Annie’s Basement, November 14, 2007
9 I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;
10 and this commandment which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;
11 for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
12 So then the Law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
Romans 7:9-13
There is a question we need to ask about Romans 7:7-25 as a unit. Why is it there? The purpose of this section is to prove that the law is not sin and that sin is. Why is this truth so important to Paul that he would take almost a whole chapter to lay it out? I think the answer is this: he loves justification, and wants us to get it right.
There are two possible responses to the first part of the chapter in which Paul explains that the law is what binds our marriage to sin and condemns us. You will either hate God and His law and spend your life trying to get rid of the law so that you can be free, or you will see, because of God’s revelation of His law, that your sin-nature is the behind death and seek to do away with it though justification. The reason Paul is so intent that we correctly understand this issue is that he wants us to choose the second response.
These verses are very practical for me because for years I responded in the truth of law’s condemnation in the wrong way. I thought, “if only God and His law did not exist, I could be free.” I saw the wrong problem and sought the wrong solution. What I needed was to be liberated from the guilt and dominion of my sinful nature through justifying union with Jesus, and then I could truly be free. Paul wants us to see that God and His law are not the deepest root in our punishment and bondage to sin, sin is. If we see that, we will not miss justification.
The Law Is Good because It Makes Us Die
Paul concludes in verse 12 that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.” Not only is it holy and righteous, it is even good. Why? Paul’s answer is that it caused him to die. Let’s see this in verses 7-12.
“I was once alive apart from the law,” he says in verse 7. This should immediately make us ask some questions. Doesn’t Paul say in Philippians that he was circumcised according to the law and “as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal a persecutor of the church; as the righteousness in the Law, found blameless?” What does it mean the he was alive apart from it? The answer is in verse 11; “Apart from the law sin is dead.” He was alive because sin was dead.
To comprehend this we need further back in the context. “I would not have known sin except through the Law (v. 7).” The life that he speaks of in verse 9 has to do with the mind. It means to be ignorant of sin (it was dead) and so to think that he is alive. It was a distortion of the reality.
All of this had a cause. He was apart from the Law. He knew the Law and even loved it, but it had not penetrated him. “But when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died.” In other words, when God took the Law and pierced him with it, exposing his sin, he understood that he was a dead man. He had been dead all along, but by the Law, he now saw it.
“And the commandment which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me.” The Law was Paul’s foundation and hope before his conversion. “It was to result in life.” He would have said, “Oh how I love your Law.” But all his life that same Law was condemning him. And when God took it and penetrated him with it, he began to know his sin; he died.
Is that a good thing? Yes! It is a tremendous blessing. Look at the logic. “But when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment which was to result in life, proved [I found] to result in death for me . . . So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” The law is good because it make us die (know our sin) which we must do in order to live.
Sin is the Problem. It Is Utterly Sinful
To find the root of condemnation and bondage to sin, you have to go deeper than the law. The law does both condemn and bind to sin, but Paul’s object is to show that it does so because of something deeper. He brings to light why the law results in death in verse 11. “The commandment . . . proved to result in death . . . for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me (v. 10-11).” There is the root in our bondage and condemnation—our sin. It feeds off of the punishment of the law to reign inside of us. And all the while, it deceives into thinking that our feeble attempts at keeping the law will result in life.
Just to make sure that there are no misunderstanding or misconceptions of justification, Paul restates what he has said. “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? [You could think that because of what he said in verse 10. “. . . the commandment proved to result in death for me . . .”] May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful (v. 13).”
God and His law are ultimately not what cause death. Sin, using the law, causes death. By this we see that sin utterly evil. It is so evil in Paul’s eyes that he uses the strongest word possible—sin. Sin is evil; it is sin. And not only is it sinful, it is utterly sinful because it uses that which is good to accomplish something so evil.
So the main point, meant to lead us to true justification, is this: God and his law are not the problem, the completely sinful nature of man is.
Now I want pull out three other lessons from this text.
Lesson 1: In order to live, you must die.
Martin Luther used to say something very true. “Before God saves a man, he damns him.” You must die to live. Unless you know your sin, you will never come to Jesus.
I am so afraid that some you are exactly like Paul before his conversion. You are alive apart from the law. You live a respectable life of general outward conformity to the Bible, and you think that it will result in life. Have you ever thought that maybe you are deceiving yourself, and all the while, your sin is killing you? That is the way sin works; it is a liar. Before Paul found life, he died. I pray daily that God will kill you with His law so that you will find Christ and live.
Lesson 2: Justification is utterly necessary and glorious because the sinful nature of man is utterly sinful.
This point is so clear from verse 13. If sin even comes near something good, like the law, it will always deceive and kill. Sin is completely and thoroughly sinful. We have to know that or we will not fully know the need for and the glory of justification.
I know people who do not understand this. As a result, they don’t fully understand (though they do partially) the necessity of the cross. To them, there is remnant of good inside of man that can, if correctly coaxed, respond to the good gospel. But in reality, there is no such remnant. Sin is utterly sinful. Man is totally depraved. Because of that, justification is desperately needed, even to buy the faith with which we take hold of it. And Christ should get all the glory for that faith and every other ounce of good ever wrought in anyone.
Lesson 3: The knowledge of what we were should cause us to rejoice in what we are and will be. And all of that should be rejoicing in the cross.
I get this from how Paul leads chapter 7 into chapter 8. All of this explanation of the sinfulness of sin culminates in Romans 8—Paul’s rejoicing that we are free. He cries out in verse 24, “who will deliver me from the body of this death.” And then he says, “There is no therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (8:1-2).” You can feel the exultation of this man. The contemplation of what he was drove him to great joy in what he had and would become (8:10).
All of the rejoicing in our freedom from sin and death should be rejoicing in the cross of Jesus. Notice how these two are so closely knit in Paul. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death (v. 2).” Paul’s joy in his liberty from sin and death at its heart is joy in justification, because behind this freedom is union with Christ. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (v. 1).”
I teach every week to create people who love justification. It should be everything to you. It is not just a part of your life. Jesus—with whom you have lived, died, and risen—is your life (Col. 3).
Bryan Elliff © 2007
