“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. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Romans 7:7-11, ESV).
In these verses Paul resumes the instructional method of question-answer in the first person, “What then shall we say?” (cf. 3:5-9, 27-31; 4:1, 9; 6:1-4, 15), switching from the plural (“we”) to the singular (“I”), with which the chapter began (vv. 1-4). Having forsaken the way of life “in the flesh” by dying to the law in order to serve “in newness of spirit” (vv. 4-6), the rest of the chapter addresses the struggle between “the spirit” wanting to do good and “the flesh” yearning to sin in both the past (vv. 7-13) and the present (vv. 14-25).
The Problem is Sin, Not the Law
Lest anyone gets the misguided impression that Paul is anti-law, he offers clarification here. The law, in revealing and enhancing “knowledge of sin” (3:19-20), was a gracious gift to Israel for guidance and protection (2:18; 7:12, 14; 9:4). Seeing that sin and death were realities long before the law made its appearance in history (5:12-14), the human predicament cannot legitimately be blamed on the law. “But sin seizes the opportunity provided by the law to what humankind’s curiosity as to what the commandment may be forbidding. In this way desire for the forbidden is stirred up and becomes an insatiable force, whose final outworking is death.”1
Paul notes in particular the Decalogue’s tenth commandment, “You shall not covet” (Ex. 20:17), probably because the basis of all sin has long been recognized as illicit desire (cf. Jas. 1:15). It is “the commandment,” which was meant to regulate righteous living, that became a channel of “death” (cf. v. 5). But the responsibility lies, not with the commandment itself or the One who gave it, but with sin and the human appetite to pursue it.
When Paul says, “I was once alive apart from the law,” contextually (vv. 1, 7) and thematically (2:12, 18, 20; 3:20) this would be applicable to knowledge of the law. There was a time in his life when he was without this knowledge, i.e., in his infancy and early childhood (cf. 1 Cor. 13:11; 14:20).2 One is not conscience of any sinful inclination until one’s obedience is tested. As his learning capacity developed and he was “instructed from the law” (2:18), “sin came alive” and he “died” spiritually.
The Law is Good
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:12-14).
Even though the Mosaic law was not designed as a means of justifying sinners (3:20), during the centuries it was in force provisions were made for atonement and forgiveness,3 salvation was attainable,4 and one could even be counted “blameless.”5 Faith, love, and mercy were essential components,6 and it was beneficial to all who submitted to it.7 Therefore, Paul can readily describe the law as “holy and righteous and good” (cf. 1 Tim. 1:8), as well as “spiritual.” After all, it has emanated from God and is therefore a reflection of his holy, righteous, good character, “the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (2:20).
Conclusion
The problem is “sin” and the weakness of human “flesh,” as the law openly exposes the true nature of sin. Any apparent negativity toward the law is in response to its misappropriation and abuse (vv. 10-11; 2:17-27; 8:3, 7; 9:31-32).8
--Kevin L. Moore
Endnotes:
1 J. D. G. Dunn, Theology of Paul the Apostle 99.
2 See Deut. 1:39; Isa. 7:16; 8:4; 28:9; Neh. 8:2-3; Ezek. 28:15.
3 Lev. 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:13, 16, 18.
4 1 Sam. 2:1; 2 Sam. 22:51; 1 Chron. 16:23; Psa. 3:8; 13:5.
5 Luke 1:6; Phil. 3:6; cf. Acts 22:3; 26:4-5; Gal. 1:14. “Israel’s problem in the Old Testament was not with their inability to keep the law; it was with their choosing not to do so” (G. D. Fee and D. Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth [4th ed.]: 175, emp. in the text).
6 Deut. 6:4-9; 10:12-21; Mic. 6:8; Hab. 2:4; Matt. 23:23.
7 Deut. 6:24-25; 10:13; 12:28; cf. Psa. 78:1-7.
8 Cf. Matt. 5:20-48; 23:1-39; Gal. 2:16, 21; 3:2-5, 10-13; 5:4.
Related Posts: No Law, No Transgression (Rom 4:15), From Law to Christ (Rom 7:1-6), Struggle with Sin (Rom 7:15-25)
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