“So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes. So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”
Romans 7:4-25 NLT
Our relationship with the law is important for us to understand. The law is not salvation because no one can fulfill it. The active role of the law is to show us that we are incapable of achieving righteousness before God. But this doesn’t make the law a bad thing. It highlights the problem. We are flawed. We are defective and when good things are defective, bad things happen to them as a result. Interestingly, sin is given a will in this passage. Sin is poked about as actively exploiting the divide created, through the law, in order to drive us further away from God. If we continue to live by the law, we continue to be exploited. We feel guilty every time we try to be righteous because we inevitably fail at it. It is a truly emotionally wrenching position to find ourselves in. But of course, the law isn’t meant to save. It’s only meant to guide. It shows us Jesus. He saves us by faith. This destroys the exploit used by sin. Legally sin has no hold. But emotionally this should be true for believers as well. We used to feel like we had to sin because we were broken by sin. A believer should feel secure, even when confronted with his own sin. Because they know that sin will be overcome one day. It’s inevitable. We should then realize that our sin is not really enmeshed in who we are anymore… just who we were. Through Jesus, that exploit is finished. It is truly good news.
Law’s Purpose: To reveal human inability to achieve righteousness before God, highlighting the problem of sin.
Sin’s Role: Actively exploits the law to drive people further from God, leading to guilt and emotional distress.
Jesus’s Role: Saves believers by faith, destroying sin’s legal hold and providing emotional security despite sin’s presence.
JOSH McGARY.COM 