THE LENS OF THE LAW
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Opening Prayer
Quiet my soul today, Father, and use your Word to encourage and strengthen me, to help me to rest in you.
Read ROMANS 7:7-25
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Romans
Romans 7
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Reflect
In what ways do you find God’s law beneficial?
Is the old rule book good or bad? Paul’s argument might have made some of his listeners conclude that the law is sinful because it leads to sin (v. 7). No way, says Paul! Rather, it is like a magnifying glass—it helps us see what sin is. Now the Jewish people (and we) can recognize our sin in ever more microscopic detail, revealed as we apply God’s holy law to our lives. It’s as though the commandments, intended to teach us about God’s standards for right living, have opened our understanding of our sinfulness. The law is good. Rather, it is deceitful sin in my life (e.g., coveting, v. 8) that tantalizes and tempts me with its forbidden fruit—and leads to death (v. 9).1 The lens of the law teaches us that we are sinners in need of salvation.
Paul, the writer, then shifts from a teaching mode (vv. 1—12) to a personal identification and experience, using the first person (‘I’) and present tense (‘I am’) (see vv. 14—25). There is this struggle within body, mind, and spirit—whoever you are. We say with the apostle, I want to do what is good and pleasing to God, but I cannot—instead I keep on doing ‘the evil I do not want to do’ (v. 19)! Aware of this inner conflict between God’s law and the work of sin in our lives (vv. 21—23), it sometimes feels as though we are prisoners (v. 23). Who can rescue me?
Thank God! He rescues us through Jesus, our Lord and Savior (v. 25)! Our bodily sinful nature is enslaved to sin, but in Christ we are rescued from death, set free to serve him.
Apply
What encouragement do Paul’s words bring to you? How would you counsel fellow disciples of Jesus who are feeling defeated and oppressed by their own sinfulness?
Closing prayer
Lord, help me wait patiently for you. Enable me to sense your presence as I seek you and to remember your goodness, power, and mercy.
1 See Gen 3.
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