Sin Might be Shown to be Sin
Scripture:
Rom. 7:7 What then should 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. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived 10 and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
Rom. 7:13 Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working 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.
Observation:
The law of God was found in the Torah and the Jews knew what was written there. Paul had grown up studying the law and trying to follow its teachings. He had now discovered life in the Spirit and was reflecting on the difference between that freedom and life under the law. The law in and of itself was not bad, because the law provided an understanding of sin. In many ways it shone a light on my sinfulness. Or actually, sin used the law as a temptation for me to cross the line. The law didn’t give me life, but instead it showed me that I was on a pathway to death. Sin used the opportunity of the law to twist it and lead Paul into a path of devastation. “License is clearly not the answer, but neither can legalism rescue me from sin. Sin’s perversion of the holy law of God points out how utterly sinful sin is (Rom 7:13)” (Edlin & Modine, NBBC). The law itself is good and holy.
Origin puts it this way:
I do not know why it is, but things which are forbidden are desired all the more. Thus it happened that although the commandment is holy and just and good, since because it forbids evil it must be good, yet in forbidding covetousness it provoked and inflamed it all the more, with the result that something good wrought death in me. (COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS)
The whole scene is something of a replay of the Garden of Eden where the enemy twists God’s truth and then uses it to capture you forever (or so he thinks). “Inward rebellion against the Creator is the self’s attempt to usurp the place of God as the end of human existence” (Edlin & Modine, NBBC). The reality is that we are able to recognize what sin is — and through the power of the Spirit, live sinless lives.
Application:
We’ve mulled over this idea of sin before. The law of God, the commandments, exist so that sin might be shown to be sin. There is such a thing as sin in this world, and the enemy would like to get us to believe that there is not. If society no longer believes that that sin exists, then there is no longer any need for a Savior! That’s right where the enemy would want us.
Maybe this passage ought to spark us to a reflection on the commandments of God. From Exodus 20, we read:
Exodus 20 Then God spoke all these words,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (NRSV)
No wonder we no longer want these to laws of God to adorn the halls of our public buildings — for they are reminders that sin is sin. If you don’t want to be reminded of sin — then simply tear down the laws and remove them.
Jesus said he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it and then he summed it all up in this powerful way:
Matthew 22: 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Jesus’ words also reveal sin. The Pharisees didn’t like this answer because they were not living up to this standard, so they had Jesus killed. Killing the reminder of the law does not change the law. Sin is still sin, even if you do everything you can to bury any evidence of wrongdoing.
All of this is a reminder that there is freedom which comes through life in Christ.
Prayer:
Lord, please lead us not into temptation — so that we might not sin. Amen.
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