Holy, Just & Good

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law... For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

The law cannot make you holy—but it can show you that you are not, and point you to the One who can.

Eyes Bigger Than the Stomach

Perhaps you've had this experience: you've gone all day without a substantial meal, and you find yourself at a wonderful place like Claim Jumper. Your stomach is already growling, you smell the smells, you watch the waiters carry food past. You open a menu as big as a dictionary and think, "I want that, and that, and that." Then the food arrives—an entrée built for six—and you realize your eyes were bigger than your stomach.

When I looked at Romans 7, I thought, "I can get through this in a couple of weeks." My eyes were bigger than the reality. By the end of last week I had twenty pages of handwritten notes on the remainder of chapter 7. So we're not finishing in a couple of weeks—but my aim is to finish next week.

Delivered From the Law

In Romans 7:1-6 we saw that the Christian has been delivered from the judgment of God by the death of Christ. We have died with Him—we've been crucified with Him. That's not a bad thing; it's a wonderful thing. Paul claims it as a praise in Galatians 2: "I have been crucified with Christ; I no longer live." And we have not only died with Him but risen with Him to walk and serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.

So we have a new reality as Christians: we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. Twice in 1 Corinthians Paul reminds the church that they are the temple of the Spirit of God. We are to walk in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter—and the oldness of the letter refers to the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Law given to Israel at Mt. Sinai.

Is the Law Sin?

This begs the question Paul takes up in verse 7: if we need to be delivered from the law, is there something wrong with it? Furthermore, Romans 7:5 said the law arouses our sinful passions. Because of the fall in Genesis 3, every one of us has a fallen nature—what Paul calls a "body of corruption" in 1 Corinthians 15, and here a "body of death." When we are in the flesh, the law causes the sinful passions resident within us to explode. The potential energy of indwelling sin is ignited by the law of God.

Paul has built his whole discourse on inevitable questions. He makes a great statement—"where sin abounded, grace did much more abound"—and then answers the inevitable response: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!" So here: "Is the law sin? Certainly not!"

His ultimate conclusion comes in verse 12: "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just and good." But how do you get there from "we've been delivered from the law because it excites sinful passions"? These next verses explain just what is great about the law.

The Law as an X-Ray

The first thing Paul says is, "I would not have known sin except through the law." The great thing about the law is that it reveals sin—like an x-ray, an MRI, a PET scan. You may experience the symptoms of disease, a tear, an infection, but you don't know what's there until you come under the observation of the scan. The law is like that machine. It's not bad—it's good—because it reveals what is hidden, what is causing the painful symptoms of sin.

Those symptoms come from something deep within. Jesus said in Mark that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." Romans 3:20 says, "By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The law cannot make us right, just as the MRI cannot heal you. You don't walk out of an MRI saying, "I'm healed!" You walk out knowing, "We've got a problem." But the law does direct us toward the cure: "the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24).

The Mark of a Maturing Christian

Because the law reveals our sin, we can honestly say, "Praise God for the law." That is the statement of someone maturing in their life as a Christian. The law reveals the cancer of sin infecting and killing all humanity, and it directs us to the cure.

The immature or carnal Christian, however, gets frustrated with the law. Paul told the Corinthians, "There are divisions among you... are you not carnal in this?" The carnal Christian has put faith in Christ yet continues in the perpetual practice of sin. But the disciple of Christ comes to delight in the law of God. Psalm 1 describes him: "His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he does meditate day and night."

A Christian walking in perpetual sin has no joy and no enjoyment of sin's passing pleasures, because the Holy Spirit convicts him. Remember last week's illustration of being married to Mr. Perfect—great in every way, until you realize you can never measure up to his standards. For the Christian walking in sin, the law is a bother, constantly convicting.

So I challenge you: if you cannot say, "I delight in the law of God," it may indicate you are under the conviction of the law because of your sin. What then? Don't just try harder to keep it. Confess your sin, "for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness," and seek to walk in the Spirit—which is where we're going in Romans 8.

The Turmoil of Psalm 119

Psalm 119 is a corresponding text. It's very long—more than 170 verses—following the Hebrew alphabet with a section for each letter. Throughout it the psalmist's delight is in the law: "Make me walk in Your path... for I delight in it" (v. 35); "I delight myself in Your commandments, which I love" (v. 47); "Unless Your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction" (v. 92).

But look at the very last verse: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments" (v. 176). There is inward turmoil—"I love Your law, Your law is a delight," and yet "I've gone astray." It echoes Romans 7:24: "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" That's why these two passages go together so well.

