truths to the church at Rome and to us.
He had never been to Rome, nor met most of them.
He wrote a series of questions that he anticipated they had, then answered.

He does so here.

Paul knew that some would say that the Law was sin and caused sin.
Such is not true in the strictest sense.

Is the Law sin?
May it never be! (This response is seen several times in Romans)

The truth is contrary.
The Law is not sin.
The Law defined sin.
Paul says he would not have known what sin was if not for the Law.
He gives a personal example - coveting.
He would not have known about coveting - “desiring, yearning to have/possess something” - if not for the Law.

We will see much more about “Law” as we proceed.

For today, know that we fulfill the Law in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mat 5:17
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.