Paul Personalizes It

Paul says, "I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'" "Sin" sounds general, ambiguous, even impersonal. But Paul brings it home and gets specific. The Greek word for covetousness here is most often translated lust. I believe Paul is openly indicating a specific sin he himself dealt with.

Commentators go round and round. Some say Paul is posing a hypothetical, that he never experienced such turmoil. Others say he's describing the unconverted sinner. But I've never met an unconverted person who says, "I delight in the law of God." This is not a non-believer; this is a Christian. And Paul personalizes it: "I would not have known lust unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"

That's challenging, because many in the church honor Paul almost on the level of Jesus, since he wrote thirteen letters comprising two-thirds of the New Testament. But Paul is not Jesus; he was a sinner saved by grace. In his last letter, 2 Timothy, he called himself "the chief of all sinners." I think God inspired that precisely because He knew we would look at Paul's accomplishments and think, "What an amazing guy"—and yet he says he is the chief of sinners.

A Converted Pharisee's Crisis

Paul is giving us insight into his own struggle as a converted, convicted former Pharisee. Before his conversion he was a Jewish lawyer, an expert in the Law of Moses, who probably memorized the entire Pentateuch—his use of it in his letters makes that clear. In Philippians 3:6 he describes his self-view as a Pharisee: "According to the law, I was blameless." That's a heavy statement—no one could bring anything against him.

But after his conversion the blinders of his Phariseeism—faith in one's own works for salvation—were removed, and for the first time Paul comprehended the spiritual nature of the law. Before, the law was a body of commandments to be kept; he believed himself blameless. But once the Holy Spirit indwelt this former Pharisee, the commandment "You shall not covet" took on new meaning and cut deep into his heart.

The law effectively convicts us. If you've never stolen anything, "You shall not steal" leaves you saying, "I'm righteous." But move to "You shall not bear false witness," and if you're a pathological liar, suddenly the law convicts you personally.

Opening the Understanding

On the road to Damascus in Acts 9, Saul of Tarsus—armed with letters from the chief priest to bind followers of the Way—is stopped by a light from heaven and the voice of Jesus: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" He becomes an instant convert, and the law takes on completely new meaning. Luke 24:45 says Jesus "opened the understanding of His apostles, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." They'd heard the Scriptures all their lives; now they grasped what they meant.

This is what Jesus did in His ministry. "You have heard... 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart." "You have heard... 'You shall not murder.' But if you hate someone without cause, you have murdered them in your heart." Hebrews says everything is naked and bare before Him.

How many of you, after becoming a Christian, gained a greater understanding of the depths of your own wickedness? Before, you might have said, "I'm a pretty good person." Then you put your faith in Christ, the blinders came down, and you said, "I'm not a good person. O wretched man that I am!"

Sin Revives

The law exposes sin (v. 7). So what's the problem? Verse 8: "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead." As the law reveals indwelling sin, we realize that sin has internal power, potential energy. And the law ignites it. Romans 7:5: "the sinful passions which were aroused by the law." The potential energy of indwelling sin bursts forth into kinetic energy—active sin.

So it is wrong to think the law was given to make us righteous, yet many Christians fall into that. Saved by grace, they say, "Now I can do the law." But when sin meets the law, it breaks forth like wildfire. This was the snare of the Galatian churches, who "having begun in the Spirit" tried to make themselves righteous by the flesh. Paul wrote, "Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" (Galatians 3:21). The law was given so that all could see how sinful they are (Romans 5:20).

The Greek word translated opportunity in verse 8 metaphorically means a starting point from which an attack is made—the igniting point. Indwelling sin has a base of operations, and the law ignites it. It "produced in me all manner of evil desire"—the same word, epithymia, translated covetousness or lust. Early in his converted life, Paul, a former Pharisee, sought to apply his old pharisaical ways to honoring God—and indwelling sin he hadn't even realized was there leapt onto the scene. Lust overwhelmed him. Lust for what? We're not told. Perhaps a female, perhaps power—we don't know. But Paul dealt with sin the same way all of us do.

The Identity Crisis

"For apart from the law sin was dead." Imagine the identity crisis Saul of Tarsus went through. A Jewish lawyer, a Pharisee, potentially on his way into the Sanhedrin, a disciple under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, carrying letters to persecute Christians—then he meets the risen Christ, and the God he swore he served tells him, "You're fighting against Me." Everything halted in a nanosecond.

Not only did he learn he had been fighting God; now the law that gave stability to his life, in which he found his entire identity, revealed that he was a deep, terrible sinner, and sin overwhelmed him like never before. No wonder there were fourteen years of silent obscurity. I think Paul believed, "If I could keep the law before having the Spirit, think what I could do now"—and found it was not the case.

At the new birth, Paul, like all Christians, experienced glorious release from sin. Romans 6:6: "Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with... For he who has died is freed from sin." So it would seem to make sense to now walk in righteousness by keeping the law—but in trying to maintain that gifted righteousness by your own law-keeping, sin explodes, because the purpose of the law is exposing sin. The law was not given so Israel could be the most holy people, but so they could see how depraved they were and cry out to God for mercy.

That release came by the Spirit, but many try to maintain righteousness by their own might. How did Paul reach the conclusion he shared with Galatia—"Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" He went through it. He experienced it. One of the greatest teachers is experience.

The Commandment That Brought Death

Verse 9: "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." Up until his conversion Paul was never apart from the law—he was a Pharisee, following every jot and tittle. Then Christ set him free, and he experienced the release every Christian experiences: release from the judgment of the law, no longer over his head. Under Judaism he always wondered, "Will I really be righteous when I stand before God?" But set free by Christ, he had total assurance of salvation.

"But when the commandment came sin revived and I died." Saul receives Christ, is set free, alive to Christ spiritually for the first time. Then he thinks, "I need to maintain my righteousness by keeping the law as I always have." He applies the law to his newly converted heart—and finds deep indwelling sin bursting forth into active sin. "Dead" in verse 8 means inoperable; then it revives, ignited by the law.

So we have two possibilities: alive to Christ and dead to sin, or alive to sin and experiencing spiritual deadness. One comes by the newness of the Spirit, the other by the oldness of the letter. This is why Paul was so ardently against a pharisaical Christianity. Everywhere he went he fought for the simplicity of Christ against the Judaizers, who told newborn Christians they must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. He fought it his whole ministry, because early in his conversion he experienced what it really brings.

Sin Deceives and Kills

Verse 10: "And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death." Paul's whole upbringing taught that the law brings life. Leviticus 18:5: "which if a man does them, he shall live." Deuteronomy 4:40, 5:16, 6:3—keep the commandments "that it may be well with you... that you may live." Deuteronomy 30:19: "I set before you life and death... choose life, that you might live." Choosing life meant keeping the law.

Then—identity crisis. "I thought this was going to make me live," and there he is, overcome with sin. Verse 11: "For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me." Note two things. First, sin is what deceives and kills—sin is deceptive and deadly, "for the wages of sin is death." Second, "the commandment" here most likely refers to the specific one in verse 7, "You shall not covet," since Paul distinguishes the law from the commandment in verse 12. So the converted, spiritually alive Christian experiences deadness in his life.

Holy, Just, and Good

"Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just and good." In answer to "Is the law sin?"—no, the law is holy. God is holy; His law expresses His character. But although the law is holy, it cannot make you holy. Hebrews 10:1 says the law "can never... make those who approach perfect." It points to the One who can, because the law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. Even for the Christian, the law remains good, because it brings conviction of sin and points us to Jesus, who forgives and cleanses us. But if you zero in on the law—"I just have to try harder, keep the Sabbath, eat kosher"—come on, who can do that?

Paul separates the law—the overarching body of 613 commandments—from "the commandment," pointing back to "You shall not covet." As a Pharisee he memorized them all and called himself blameless. As a Christian, his eyes were opened to his lust and he had an identity crisis.

What does the commandment tell us about God? He is not covetous; He is generous; He needed nothing—so He is holy. The commandment is just, because God is just; it demands perfect obedience and is completely impartial, with no separate standard for one side of the room. God is good, so His law is good. There is no need to be angry with the law. It merely exposes that you and I are not holy, just, or good. "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

The "Who" That Delivers

That's where we're going next week—that impassioned cry. I thank God it doesn't say "What will deliver me?" or "How shall I be delivered?" but "Who will deliver me?" The law points us to the "Who," because we need a Savior. Even if you've been a Christian for six months, six years, or thirty-five years, you still need the gospel. The longer you walk with Christ, the more you realize how sinful you are and how in need of His grace.

Perhaps today you've seen your own sin in light of God's law for the first time. Or perhaps you're a Christian who has found yourself easily ensnared by sin. I have good news: making it right is not committing to do better or try harder. It is confessing your complete inability and asking God, by His grace, to transform you. That's what the gospel is about. The great thing about grace is that it is freely given by the only One who is gracious.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You that in You we can have life, "and that more abundantly." Thank You that You set us free from sin and death, to walk in righteousness, not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit. So God, be speaking and teaching us how we can live and walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the desires of this sinful flesh, and how we can glorify You in that way. In Jesus' name. Amen.